It’s a new dawn and we thought we’d remind you that you can always thuma (‘send’) us for your car missions. On this Thirstday (Ed – I think the writer meant Thursday), I am thirsting (Ed -not sure anymore) on the new Italian newcomer in the Premium SUV segment in SA, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio 2.0T Super Q4. The Stelvio is a looker and has drawn quite a few admiring glances and head turns. Can I say sexy? Well I think I just did. The Stelvio comes standard with 18 inch rims with yellow brake calipers, LED running lights at the front, a rear spoiler and double exhaust tips. The Alfa Romeo is powered by a 206 kW/400 N.m turbopetrol engine. Inside you’ll find the Uconnect 8.8-inch 3D infotainment system screen which includes standard navigation. The Italian newcomer offers generous head and shoulder room for all occupants and the rear seats afford enough legroom for adults. We certainly look forward to exploring the Stelvio more in the next few days. @mfuphi #AlfaRomeo #alfaromeostelvio #Stelvio #SUV #SexySUV #Q4 #PremiumSUV #Italian #Thirstday #Thursday #beauty #unionbuildings #government #seatofpower #power #people #pretoria #tshwane #architecture #building

A post shared by The Car People (@khulekani_on_wheels) on Jun 20, 2018 at 10:48pm PDT

By Amanda Mfuphi

Recently, I had the opportunity of driving the new kid on the medium-sized premium SUV segment, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio 2.0T Super Q4. The Stelvio is Alfa Romeo’s first SUV and competes in the medium-sized premium SUV segment that is dominated by the Germans. We took on the assignment to see if the Stelvio can hold its own in this competitive segment of the market.

Exterior

The Stelvio is so sexy and attractive that it makes the driver feel equally sexy and attractive. At some point, I got confused whether the head turns were for me or the car (ok I am getting carried away, let’s stick to reviewing the car). The Stelvio retains the Alfa Romeo’s typical front grille and bumper (with large air intake) design which is accompanied by LED headlights shaped like the Black Panther’s eyes (Wakanda Forever!). The Stelvio’s front just works well together to give it a commanding look as you are faced with its curvaceous lines which gives it a distinct look from its other more angular rivals. The Stelvio’s proportions which come at a length of 4.7m, height of 1.7m and a width of 2.2m give the vehicle a dynamic and compact look and feel to it. The rear-end of the Stelvio also catches the eye because of its rear-end bumper which comes with the dual sports exhaust tips and boot spoiler. Our Stelvio came in a deep dark navy colour and 18 inch alloy wheels with yellow brake clippers.

 Interior

In short, the interior of the Stelvio is well-crafted, simple, stylish, tasteful, and elegant and affords all passengers sufficient room to enjoy the vehicle. The first nifty cool thing to point out in the interior of the Stelvio is that the start and stop button is nestled on to the steering wheel. The interior has top quality finishes, which come with leather seats and the dashboard is dawned by a combination of leather and dark wood grain which gives the cabin a sense of human artistry. One could swear one of the top-end Italian fashion designers was commissioned to design the interior. The Stelvio comes with the sophisticated Alfa Connect infotainment system, with an 8.8 inch high resolution display screen, a navigation system and a fine audio system, with 10 speakers. The Alfa Connect infotainment was easy to figure out and use with the rotary dial in the middle. Although we were happy with the infotainment system of the Stelvio, we did hope for a bigger screen which is touchscreen enabled, especially for a car in the premium segment of the market.

The steering wheel of the Stelvio is leather-wrapped and feels good at the touch. The cabin is also quite spacious (but there are no surprises there this being a medium-sized premium SUV) and offers both front and back passengers ample legroom and space for long trips. The boot comes with 525 litres of boot space and it has a convenient electric tailgate that can be set with three different opening levels, directly from the Alfa rotary selector.

Technology

The Stelvio also comes with quite impressive technology with an emphasis on safety, such as the Integrated Brake System, Forward Collision Warning and Autonomous Emergency Brake with pedestrian detection, Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Monitoring with Rear Cross-Path Detection and Active Cruise Control. The Forward Collision Warning System uses a radar sensor and a camera in the windscreen to detect obstacles or vehicles in the car’s path, warning the driver of the risk of an imminent collision. Should the driver fail to intervene, the Autonomous Emergency Brake (AEB) system automatically brakes. The Lane Departure Warning System reads the lines on the road surface by means of the video sensor installed on the windscreen, and if the driver strays across the lane markings involuntarily or without using indicators, the driver is alerted at once with audio and visual warnings. Blind Spot Monitoring continually monitors the rear blind spots on both sides of the vehicle, by means of two radar devices mounted in the rear fenders. In potential risk situations, lights on the external rear view mirrors alert the driver to obstacles on either side of the vehicle.

The drive

The Stelvio has a good driving position and gives the driver a feeling of being central and in command. Our Stelvio was powered with the four-cylinder 206 kW/ 400Nm 2.0 turbo petrol engine with an 8-speed automatic transmission. The drive of the Stelvio feels sooth and refined in all driving modes of the car: Dynamic, Natural and Advanced Efficiency. The Stelvio is a powerful SUV and is quite quick off the mark with rapid accelerator response. Alfa Romeo claims that the Stelvio engine powers from 0 to 100 km/h in just 5.7 seconds, with a top speed of 230 km/h. We did not attempt this as we drove mostly in our public road, however, from the little we explored with the Stelvio these stats appear plausible.

Price

Pricing starts from R810,000.00 for the Super and the First Edition is priced at R946,000.00.

All Alfa Romeo Stelvio’s feature a 3 year / 100,000 km Warranty and a 6 year / 100,000km Maintenance plan as standard.