Alfa Romeo Stelvio review

Most SUVs conveniently gloss over the fact that the "S" in their name stands for sports – but not the Alfa Romeo Stelvio we're reviewing here.

Its designers have leaned into the idea, especially with the range-topping Stelvio Quadrifoglio (QV), with its Ferrari-sourced V6 petrol engine and performance-tuned suspension and brakes. Here, though, we’re focusing on the rest of the Stelvio range – the more affordable and sensible petrol and diesel options – while still addressing the all-important U for utility.

Since the Stelvio's debut, Alfa Romeo has worked hard to keep it looking sharp, with updated styling, a classier interior and revised engine options aimed at competing with the sportier end of the family SUV class. The 280 Veloce, for example, features a 276bhp petrol engine built in the same factory as the Stelvio QV’s V6. If that doesn’t stir your soul, we’re not sure what will.

Can striking looks and a sprinkling of Ferrari DNA keep the Alfa Romeo Stelvio relevant against its rivals, which range from the BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC to the petrol Porsche Macan and Volvo XC60? Read on to find out...

When picking an engine for your Alfa Romeo Stelvio, we suggest going with the 2.2-litre diesel (badged 2.2 Turbo Diesel 210). With 207bhp, it’s responsive from low revs and pulls throughout the whole rev range, whisking you up to motorway speeds with ease.

There’s also a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol (badged 2.0 Turbo Petrol 280) with 276bhp. It powers the Stelvio from 0-62mph in just 5.7 seconds but needs to be worked hard to show its true muscle. As a result, it doesn’t feel as quick as the on-paper numbers suggest, and that detracts from the feeling of sportiness.

However, it’s a different story entirely if you’re considering the other petrol engine: a stonking 503bhp 2.9-litre V6 that’s fitted exclusively to the performance-focused range-topper. If that tickles your fancy, see our Stelvio Quadrifoglio (QV) review.

The Stelvio has been designed to out-handle the opposition, and that means it has a rather firm ride. That’s not to say it bangs over potholes or big road imperfections, but it does feel quite unsettled at low speeds, jostling you around in your seat.

At higher speeds, the sports-oriented suspension set-up is better, dealing with crests and compressions with a fluency and finesse that's usually reserved for the best sports saloons.

Despite that, rival family SUVs offer better ride comfort overall. The BMW X3 is firmer but more controlled, while the Mercedes GLC can glide over surfaces that would unsettle the Stelvio. The top-spec Tributo Italiano model gets adaptive suspension that should allow you to soften things up to make it more comfortable when the road gets rough, although we’ve yet to try a Stelvio in that configuration.

We advise, though, that you stick with the 19in alloy wheels that come as standard with Sprint trim because they give the best ride possible. Veloce trim gets larger 20in alloys as standard, and they make the ride slightly worse. We’d definitely avoid the optional 21in alloy wheels.

This is where the Stelvio really shines. Like the Alfa Romeo Giulia it's based on, it has remarkably direct steering, and you have to turn the wheel very little to negotiate tight corners. The steering is also light, and it rewards those with a smooth touch.

Once you’re used to not being ham-fisted at the helm, and dial yourself into making measured adjustments, it’s easy to place the car’s nose where you want it. Combine that with the stiff suspension and plenty of front-end grip, and you have an SUV that goes round corners with more enthusiasm than many saloon cars.

The petrol Porsche Macan is the best in class in this area, but the Stelvio is as rewarding to drive as the impressive BMW X3 and is much more agile than the Volvo XC60. As for the Stelvio QV, it's one of the best handling sports SUVs you can buy.

If you take a Stelvio with the 2.0-litre petrol engine near its rev limiter, it develops a slightly raspy tone, but when you’re driving it normally, it's pretty unremarkable.

With the diesel, you’re always aware of that gritty dirge that traditionally blights cars fuelled from the black pump – the diesels available in the BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC are far more refined. Road noise is more obtrusive in the Stelvio than in the X3 too, and the mirrors whip up some wind noise around the front pillars.

Every Stelvio has an eight-speed automatic gearbox. It reacts immediately when you’re on the move and want a sudden burst of acceleration. You can alter the urgency of its gearshift through the driving mode selector in the centre console (Dynamic is the sportiest mode), but it can feel a little jerky on downshifts at lower speeds.

Finding your perfect driving position in the Alfa Romeo Stelvio is easy because the driver’s seat has plenty of adjustment. If you go for Sprint trim, you’ll have to set it manually, but Veloce gives you electric adjustment and adjustable lumbar support. Steering-wheel adjustment isn’t quite as good, with plenty of rake adjustment but limited reach adjustment. 

Sitting behind the slim steering wheel, you’ll find a rich 12.3-inch digital driver's display. It can be switched between three different lay-outs: Evolved, Relax and Heritage, each placing more or less emphasis on particular driving instruments.

Everything on the dashboard has been sensibly positioned, with all the relevant knobs and buttons housed exactly where you’d expect. You even get physical controls for the air conditioning, which are much easier to use on the move than the digital ones you’ll find in the Volvo XC60.

You sit quite high above the road in the Stelvio, but the thick windscreen pillars mean that visibility at junctions isn’t great, making it a bit of a challenge when pulling out.

Likewise, your view rearwards is restricted by thick pillars and isn’t helped by the narrow rear window. As a result, over-the-shoulder visibility isn’t great and reversing can be a little tricky. 

Fortunately, front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera are standard on all trims. You also get adaptive matrix LED headlights as standard that bend their light around approaching vehicles, which in turn allows you to leave your high beams on.

Every Stelvio has an 8.8in infotainment screen that you can control by touching the screen or by using a rotary dial mounted between the front seats. That means it's easier (and safer) to use when you're driving than the touchscreen-only system in the Volvo XC60.

The screen has quite a simple set-up, with a widget-style layout. However, the graphics are quite grainy and it’s still not swish enough to pull you away from plugging in your smartphone to use Android Auto or Apple CarPlay (included as standard). The BMW X3 – which also uses a rotary dial controller, but has much sharper graphics – remains the class leader here.

If you’re into your music, you might want to go for Veloce trim as it gives you the option of upgrading the standard eight-speaker stereo to a 900W Harman Kardon system with 14 speakers and a subwoofer. It’s available as part of a pack that, along with much better sound quality, adds a plush leather dashboard. This pack comes as standard on range-topping Tributo models.

Interior finish has always been a bit of a sticking point with Alfa Romeo. While the interior may generally look good, the buttons and dials you touch on the centre console feel a bit loose, and the materials they're made of feel pretty cheap.

The tops of the dash and door cards use plenty of soft-touch materials, but the grain puts you in mind of an elephant’s bum, rather than a premium material befitting a large SUV. It badly needs the extended leather pack to be standard because it falls well short of class standards without it. Shame, really, because the standard-fit steering column-mounted aluminium paddle feel of extremely high quality.

All in all, the Stelvio still can’t match the outright quality of its German rivals (the BMW X3 and the petrol Porsche Macan), which excel in this area.

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio is a pretty big vehicle and that's good news for front-seat occupants. There’s plenty of head room even for taller drivers and the seat goes back far enough for the longest of legs. It’s also wide enough to ensure you won’t be rubbing elbows with your passenger.

You’ll also find a decent amount of storage up front, with door pockets that can hold a bottle of water and other assorted items, and a space in front of the gear selector where you’ll find a couple of cupholders plus a 12V socket and USB port. There’s also plenty of storage under the centre armrest, including a wireless phone-charger as standard.

A six-footer will fit in the back seat behind a driver of similar height, but their knees will be very close to the front seats. 

The Stelvio's curved roofline eats into rear head room, but four adults of average height should be able to get comfy. If rear space is a priority, you’ll find more in the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Volvo XC60.

As for storage, the rear door pockets are smaller, but you can still get a small bottle of water in there. You also get a pair of cupholders in the rear armrest and a couple of USB sockets between the front seats.

Unlike some family SUVs the Stelvio doesn’t offer rear seats that recline or slide backwards and forwards. They do split and fold in 40/20/40 segments though, which is much more flexible than the 60/40 arrangement in the XC60. 

What’s more, 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.

At 525 litres, the Stelvio's boot volume trumps the XC60's but isn’t spectacular compared with other cars in the class, failing to match the BMW X3. Even so, in the real world, it’ll be enough to easily swallow a good bulk buy from a supermarket.

The load area itself is a usefully square shape with no internal load lip but it’s a shame there aren’t more hooks for bags, or eyelets to hold loads down. It could also do with being wider and not having a large, exposed speaker taking up space, because both hinder the loading of a folded child’s pushchair or a set of golf clubs.

As a cash purchase, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio is priced similarly to the BMW X3, the Land Rover Discovery Sport and the Volvo XC60. There are also generous discounts available from dealers, as well as through our hassle-free New Car Deals service. 

The Stelvio is not expected to hold on to its value as well as those rivals over three years, though, and with no hybrid or plug-in hybrid (PHEV) in the Stelvio range, it won't be particularly cost-effective to run as a company car.

Like its conventional petrol and diesel rivals, the Stelvio will sit in the higher BIK tax brackets. Its official fuel economy is similar to that of equivalent family SUVs.

Keeping things simple, you only have three trims to choose from: Sprint, Veloce and rang-topping Tributo Italiano.

Entry-level Sprint gives you plenty of standard equipment, including 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. It’s so well specified, we reckon it’s the pick of the range.

Mid-spec Veloce also represents good 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. 

Tributo adds 21in wheels with adaptive suspension, a Harman Kardon sound system and a leather-wrapped dashboard.

The Stelvio performed poorly in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey – finishing in 31st place out of 33 family SUVs – and Alfa Romeo did badly as a brand too, coming 30th out of 31 makes.

You might get some peace of mind from Alfa Romeo’s three-year warranty with unlimited mileage, but that duration is nothing special for a family SUV (Toyota gives you up to 10 years).

The Stelvio scored a full five stars in Euro NCAP safety tests, as most of its rivals did. Impressively, it outscored the Audi Q5 for adult occupant protection, but the Q5 was rated better at protecting child occupants. The Volvo XC60 is the safer option, with higher test scores.

Every Stelvio comes with automatic emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection, and lane-keeping assistance, but you’ll need the Driver Assist package if you want blind-spot monitoring, traffic-sign recognition and a driver attention warning system.

For all the latest reviews, advice and new car deals, sign up to the What Car? newsletter here