Alfa Romeo Tonale review

The Alfa Romeo Tonale has a tough task on its hands: to keep Alfa fans happy while appealing to a new breed of buyers looking for an intriguing alternative to more familiar SUV models.

The first part could be tricky, because very few family SUVs are anywhere near sporty enough to satisfy the Alfisti (die-hard fans of the Italian car maker) – although if anyone can do it, it’s probably Alfa Romeo.

On paper, it looks like the Tonale might have just what it takes, especially after a mid-life facelift that’s brought with it revised styling inside and out, more trim levels and a more powerful mild-hybrid engine. As before, you can also have the Tonale as a plug-in hybrid that promises over 30 miles of electric-only range.

Alfa Romeo Tonale walkaround video

So can the Alfa Romeo Tonale live up to Alfa’s sporting heritage and pull people away from the best family car rivals, ranging from the Audi Q3 and BMW X1 to the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Volvo XC40? 

The entry-level Alfa Romeo Tonale is the mild-hybrid Ibrida, which combines a 1.5-litre petrol engine, an electric motor and a 0.8kWh battery to chivvy it along at low speeds. Thanks to the recent facelift, Alfa has managed to squeeze some extra power out of the system, giving you a total of 173bhp when both are working together. 

Alternatively, there’s the Tonale Ibrida Plug-in, a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) with a more potent 266bhp – a slight reduction on the pre-facelift version, but we’re told that’s only because of retesting under the new emissions rules. A 1.3-litre petrol engine sends power to the front wheels while a beefier electric motor drives the back ones, giving you four-wheel drive.

The mild hybrid is our pick of the range, but it's quite a bit slower than the PHEV, and the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage have a lot more power and bigger batteries. Both can accelerate up to 62mph from rest in around eight seconds, while the Tonale takes 8.5sec. Even the dynamically underwhelming Lexus UX hybrid feels peppier.

The Tonale PHEV drops the 0-62mph time to 6.6sec, and while its forward momentum is not accompanied by a particularly thrilling soundtrack, it does cover ground effortlessly. Alfa Romeo gives a predicted electric range of 38 miles, which is about the same as the Range Rover Evoque PHEV.

Both versions of the Tonale have an automatic gearbox with seven speeds on the mild hybrid and six on the PHEV. They shift gears quickly and smoothly, but the mild-hybrid is a little more responsive and eager to shift down a gear when you need a burst of acceleration. The PHEV tends to use the electric motor to build momentum before swapping down a cog.

In terms of driving dynamics, Alfa has sought to inject some dynamism into the Tonale, but it hasn't quite worked. The steering is quick and alert, like in the Alfa Romeo Giulia, and has enough build up in its weight that you have a decent idea of what the front wheels are up to. Even so, we’d prefer there to be even more build-up, like in the Giulia. 

So far, we’ve only driven the facelifted Tonale PHEV with Alfa’s adaptive suspension fitted. With that system flicked into Dynamic mode (which stiffens up the suspension) the Tonale PHEV does a decent job of staying upright, but still can’t hide the fact that it’s quite heavy, leaning more than the BMW X1. Given our previous experience with the mild-hybrid version, we suspect that will be keener, too. 

Ride comfort is a bit of a mixed bag, especially when you have the optional 20in alloys attached. You see, the Tonale PHEV does a decent job of initially soaking up things like large speed bumps, but then becomes unsettled and struggles to recover. Likewise, over smaller imperfections, you’ll feel it thudding constantly and you’re moved around in your seat a lot. 

If you want the most comfortable Tonale, we’d stick to the mild-hybrid and the smaller 18in alloy wheels. 

Road noise is relatively well contained at motorway speeds, but you’ll hear a fair amount of wind noise from around the windscreen and wing mirrors. It’s fair to say that the Range Rover Evoque is generally more hushed in every manner. 

The brakes are good, with a firm and progressive feel. In the Tonale PHEV version, flicking from Normal or Advanced efficiency modes to Dynamic quickens up the response of the brake pedal as the regenerative braking effect becomes stronger. It takes a bit of getting used to but feels natural once you're familiar with it.

"In our real-world tests, the Alfa Romeo Tonale PHEV managed to drive 28.2 miles on electricity alone, which is a decent way off the predicted range. Still, that's better than the 25.3 miles we got from the Range Rover Evoque plug-in hybrid." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Taking a seat inside the Alfa Romeo Tonale, the first thing you notice is that the steering wheel and pedals are slightly offset, something that initially takes some getting used to. Once you are, however, the Tonale’s seating position is comfortable and you have plenty of seat and steering wheel adjustment to help you tailor it to your taste. That said, you’ll need to go for the mid-spec Ti trim if you want electrically adjustable lumbar support. 

Regardless of trim, the seats themselves are comfortable and come with firm seat padding, but we’d appreciate a little bit more side bolstering to better hold you in place through fast corners. The driving position can’t match the lofty heights of a Range Rover Evoque or Volvo XC40 while the tall dashboard tricks you into thinking you’re lower than in a BMW X1.

Forward visibility is fine, but the chunky side and rear pillars, and tall rear headrests obscure what you can see behind you. Fortunately, you get parking sensors all round and a rear-view camera as standard.

It’s a pity the interior isn’t a bit more special. The dashboard looks smart from a distance, and the presence of easy-to-use physical controls for the air-con is commendable, but you won't be mistaking this for an Audi Q3 or Range Rover Evoque when you look at material quality.

The grainy soft-touch plastics aren’t as smart as those used in rivals, and there are hard, unappealing plastics lower down. Some rivals including the Hyundai Tucson, the Kia Sportage and the Nissan Qashqai all hide or disguise them much better.

Every Tonale has a 10.3in infotainment touchscreen with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Unlike the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Alfa Romeo Stelvio, the Tonale doesn’t have a handy rotary controller to interact with it, which hurts its ease of use on the move. You can use the Alexa voice recognition software to handle some basic commands, though.

The operating system feels a little dated, with graphics that aren’t as sharp as in some family SUV rivals, including the X1, and a slight delay whenever you interact with the touchscreen. You do, at least, get a few permanent shortcut buttons on the side of the touchscreen, to help minimise the amount that you need to tap around. 

The driver gets a 12.3 digital driver's display, which is sharp to look at and has plenty of information available, but with fewer layout options than the Virtual Cockpit in the Audi Q3. 

"Music fans might be tempted to upgrade the stereo to the optional 14-speaker Harman Kardon system, which sounds very good, but the standard system is more than sufficient, so I wouldn’t spend the extra." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Head and leg room up front in the Alfa Romeo Tonale are acceptable for six-footers, but shoulder room is tight compared with rival family SUVs. Storage wise, it's fine, but doesn't have the cavernous hollowed-out door cards of the Volvo XC40 – which can handle big bottles of water and a laptop, for example.

The Tonale gives you just enough head room in the rear for a 6ft 2in tall adult but not much more. The thing is, it ends up feeling more claustrophobic than it is because the point where the roof meets the side windows is lower than your eyeline, making you feel a bit boxed in. 

When it comes to leg room, a six-footer will fit behind a similarly tall person with a decent amount of knee room, while there’s plenty of space underneath the front seats for your feet. Even so, it’s less generous than both the BMW X1 and the XC40.

Trying to squeeze three passengers across the back seats will be a challenge, owing to the fact that there isn’t that much shoulder room for three adults. That said, at least the middle seat passenger will have a decent amount of foot space, with no central tunnel to straddle. 

The back seats split 60/40 to fold down to extend the boot space, rather than the more useful 40/20/40 split found in the BMW X1 and Range Rover Evoque. Still, to help negate that issue, there's a ski hatch behind the fold-down centre armrest that allows you to thread longer items through and keep the two outer seats in use.

The boot space in the mild-hybrid Tonale is a reasonable size for the class. With a volume of 500 litres, it’s bigger than you’ll find in the Evoque and XC40, and the same as the X1. It's also a useful square shape and has a height-adjustable boot floor to improve versatility. In its highest position, you end up with the floor being level with the load lip to ease loading, as well as a generous storage area underneath.

The plug-in hybrid (PHEV) has a smaller boot (385 litres) and the boot floor sits at a fixed height, with the batteries below it. There’s a storage space under the floor that's big enough for the charging cables. We managed to fit five carry-on suitcases below its parcel shelf – the same as the Range Rover Evoque PHEV.

"I find it a shame that you don’t get an electric tailgate on the Alfa Romeo Tonale unless you add it as part of the optional Techno pack, which is pretty expensive. At least that gets hands-free opening too." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Pricing for the facelifted Alfa Romeo Tonale is yet to be confirmed, but we suspect it’ll be close to the previous version. As a result, expect the entry-level Tonale trim to cost more than the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage and slightly more in line with the Audi Q3, the BMW X1 and the Volvo XC40.

As you might expect, going for the Tonale PHEV will add extra to the price tag – the previous car cost even more than the Range Rover Evoque PHEV. 

To make up for the price, every trim comes with plenty of standard equipment, and we think the entry-level Tonale is the one to go for. It keeps the price as low as it can be but still gets 17in alloy wheels, LED headlights, keyless start, dual-zone air conditioning and adaptive cruise control. 

Mid-spec Ti, meanwhile, adds some extra niceties, including bespoke exterior styling, heated and ventilated electric front seats, a heated steering wheel and heated washer jets. Top-spec Veloce also adds large 19in wheels, matrix LED headlights, Brembo brake calipers and the adaptive suspension to the equipment list. 

The official fuel economy figures for the mild-hybrid Tonale – close to 50mpg – suggest that it should match the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage hybrids. That would probably require a lot of low-speed town driving in electric mode though, and our mixed test route yielded a figure in the mid-30s.

The Tonale PHEV looks impressively efficient on paper, with an official figure of over 300mpg, but you’ll need to keep the battery charged up to get near that. When the 15.5kWh battery is depleted and the petrol engine is doing all the work, we saw an average of 32.5mpg on our real-world test route.

Emissions for the mild hybrid are higher than the similarly-priced Audi Q3 Sport 150 TFSI S, but less than the equivalent petrol BMW X1 or Volvo XC40, which should make the Tonale a more affordable company car. 

The PHEV emits more CO2 than the X1 xDrive25e PHEV, so it sits in the 12% BIK tax bracket rather than the 8% bracket the X1 sits in. A full battery charge for the Tonale PHEV and the X1 PHEV takes about two and a half hours.

The safety experts at Euro NCAP gave the Tonale the full five stars for safety – the same as all its family SUV rivals. It comes with adaptive cruise control that can read road signs and alter your speed accordingly, and lane-keep assist with lane centring that’s said to work even at low speeds in traffic.

In terms of reliability, we didn’t have enough data on the Tonale to include it in the 2025 What Car? Reliability Survey but Alfa Romeo as a brand placed 17th out of the 30 included manufacturers. That’s way below BMW and Kia, which were both in the top 10, but above Volvo and Audi. 

For some peace of mind, the Tonale comes with a three-year unlimited mileage warranty, just like the one BMW gives you.

"Given Alfa’s reputation when it comes to reliability, it’d be nice if it offered a warranty that was closer to the five years that Hyundai offers or seven years from Kia." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Buy it if…

- You want a family SUV with sporty handling

- A lengthy list of standard features is important to you

- You want a user-friendly interior

Don’t buy it if…

- You’re looking for an SUV with plenty of rear leg room

- You want a car with a plush interior

- You prioritise refinement over performance

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