Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio review

Introduction

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is designed to do what many people regard as impossible – deliver all the fun of a true driver's car in a practical SUV body.

You see, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio – aka the Stelvio Q – is a sports SUV based on the Alfa Romeo Stelvio family SUV and shares its basic underpinnings with a well-sorted performance saloon, the Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio.

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2.0T Sprint SUV 5dr Petrol Auto Q4 AWD Euro 6 (s/s) (280 ps)

Expected annual mileage	5000
Term months	60
Deposit months	12
Monthly payment	£674.14
Initial payment	£8,089.68

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Leasing works a bit like a long-term rental. You drive it, but you don’t own it.

• Choose your car, pick your terms and apply for lease credit online
• Pay monthly rental payments for your chosen term length
• Drive it, enjoy it, then give it back at the end

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• Full manufacturer’s warranty
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£8,090 initial payment, 60 month contract, 5000 miles p/a. Subject to status and conditions.

• Lower total monthly cost than PCP/HP
• No balloon payments
• Road tax included

That means it benefits from a fire-breathing 512bhp 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V6 engine, although this SUV gets a four-wheel-drive system, rather than rear-wheel drive like in the Giulia Q.

With a 0-62mph time of just 3.8secs and an eye-watering 176mph top speed, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio certainly sounds promising

But how does it perform in the real world? That's what we'll tell you in this review. We'll rate the Stelvio Q against the best sports SUVs you can get – including the Audi SQ5 and Porsche Macan. Read on to find out how it compares...

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What's new

- July 2020: Facelifted Stelvio QV on sale with new LED rear lights, interior revisions (including a new steering wheel and gear selector) and the 8.8in display is now touch screen operated

- July 2019: Alfa Romeo Racing special edition on sale; just three cars available in UK, with special livery, 513bhp, Akrapovic exhaust and an aero kit

- July 2018: NRING edition on sale, mechanically identical to regular QV. Just 108 examples available across Europe, Middle East and Africa

- March 2018: Stelvio Quadrifoglio launched, with 503bhp twin-turbo 2.9-litre V6 petrol engine

Overview

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is a fun piece of kit that delivers a driving experience that will have you clambering out of bed on a Sunday morning to go for a drive. Even better news is that it offers enough comfort and practicality to be usable every day. The biggest downside is a higher price than its rivals and an interior that feels a little dated against the competition.

Pros

• Entertaining handling
• Razor-sharp accelerator responses
• Great soundtrack

Cons

• Occasionally jerky automatic gearbox
• Interior feels cheap in places
• Rear space is a bit tight

Trims available

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Veloce

Mid-spec Veloce represents decent value for money as you get 20in alloy wheels, electric seat adjustment for the driver and front-seat passenger, sportier exterior styling, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, sports leather seats and a limited-slip differential.

Quadrifoglio

There’s little need to go crazy on the options list. The Stelvio QV comes with 20in alloy wheels, adaptive dampers, xenon headlights, leather and Alcantara seats, cruise control and sat-nav. 

Sprint

Sprint gets you 19in alloy wheels, active cruise control, automatic headlights and automatic high beam, heated washer jets, automatic windscreen wipers, a leather steering wheel, and gearstick and aluminium gearshift paddles.

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Performance & drive

What it's like to drive, and how quiet it is

It only takes a short stint behind the wheel of the Stelvio Quadrifoglio to realise that it benefits greatly from being based on the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio.

On fast, flowing B-roads, you’ll be amazed by how well it hides its weight. True, it doesn’t feel as hunkered down or as agile as the smaller Porsche Macan GTS, but it feels more eager to change direction than the Audi SQ5. That’s helped by the super sharp steering, which doesn’t make the car feel overly nervous in a straight line.

You get the same mechanical limited-slip rear differential that’s fitted to the Giulia Q to maximise traction, and while the Stelvio Q has four-wheel drive, it’s a rear-biased system that helps retain some of the Giulia’s sense of fun.

As a result, if you give the Stelvio Q a big boot of power out of tight corners, its rear end steps out of line progressively and predictably. Then, as the four-wheel-drive system shuffles power to the front wheels, you get dragged out of the corner at a right old lick.

In short, the Stelvio Q is a car that can be as precise or lairy as you want it to be.

Its 2.9-litre V6 petrol engine is another highlight of the experience. As part of the car's mid-life update, it was tweaked to produce a touch more power (512bhp) but it has always provided bombastic performance.

Sprinting from 0-62mph takes just 3.8sec, beating the SQ5 and Macan GTS (with both taking around 4.5sec) and, given the space, it will go on to a top speed of 177mph. It never feels anything other than bonkers fast: the engine delivers razor-sharp accelerator responses with hardly any lag, despite being heavily turbocharged.

Meanwhile, every upshift of the slick eight-speed automatic gearbox elicits a delicious crackle from the quad exhaust pipes when you’re accelerating hard in Dynamic mode. You’re also encouraged to rev beyond 3,500rpm, when the exhaust valves open up to let out a satisfying high-pitched note that’s more tuneful than both its rivals.

As its name suggests, Race mode is best left for sessions on a private circuit – it dials the stability control system right back to a level where there’s not much of a safety net.

The suspension is firmer than that of the (much lighter) Giulia Q and as a result the Stelvio Q is less adept at soaking up bumps. The Audi SQ5 and Porsche Macan feel more supple, although the Stelvio is by no means brutally firm.

With more engine vibrations felt through the seats and an occasionally jerky response from the automatic gearbox, the Stelvio isn’t quite as smooth to drive as its rivals at low speed. There’s also far more wind noise which filters through the door pillars, but thankfully, less road noise than in a Macan. The SQ5 is both smoother and quieter.

"One of my favourite features about the Stelvio’s Dynamic mode setting is the ability to soften the suspension down at the press of a button, so you can have all the theatre but with a comfortable ride." - Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

Interior

The interior layout, fit and finish

Let’s start with what’s good, shall we? The Stelvio Quadrifoglio’s interior truly feels like a step up from a regular Alfa Romeo Stelvio.

It exudes class, with a leather-wrapped dashboard, raw carbon-fibre trim and beautifully crafted aluminium gearshift paddles. Meanwhile, the 12.3in digital driver’s display looks crisp and offers a choice of four lay-outs, including one specifically for Race mode.

The optional Carbon Shell sports seats look fantastic, offer loads of support and allow you to sit down low behind the steering wheel and well-positioned pedals. Just bear in mind that they're expensive and the only electric adjustment they have is for height.

The standard sports seats – which are heated and also come with adjustable lumbar support – have full electric adjustment and still come with plenty of side bolstering to hold you in place.

However, the Stelvio Q can’t match the sheer feeling of quality you’ll experience in similarly priced sports SUVs. The large metal gearshift paddles are great but the soft materials used elsewhere don’t feel particularly dense. None of the switches operate with the pleasing precision of those found in the Porsche Macan.

Where the Stelvio’s interior does score highly is how easy its controls are to use. It bucks the trend for air-con settings buried in a touchscreen menu, instead giving you dedicated dials that are easy to adjust at a glance – or even by feeling alone when you’re driving.

Plus, the infotainment system is among the most intuitive out there. Indeed, the 8.8in touchscreen is small and the graphics aren’t particularly sharp, but it scores highly for being user-friendly with its rotary controller between the front seats. So, while you can use the touchscreen to quickly input sat-nav destinations when you’re parked up, the dial is far more precise to use when on the move.

You get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring included as standard, with a traditional USB port and the smaller USB-C type one. We like the Performance Pages feature, which shows turbo pressure, a track timer, the temperatures of the main mechanical components and other useful information for track days.

It’s just a shame that the display is a bit dim and muddy, and is not as snappy to use as the iDrive system in the M Competition version of the BMW X3.

"I love how purposeful the optional carbon seats look, but the rest of the Stelvio’s interior materials struggle to justify the price increase over the recent years." - Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

Passenger & boot space

How it copes with people and clutter

As a sports SUV the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Q is capable of out-accelerating some supercars but practicality is also an important consideration too.

There’s plenty of head, leg and shoulder room up front, plus a generous amount of rear leg room. The optional Carbon Shell sports seats are slimmer than the standard items and free up even more space to stretch out.

The curved roofline means anyone above 6ft tall will find their head brushing against the ceiling, so taller back rear seat occupants will be better off in the SQ5.

In terms of in-car storage, all four door pockets are just about wide enough for a small bottle of water, and there are plenty of cubbies in the front for keys, phones and other items.

At 525 litres, the Stelvio Q's boot trumps the Porsche Macan but can’t quite match the capacity of a Mercedes GLC. The load area is a usefully square shape with no internal load lip – it’s just a shame you don't get many hooks for bags or eyelets to hold down loads.

Unlike in the SQ5, the Stelvio doesn’t offer rear seats that slide backwards and forwards. However, like its rivals, the backrest does split and fold in 40/20/40 segments and you get handy levers in the boot to fold the rear seats down without needing to open a side door. Once they’re down, the seat backs lay flat enough that there isn’t a step in the extended boot floor.

The boot floor isn’t height adjustable but there is a segmented storage tray underneath handy for stowing away smaller items.

"I found the Stelvio’s boot big enough for my needs and with the sub-woofer built into the side of the load area, it doesn’t eat up space beneath the boot floor. The exposed speaker grille easily gets dented, though." Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

Buying & owning

Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is

It’s unrealistic to enter into sports SUV ownership and expect it to be a cheap experience but nobody wants to simply throw money away either.

Still, it’s worth bearing in mind that the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio costs significantly more to buy outright than the Audi SQ5, Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 and Porsche Macan.

That said, unlike with those rivals, there’s little need to go crazy on the options list. The Stelvio Q comes with 20in alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, adaptive dampers, leather and Alcantara seats, adaptive cruise control and a 14-speaker sound system.

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The Stelvio Q's official average fuel consumption and CO2 emissions figures (23.9mpg and 267g/km) are slightly higher than rival sports SUVs, so this is not a frugal vehicle – or a tax-efficient choice as a company car.

Euro NCAP awarded the standard Alfa Romeo Stelvio a full five-star safety rating in 2017. The rating has now expired but the mid-life update treated the Stelvio to a whole host of new safety features to keep it fresh.

On top of automatic city braking technology with pedestrian detection (AEB), blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-path detection, and lane-departure warning, it also has lane-keeping assistance, active cruise control (with traffic jam assist), traffic-sign recognition, blind-spot assist and driver attention assist.

Alfa Romeo gives you a three-year, unlimited-mileage warranty, which is fairly typical in this class. The standard Stelvio finished down in 66th place out of 76 family SUVs. Meanwhile, the brand finished in a below average 17th place in our 2025 What Car? Reliability Survey, out of 30 brands.

"It’s great to see the Stelvio available in a range of bright exterior paint colours, especially the newer Montreal Green option for £2000." Lawrence Cheung, New Cars Editor

Buy it if...

-You want one of the best sounding sports SUV on sale

-You want even faster acceleration than most rivals

-You want sharp handling, rather than just safe

Don’t buy it if…

-You want a really plush interior

-You want the most refined high speed cruiser

-You frequently carry tall rear passengers

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