First Drive: 2021 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Review

In 2020, Alfa Romeo celebrated an important anniversary. Founded in June 1910, the Italian manufacturer reached the ripe old age of 110 – that’s 11 decades, 1,320 months or roughly 40,150 days. Of course, omitting the pause in production for the two World Wars, the luxury marque still has more than 36,000 days of automotive manufacturing under its belt. Roughly.

So, it’s fair to say that it knows a thing or two about car production, and that is evident throughout the renewed Alfa Romeo Stelvio. As with the updated Giulia, launched concurrently, most of the Stelvio’s updates are subtle in nature. From the outside, very little has changed, while under the bonnet, the powertrains remain the same – other than improved CO₂ emissions, that is. However, climb inside and the revisions are glaring, with improved cabin fit and quality, new tech and improved media functionality. There are a host of new safety measures, too, including ‘Level 2 autonomy’ and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).

Offered in four trims and with four engines (two petrol, two diesel), there’s plenty of customisability to suit all needs. On launch, we climbed inside the most performance-focussed model on offer: the 2.0-litre turbo petrol Veloce.

On the more performance-orientated trims, Alfa Romeo has ditched the silver ‘V’ grille outline, and the resulting look is a powerful one. New hues are included in the four colour categories – the basic, sporty, metal and heritage. My personal favourites are the pre-existing Visconti green (think a metallic British racing green) and the new Anodizzato blue. Bi-Xenon headlights feature as standard and Alfa claims LEDs will be added for the next generation Stelvio.

Under the bonnet very little has changed since the previous iteration, although CO₂ levels have reportedly been aligned with the competition. The Stelvio will still be offered with a selection of engines, namely a 2.0-litre, 200PS (147kW) petrol and a 2.2-litre, 190PS (140kW) diesel in the rear-wheel-drive Super, Sprint and Lusso Ti trims. In the Range-topping, all-wheel-drive Veloce you can have a 280PS (206kW) petrol or a 210PS (154kW) diesel.

We were driving the most potent engine on offer, the 2.0-litre turbo petrol, putting out a mighty 400Nm (296lb ft) of torque, and promising 0-62mph acceleration in 5.7 seconds and a top speed of 143mph. Power is substantial but not overwhelming, allowing you to comfortably put your foot down without fear of booting the car to kingdom come.

Alfa Romeo claims a perfect 50-50 front-rear weight distribution for the Stelvio, but the car does feel tall. While the attractive 20-inch alloy wheels are only ever glued to the ground, there’s a feeling of top-heaviness that’s impossible to escape compared to the Giulia – it’s the nature of the SUV beast. That being said, compared to other SUVs the Stelvio hides its height very well. There are plenty of wobbly SUVs around. This isn’t one of them.

As before there’s a DNA dial on the centre console, with ‘D’ standing for ‘Dynamic’, ‘N’ standing for ‘Natural’ and ‘A’ standing for ‘Advanced Efficiency’. At the centre of the dial you’ll find a damper button, too.

The functionality of the dial remains the same, with each twist affecting the steering weight and throttle and gearbox response. Dynamic remains the ideal mode for fast driving while Natural is ideal for cruising around at a more subdued pace. Advanced Efficient, however, slows down the car’s responses far too much, and surely part of the point of buying an Alfa is because you enjoy driving?

The separate damper button, however, remains a blessing, as firmer suspension for fast driving on the Continent might work brilliantly, but it isn’t always what you need in the UK.

Climbing into the cabin, the revisions are immediately obvious. Even compared to our long-term Stelvio Quadrifoglio, the improvement in interior build quality is tangible, with tactile materials and soft close catches on the glovebox and centre console.

Sitting behind the steering wheel is a new 7-inch instrument cluster, while in the middle of the dash is the new, now-standard 8.8-inch TFT multi-touch display. The screen is not only larger but also more accessible, with the standard list graphics replaced by interactive widgets, more similar to those of a smart phone. Equally, the maps are no longer vertically stunted by menu bars along the bottom of the screen, allowing for a more comprehensive view of the landscape. The touchscreen is certainly useful at a stop, but for on the move, Alfa has retained the centre console mounted dial, which offers a soft but discernible click as you scroll through the options.

Alcantara leather with contrast stitching adorns the seats, dash and automatic gear shift – all variants of the Stelvio are mated to a smooth eight-speed automatic gearbox, controlled by a centralised shift and flappy paddles behind the wheel. While the auto box does a marvellous job left to its own devices right, the paddles offer an immediate and engaging shift – you can’t help but use them.

There is a brace of new safety features in the updated Stelvio (and indeed in the Giulia), including the so-called ‘Level 2 autonomy’ and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), designed to ensure the safest and most comfortable of rides. The technology includes the now-standard cruise control, blind spot assist and lane keep assist, and the ability to adjust the vehicle’s position on the road according to obstacles ahead or to the side. But as with many modern cars, it can tell if your hands aren’t on the wheel so don’t get any ideas...

As well as a reversing camera, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, you also now get Alfa Romeo’s ‘Connected Services’. Included in this suite is the ‘my assistant’ emergency function, which automatically contacts the emergency services in case of accident, the ‘my remote’ app, allowing drivers to unlock their car or activate the lights from a distance, and the ‘my Wi-Fi’ service, allowing the onboard Wi-Fi to be shared with eight devices. Joining these functions is ‘my theft assistance’, which alerts the owner of any attempt to steal the car, and ‘my navigation’, which will search for and navigate to a destination, using real-time traffic, weather and speed camera alerts.

Concurrent with the launch of the updated Stelvio and Giulia, Alfa Romeo has announced a new app-based car-sharing service. Named ‘I-Link by Leasys’ – Leasys being the manufacturer’s leasing service, financed though the FCA Bank – it allows Alfa owners to conveniently share their car and the cost with friends and family. A calendar on the app will show the car’s availability and allow your chosen friends and family to ‘book’ it. When they go to collect it, the app will allow them to unlock and start the car. At the end of each month they will be invoiced for the time that they have used it. An innovative idea, and certainly an interesting one, I-Link is designed to make owning and borrowing a luxury car more achievable via a shared cost.

With the future of urban mobility in its sights, the Stelvio and Giulia are statements of intent from Alfa Romeo, embracing the future of ‘sharing mobility’ and bringing the models into the ‘connected era’.

While its exterior updates are minimal and the car feels more or less the same to drive, the Italian manufacturer has created an altogether more appealing proposition (not that they needed to) with the Stelvio, with its luxury, comfortable cabin and class-leading safety features.