Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio 2019 Review

My 17-year old son posed the question: What's the point of this car? He didn't quite draw an analogy such as a footballer in a tutu, but that was obviously where his mind was racing. In his experience, SUVs are family wagons. On occasions they'll go mud-plugging if they're up to it.

So his confusion was understandable. The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is neither as spacious nor as competent on rock-strewn tracks as a Land Rover Discovery Sport.

What it is, however, is fast. This SUV is phenomenally quick when you get stuck into it. Funny thing though, it doesn't feel that rapid initially – and certainly not while plodding along between traffic lights on the way home from work.

To that extent, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is highly acceptable as a daily driver. After some acclimatisation, practically anyone can hop in and drive it sedately to the shopping centre or the local schools.

Open up the taps, however, and look out. Full-throttle acceleration for overtaking will snap heads back. Even under gentle acceleration the twin-turbo V6 sounds like a large feline gargling mouthwash behind a bathroom door. It's an engine note that delivers uncompromising performance, but does so with more subtlety than a Mercedes GLC 63.

Basically the same engine powering the Alfa Romeo Giulia QV, the peaky V6 in the Stelvio Quadrifoglio runs right up to the 7000rpm redline, pulling harder once the needle enters the top right quadrant of the tachometer.

Although it's impressively refined and unfussed at higher revs, the V6 does rumble lightly cruising at 100km/h on a freeway. At that speed the engine is revving at 1800rpm and the only other noise is a whisper of wind and some subdued noise from the Pirelli P-Zero tyres.

As is to be expected, the high-performance SUV does like to guzzle if the driver chooses to exploit the available engine output. On an extended freeway journey the Stelvio did post a fuel consumption figure of 9.7L/100km, but after a reset for a 70km test loop the final figure finished at 14.7L/100km. And the Stelvio is not much better in urban commuting either.

In heavy traffic – and even with an idle-stop system to kill the engine while waiting for the lights to turn green – the Stelvio will be slurping premium unleaded at the rate of about 15.0L/100km. Speaking of the idle-stop system, it's one of the better examples of the type. The V6 restarts lightning quick and very smoothly.

Alfa Romeo has specified a ZF eight-speed automatic for the Stelvio Quadrifoglio. The German transmission makes an excellent partner for the muscular V6, particularly with the car's DNA drive mode selector set to 'Dynamic'. Even left in auto (rather than shifting manually), the transmission changes down immediately for engine braking – just when you kind of hoped it would.

Brake hard for a corner, ease off the brakes, turn in and the transmission is shifting down to a lower gear, which helps ease the Stelvio into a slightly tail-out stance on the overrun. It's neat, feels predictable, and is easily corrected with gentle application of power. In other words, the powertrain – which could be said to include torque vectoring – has been carefully calibrated to work with the Stelvio's suspension set-up for handling that's very unlike that of your average SUV.

Shift paddles are fixed in place and don't turn with the Stelvio's steering wheel. That will be a problem for drivers preferring the paddles turn with the wheel, but they're great big things that are easy to grab whether you have steering lock applied or not.

Changing direction, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio feels precise and handles flatly, with direct and communicative steering encouraging the driver to spare no rubber in the quest for higher cornering speed. It's a hand-in-glove symbiosis of driver and vehicle (pardon the Mazda-esque metaphor).

The Alfa SUV offers the sort of roadholding that would put it on an even footing with many sports cars and hot hatches. It can be provoked – with some effort, admittedly – to slide the tail out around tighter bends with the accelerator pressed to the floor. And although a trailing throttle can also induce a gentle slide (see above), mostly the rear-end grip is unimpeachable. That's due in part to the 285/40 R 20 Pirellis at the rear (with complementary 255/45 R20 tyres up front).

A set of mighty Brembo brakes musters prodigious stopping power and the brake pedal has to be treated with caution and finesse, lest the driver finish up plucking teeth out of the steering wheel. Once familiar to the driver, the combination of six-piston calipers at the front and four-piston rear calipers can bring the Stelvio to a gentle halt as well.

Despite suspension that's nailed down (there is a softer-riding option available through the DNA system) and 20-inch wheels with low-profile tyres, the Stelvio rides firmly, but not harshly. There's some initial compliance to help overcome the sharper impacts on country roads and body control is spot on at open-road speeds.

As for its peers, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio is fitted with intelligent high-beam assist and bi-xenon headlights that adaptively shine in the direction the car is turning. To say they're excellent would be an understatement.

Among the Stelvio's safety features are forward collision warning (and autonomous emergency braking) plus lane departure warning. Alfa Romeo has developed these musical alarms to wake the driver if the car in front has slowed unexpectedly or the Stelvio is drifting out of its lane. They're measured for optimal impact without inducing an immediate heart attack, and they get our tick of approval for that.

A curious quirk evident in the Stelvio is those occasional moments the indicators don't cancel automatically. For me it was turning left into the driveway of the house across the road to back into my own driveway. The indicators wouldn't cancel even after I had the front wheels pointing straight. It's the only occasion I've ever had this happen. While it's far from a deal breaker, it was odd.

While the Stelvio Quadrifoglio is something of a stunner – for its looks and its athletic performance – it's inside the car that will have people picking up their lower jaw. This particular vehicle was optionally fitted with Sparco front seats featuring carbon-fibre shells.

For $7150 they're not cheap, but they're arguably worth every cent for the wild looks from the rear seats, but more importantly, for their fabulous contouring and comfort. These are seats that will hold you secure at ridiculously high lateral loads but remain comfortable after an hour or more of touring. They also happen to be better than the sports seats in a BMW M3 driven during the same week.

They are the key factor in the Stelvio's driving position, which is almost outstanding. With a typical hip point for an SUV, the Stelvio is easy to enter and leave, even with the high side bolstering of the seats. But over $162,000 as tested for a car without electric seat adjustment?

There are a couple of minor points to detract from the Alfa's ergonomics. One is the Audi-style bar-chart look for temperature and fuel gauges. I'm not personally a fan. The other is the lack of a '100' (km/h) calibration in the analogue speedo, but there's a digital readout that can be selected from the multi-media information screen (or trip computer in DOS 3.0-speak).

The seats are just part of the Stelvio Quadrifoglio's rich presentation in the cabin, including a two-tone colour scheme and a combination of leather, Alcantara and the carbon fibre already mentioned. There's adequate head room in the rear for adults, even with the sunroof fitted; plus there's good legroom and knee room for adults of average height. And the kids get adjustable vents too.

All in all, the interior is a very nice place to be, although some squeaking from the soft-material fixtures could be heard over bumpy roads.

While few people will buy the Stelvio with a mind to carrying out a lot of the activities for which SUVs were intended, the Alfa does provide some semblance of practicality. Although the boot space is quite narrow, it will still accommodate 525 litres of goods. That can be extended by lowering the rear seats almost flat, via the means of flip-out finger pulls either side of the luggage compartment. There's a 12-Volt outlet in the boot as well and the floor has luggage rails with fasteners to lock luggage in place.

But as useful as all that may be, it's not really why people will buy this car in the first place, is it?

How much does the 2019 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio cost?
Price: $162,250 (as tested, plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.9-litre six-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 375kW/600Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 10.2L/100km (ADR Combined), 14.7L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 233g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: TBA (Five-star ANCAP 2017 for four-cylinder models)