When driving an Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio, I get a similar feeling as I do when driving a Ford Puma ST. In the Ford’s case: this is all very nice, but wouldn’t it be nicer if it were a Fiesta? In the Alfa’s case: this is great, but it’s not a Giulia.
But I get it. The Giulia is a compact executive car with a saloon boot. The Stelvio is a far more practical, more mature and more broadly able mid-sized SUV. In this Quadrifoglio form, it argues with the Porsche Macan GTS to be the most fun not-£200k SUV on sale, and it’s a generously accommodating one too, given that it’s ‘only’ 4.7 metres long.
Besides, as one reader noted, its wheels are more impervious to Britain’s potholes than your average sporting saloon’s.
This Quadrifoglio has been through some of the same changes as the smaller one. So there’s a new instrument cluster, new LED headlights, an increase in standard active safety equipment (as mandated by the EU), an additional 10bhp from the V6 that you won’t feel and a change from an activeclutch-using differential at the rear to a mechanical limited-slip one.