Alfa Romeo Stelvio Veloce Review: An SUV You’ll Enjoy Driving

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio was an important car when it launched in 2016. The next big stage of Alfa’s grand rebirth plan, it would be the volume seller that followed on from the enthusiast-friendly Giulia, the one that would open the floodgates for a whole deluge of new models.

That deluge never happened for a host of reasons, but the Stelvio chugged on, Alfa’s last new product launch before another drought that only ended with the Tonale in 2022.

It’s tempting to think of the Stelvio as a tall, four-wheel drive Giulia. They were developed together on the same platform, have always had the same range of engines and trim levels, share largely the same interior fittings, and both received the same facelift in 2023, which brought revised headlights and a digital instrument cluster (although, unlike the Giulia, the Stelvio retains a diesel option).

Indeed, the Stelvio tested here is the equivalent spec of the Giulia we drove recently: the mid-ranking Veloce trim, with the 2.0-litre 276bhp four-cylinder petrol engine (the only petrol now available below the twin-turbo V6 Quadrifoglio) and the standard eight-speed automatic.

Climb into the Stelvio, and everything is indeed rather familiar, bar the higher perspective. Interior fit and finish is once again a very mixed bag, although the Stelvio gets a leather-topped dash which goes a little way to making it feel like a slightly more upmarket environment. Our test car had an optional sunroof, which shed some welcome light on an otherwise quite dark cabin, but did generate some wind noise around its seals.

Thankfully, the Stelvio is logical and functional inside. It’s such a relief to get a rotary controller for the screen, and physical climate controls, and to have all your personal settings remembered each time you get in. This is all incredibly simple stuff that plenty of other manufacturers could learn from – it still feels odd that Alfa of all companies is the one to get it right.

The driving position is good, too. You can get nice and low by SUV standards, and the waist-pinching sports seats are a treat. The Stelvio does, however, have enormous blind spots, so prepare to rely heavily on its reversing camera and array of sensors. Boot space – 525 litres with the seats up, and 1600 down – falls a little short of rivals.

Driving, it’s immediately apparent that this car shares DNA with the Giulia. Weighing in at 1660kg, it’s impressively light for a car of its size, and it shows – the Stelvio is synaptically responsive by SUV standards. It gets similarly hyperactive steering to the Giulia, with a 12:1 ratio, and it responds quickly to inputs with a small but reassuring amount of roll in the chassis.

The Q4 four-wheel drive system defaults to operating the rear wheels alone but can shuffle up to half the engine’s torque to the fronts in low-grip situations. My first proper drive in the Stelvio was in slashing rain, and having that safety net to lean on was a relief. The presence of a mechanical limited-slip diff on the rear axle helps keep things nice and tight, too. Unsurprisingly, the extra height and weight mean it can’t match the sheer purity of its saloon sibling’s movements, but it’s still a properly entertaining thing to hustle cross country.

It doesn’t hang about in a straight line, either: 0-62mph is dealt with in 5.7 seconds, and top speed is 143mph. Whatever it’s in, this 2.0-litre turbo engine likes to rev, hammering through the gearbox’s ratios. Shame emissions rules mean Alfa has to peg the redline at 5500rpm. An entertainingly raspy but obviously very enhanced soundtrack is piped in.

Moving off from a stop, the Stelvio suffers from an oddly laggy throttle. This can be solved to a degree by twizzling the drive mode selector into D for ‘Dynamic’, a properly set up sport mode that optimises the gearbox’s shift pattern nicely. In fact, this well-proven gearbox is smooth and responsive all-round.

You’ll still want to take manual control for things like overtakes, where the gearbox doesn’t quite respond quickly enough to your right foot’s commands. In fact, you’ll want to take manual control most of the time, because then you’ll get to use those delightful aluminium paddles. Mmmmm. The Stelvio gets Alfa’s odd brake-by-wire system, which is okay at speed but sometimes squidgy and unconvincing around town.

The Stelvio, naturally, gets longer shocks than the Giulia, countering that with a firmer setup. This becomes apparent over poor surfaces, where the ride can get noticeably wobbly. It remains superbly damped, though, taking dips and rises in its stride. It’s smooth and refined in less sporty driving, although the 20-inch wheels on my test car generated quite a lot of tyre roar.

Ultimately, the Stelvio’s enthusiast appeal within its segment is undeniable. It’s unlikely many people are cross-shopping it and the Giulia, but if it is a toss-up between the two, then nobody will be surprised to find that the Giulia is ultimately the more satisfying driver’s car, but the Stelvio offers more practicality. It makes us sad that the market’s never been there for a Giulia Sportwagon – what a thing that would have been.

It’s far more likely that buyers will be eyeing up the Stelvio among other mid-size SUVs. The big German brands all offer rivals, but most notably, there’s the Jaguar F-Pace. The Italian and the Brit both offer driver appeal and a stylish charm that the German cars can’t match, the tradeoff being less of-the-moment tech and a lower level of fit and finish.

It took Alfa longer than most rivals to build an SUV, but it got it right first time. It doesn’t matter that it’s been around a while now without a major update. It has the feisty, engaging energy you expect all Alfas should but so many haven’t in the past, and puts it all in an appealing, practical daily package. Within its busy class, it really shouldn’t be discounted just because it comes from south of the Alps, not north.