Giulia in Bangkok
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The 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia
The 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is a near-perfect sports sedan
The Giulia Quadrifoglio comes with a 505-horsepower, Ferrari-derived V-6
It’s loud when you want to blast through a canyon, quiet when you’re caught in traffic. The Giulia is the perfect dual-personality sports sedan.
I’m still concerned about quality issues that were spotted by other outlets when the car was first released, though I didn’t notice them myself.
There’s a lot working against the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, a brand that’s unfamiliar to buyers in a segment that’s crowded with brilliant entries. There’s a concern over reliability. It costs $87,595.
It’s a tough sell from the start.
Despite this, Alfa Romeo has built what is unequivocally the most brilliant car I’ve ever driven.
The Good
First, let’s establish what we’re working with. The Giulia Quadrifoglio is based on the Giulia I reviewed last week, but with the performance dials all pegged to the max. It gets adjustable magnetic suspension, a torque-vectoring differential, a couple of carbon fiber bits, high-performance Pirelli rubber and upgraded Brembo brakes. Most importantly, it gets a Ferrari-derived, twin-turbocharged V-6 doling out 505 horsepower.
The interior is comfortable, with tight racing buckets that grab you by the hips and hold you in for the ride ahead. Material quality is up to class standards, though nothing too exciting. It comes with quality speakers, CarPlay, lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control.
The ride, thanks to the magnetic dampers, is entirely controlled and composed in daily usage. It isn’t overly loud. All in all, it’s a traditional sports sedan; completely docile and controlled without a hint of drama in daily driving.
But turn the DNA drive select controller from N — Normal — to Dynamic or Race, and the QV comes alive. The eight-speed auto prepares to deliver snap-quick shifts through the meaty, metal paddles behind the wheel. The exhaust baffles open up to allow more of the sonorous engine note through. The throttle quickens for maximum response.
Drop the hammer and you’re slamming past 60 in 3.8 seconds, rocketing toward the Giulia’s 191 mph terminal velocity. The steering is quick, but unlike most manufacturers, Alfa doesn’t make it artificially heavy to feel more “sporty.” With sticky tires and a brilliant chassis, you really don’t have to worry about finding the Giulia’s limits on public roads.
This isn’t a car that drives impressively for a sedan. It’s simply a masterpiece in any class. While the Cadillac ATS-V previously was the champion of the sports sedan class, the razor-precise and tame cornering of the Caddy can’t match the ferocious yet composed personality of the Giulia. The Cadillac wants to flatter you, the Giulia wants to bite you.
The Bad
The minor complaints from the standard Giulia remain. The infotainment system can be a bit frustrating, asking you to negotiate CarPlay with nothing but a rotary dial. It also exhibited the same problem recognizing when I pressed the “lock” or “trunk open” buttons on the keyfob, which Alfa says was probably the result of low keyfob battery.
But the Quadrifoglio has one issue that the normal Giulia doesn’t: seriously frustrating brakes. A combination of poorly calibrated brake-by-wire software and racing-focused, carbon-ceramic brakes makes stopping the Giulia an exercise in frustration. It’s weirdly difficult to apply the right amount of force, meaning you’re always either jerking the car to a stop or not slowing down as quickly as you’d like. It gets easier the more time you spend with it, but the best option is to just not get the carbon-ceramic brakes. The standard pads are supposedly better.
More concerning are the reliability issues experienced by other outlets. I did not experience any of this, but you should know about what others found.
Motor Trend’s test car shut down at a stoplight and refused to restart or shift into drive, requiring a tow. Road & Track couldn’t get one to complete a full lap of a racetrack without it breaking in some way, despite multiple attempts. Jalopnik’s car threw a throttle fault code and refused to accelerate on the highway. Car and Driver’s long-term tester has spent one full month in the shop in only five months of testing, requiring a new fuel pump and differential.
It’s extremely rare for cars to break down during reviews because manufacturers are usually meticulous about ensuring their press fleets are trouble-free. While Car & Driver and Motor Trend later gave awards to the Giulia, concerns linger. Alfa, for its part, says that it took note of early-model issues and worked to rectify the problems.
“The quality and reliability of our vehicles is of the utmost importan[ce] to each and every person working at Alfa Romeo,” an Alfa Romeo spokesperson told CNBC. “All our models are getting better every year thanks to the feedback we get from our dealers and customers.”
“We’re constantly monitoring the quality of our products and we’re actively looking for opportunities to improve our vehicles,” he added. “Giulia sedans on the road today represent the very best of Alfa Romeo engineering, design and manufacturing.”
If you’re concerned about long-term quality, I suggest leasing so that the car is always under warranty.
How you should configure it
A Giulia QV starts at $75,295. The gorgeous red you see on our Giulia tester — Rosso Competizione — is a $2,200 option. Most colors cost $600, with a lot of good options available.
I’d pay the $400 for the awesome carbon fiber racing wheel, just because it looks that good. In addition, $1,200 gets you the driver-assistance features that help the daily drivability of the Giulia, while $500 lets you pick a better set of wheels than the base ones. Skip the carbon-ceramic brakes and save yourself a full $8,000.
All in, plan to spend $77,995 as long as you stick with a $600 color.
Final thoughts
I wouldn’t buy one of these to own for a long time because I’m still worried about quality issues that other outlets noticed. I never had any problems, though. I really liked the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. I’d sell everything I own, eat nothing but Ramen and live in a hut to lease one for three years. It really is that good.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/12/2018-alfa-romeo-giulia-quadrifoglio-review.html
Technology, Performance & Style: Alfa Romeo Giulia
In a market where premium sedans—including premium performance sedans—abound, if you want to break through, you need to do something different, especially when, over a century of heritage notwithstanding, your cars make comparative cameo appearances. Enter the Alfa Giulia.
The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. Which is, roughly speaking, Italian for “really fast sedan.” It lapped the Nurburgring in 7 minutes, 32 seconds, which set a record for a production midsize sedan. What’s more, it even has a trunk that you can put the groceries in.
Perhaps the third-most famous thing in the movie The Graduate (after “plastics” and Mrs. Robinson, not necessarily in that order) is the car that Benjamin Braddock, Dustin Hoffman’s character, drives: a 1966 Alfa Romeo Spider 1600 Duetto. That movie came out in 1967.
Alfa has not been much in evidence in the U.S. new car market for the past several years. It made its real return with the 2015 4C. However, know that this car, which is manufactured in the Maserati (sister company) facility in Viale Ciro Menotti, in Modena, Italy, is produced at a rate that is more akin to hand production than mass production: the assembly line allows 20 minutes per station. While most typical production plants would have the carbon fiber monocoque that serves as the skin of the car onto the front and rear chassis members with a robot, it is manually performed in Modena. And painting for those two-seaters is performed outside of the plant, so factoring that into the time required for production is further indication that this is a car that you’re unlikely to see parked in driveways up and down your street (i.e., in 2015, its first full year of availability in the U.S., there were 663 4Cs delivered; through the third quarter of 2016, there have been 411 delivered).
But now it has something new. Something that is capable of serving as a family sedan. Something with exquisite Italian design, inside and out. Something that is available with rear-wheel or all-wheel drive.
Something that has an all-new eight-speed automatic transmission (co-developed with ZF) available with column-mounted paddle shifters, a transmission with a compact package (four planetary gear sets with five shift elements [three multi-disk clutches and two brakes]) and the ability to make shifts in less than 100 milliseconds). Something that has either a 2.0-liter four or a 2.9-liter six under either a steel or carbon-fiber composite hood.
And it is there where we have to make a stop because when it comes to the engines, the Giulia is not your everyday grocery-getter.
There are three versions of the Giulia: the Giulia and Giulia Ti. The latter, Turismo Internazionale, is a higher trim level than the Giulia. Both of these models are available with an all-new, turbocharged all-aluminum engine. More specifically, this engine features a MultiAir2 valve system, four valves per cylinder with a silent chain-driven timing drive. There is a direct-mount twin-scroll turbocharger with electric waste gate actuation. The cylinder head is made with an air-quenched cast aluminum alloy and features an integrated exhaust manifold. The block is an aluminum alloy with cast-in steel liners. The crankshaft is forged nitride steel that’s been superfinished.
And it produces 280 hp at 5,200 rpm and 306 lb-ft of torque at from 2,000 to 4,800 rpm.
The Giulia and Giulia Ti can go from 0 to 60 mph in <5.5 seconds. They have a top speed of 149 mph. There is the third model, the Giulia Quadrifoglio. It has the 2.9-liter six cylinder engine. Maserati was mentioned in the context of the 4C. Ferrari needs to be mentioned in the context of the Quadrifoglio. When the engine was being developed for the Quadrifoglio, Ferrari was still a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (it was spun off at the start of 2016). Ferrari helped the powertrain engineers develop the 90° V6, all-aluminum, 2.9-liter engine. This engine features direct-injection like the four-cylinder engine. And it is turbocharged, too, but it is a bi-turbo setup, with the turbos integrated into the exhaust manifold and featuring a low-inertia, single-scroll design. It offers 35 psi peak boost. Now it should be noted that the name “Quadrifoglio” goes back to Alfa’s racing heritage. It goes back to 1923 when factory driver Ugo Sivocci, who had made a career out of finishing second in races, decided to paint a four-leaf clover on the side of Alfa RL that he drove in the Targa Florio race. He won. Maybe it was lucky because a few weeks later Sivocci was testing a car at Monza that didn’t have the four-leaf clover painted on its side . . . and he crashed. Fatally. Since then, racing and high-performance Alfas have had the four-leaf clover badge. In the case of the Quadrifoglio, the name comes along for the ride. This diversion into history and symbology goes to the point that the 2017 Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio was taken, as all high-performance cars need to be, it seems, to the Nurburgring. And there factory driver Fabio Francia piloted the car around the track in 7 minutes, 32 seconds, making it the fastest production sedan to wend its was around the Nordschleife, and to put it amid the rankings of cars that cost far, far more than the ~$70,000 that the Quadrifoglio starts at. The engine produces 505 hp @ 6,500 rpm and 443 lb-ft of torque at from 2,500 to 5,500 rpm. The car can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and hit a top speed of 191 mph. As previously mentioned, the Giulia—in all variants—is the sort of car that one can drive on a daily basis. Yes, even the Quadrifoglio. Almost within that context it is worth noting that even though there is “Race” as one of the four choices on what’s called the “DNA Pro Drive Mode Selector,” there is another one called “Advanced Efficiency.” While Race does things like activate an over-boost function, open the two-mode exhaust, turn off the ESC and adjust the braking, steering and transmission settings, Advanced Efficiency brings cylinder deactivation into play: the car can be powered by three of its six cylinders, which results in a fuel savings on the order of 15 percent (as it is premium fuel, that’s a good thing). In addition to which, there an engine start/stop system for the Quadrifoglio. There are some other things that the Quadrifolgio offers, as well. Such as an active aero front splitter (it is electrically actuated) that retracts when not necessary. That splitter is made with carbon fiber material. So are the roof, the rocker panel moldings, the rear decklid spoiler, and the aforementioned hood. Even the driveshaft is made with carbon fiber composite material for the Quadrifolgio. In addition to which, the sedan features aluminum front and rear vehicle frames, front shock towers, brakes, suspension components, doors and fenders. And the rear cross member is a hybrid construction: aluminum and composite. All models are based on a new architecture, “Giorgio,” that will give rise to other variants, such as a crossover and a station wagon. A word about styling. The shield-shaped front grille forms the Alfa “Trilobo.” (Given the quad and the tri, it seems as though the Italians are somewhat obsessed with numbers.) It is flanked by bi-xenon projector headlamps and LED daytime running lights. As this is a rear-drive architecture, the car has short overhangs fore and aft. There is a long hood and a short decklid. The front fenders on the Quadrifoglio feature air vents; those on the Giulia and Giulia Ti don’t. At the back, the rear fenders are more organic and less sharp in contrast to the character lines that run on the body side; this helps emphasize the rear-drive nature of the vehicle. There are quad chrome-tipped exhaust pipes on the Quadrifoglio; the other two cars have dual tips. Richard Cox, director of Alfa Romeo North America and head of Alfa Romeo Global Product Planning, said that when they were developing the Giulia, they knew they needed to come up with something different than what their German competitors have on offer. He said, perhaps only partially in jest, “If you think about most of the competition, most of them are focused on anything but the driving experience. Mood lighting, air fresheners with perfumes, those are some of the things they’re focusing on. We’re focused on the driving experience. That’s what makes us different.” And while this goes to the point of the double wishbone front suspension, a patented rear axle design with a vertical rod, a direct steering ratio (11.8:1), a chassis domain control that coordinates the vehicle’s active systems so as to provide balanced driving conditions, and more, it also involves the place where the driver is, in the cabin. At the center of the driving experience is the steering wheel, which is wrapped in leather, has a thick rim profile, and is said to be “Formula-1 inspired” (remember the Ferrari tie-in?). There are leather seats across the lineup, with an option for the Quadrifoglio of Sparco carbon fiber racing seats with leather and Alcantara inserts. The overall instrument panel has a driver-biased asymmetrical design. In the gauge cluster there is a color seven-inch TFT screen flanked by a large analog tach on the left and a speedometer on the right. The car also features, depending on trim, either a 6.5-inch or an 8.8-inch infotainment screen. Trim materials (again, vehicle dependent) are leather, wood, aluminum and carbon fiber. Cox pointed out that not only is the Giulia a new car based on a new architecture with two new engines, it is also being manufactured in an assembly plant in Cassino, Italy, which underwent a transformation with new equipment, workstations, processes and training to produce the new generation of Alfas. Source: https://www.adandp.media/articles/technology-performance-style-alfa-romeo-giulia
2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Review
The 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio couldn’t have arrived soon enough for the fledgling luxury brand. It’s the first SUV from the Italian luxury automaker and the one that buyers are most likely to see on the streets, ahead of the Giulia sedan and 4C sports car.
Alfa Romeo blends old-world charm with the New World’s obsession with high-riding off-roaders better than names you might also know: Porsche, BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz.
For its gorgeous styling, impressive performance (with a 505-horsepower Quadrifoglio model on the way), charming driving character, and lengthy list of standard equipment, we rate the 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio as a 7.4 out of 10 overall. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
It’s fair to call the Stelvio a lifted Giulia sedan. The two models share their powertrains, suspensions, brakes, steering setups, most of their interior and exterior design and equipment, and countless other components together.
The Stelvio range mirrors the Giulia sedan range on the powertrain front. That means 8-speed automatic transmissions across the board, along with a 2.0-liter, turbocharged inline-4, but the Stelvio distinguishes itself with a standard all-wheel-drive system, even on the Quadrifoglio. This system is relatively lightweight and can send 100 percent of its torque to the rear wheels and up to 60 percent to the fronts.
Alfa Romeo engineered a real dancer with the Stelvio, offering very fast steering and a tight, agile suspension. Brilliant paddle shifters, meanwhile, keep drivers engaged (provided they get the Sport Package).
The 2018 Stelvio comes standard with a rearview camera, but other safety features require one of the two Driver Assistance packages. Select both, and you’ll get front and rear parking sensors, blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking, and lane departure warning. In terms of standalone options, keep an eye on Alfa’s larger 8.8-inch infotainment system and the Sport Package.
The Stelvio is available in three trim levels, base, Ti, and the high-performance Quadrifoglio (Italian for “four-leaf clover”). On top of those overarching models, there are Sport Packages available for both, while a Lusso (“luxury”) is a late availability item for the Ti. Prices start at $42,990 (including a $995 destination charge) for the least expensive model and will likely extend beyond $75,000 for the Stelvio Quadrifoglio. Alfa says it will announce pricing closer to that model’s on-sale date, during the first quarter of 2018.
Styling
With the Stelvio, Alfa Romeo coins a new shape that reminds us how blocky other crossover SUVs can seem.
Alfa Romeo has drawn some of the prettiest vehicles in human history. If any company could get the crossover SUV right, it’s them. The Stelvio is stunning from nearly every angle, inside and out. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
The Stelvio basically takes the Giulia’s styling and puts it on stilts. It wears a virtually identical face to its low-riding cousin. The taller Stelvio wears it better—Alfa’s iconic “trilobo” grille looks more natural on the crossover, which can hide the design’s visual mass better.
The profile looks better than the Giulia’s. The Stelvio’s two-box shape leaves designers room to sculpt a scallop-like cut into the back of the greenhouse. It’s a gorgeous, organic shape that’s a welcome reprieve from the aggressive, angular designs that brands like Lexus offer.
In back, a small, steeply raked rear window sits above a heavily styled rear hatch while the rear bumper houses cannon-like exhausts, giving following drivers a good idea of the Stelvio’s performance potential.
The Stelvio’s cabin houses some cheaper components than the competition, but the pieces crucial to driving are both beautiful and excellent to use. The centerpiece is a standard flat-bottomed steering wheel with a thinner rim but ample grips. The stop-start button sits at the 7:30 position of the airbag housing, an inspired touch that looks purposeful and feels very natural to use. Behind the wheel are a must-have set of column-mounted paddle shifters. Huge and made of metal, they’re a focal point of the Sport trim level.
The Stelvio’s seats wear leather as standard and have the elegant look you’d expect in a vintage car. The Stelvio Ti gets upgraded hides, while the Sport Package adds huge side bolsters. Designers incised real wood and aluminum trim into the dash, while obvious plastics are kept to a minimum. Overall, this cabin is a lovely place to spend a long drive.
Performance
Dollar-for-dollar, the 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio is one of the most capable, dynamic, and fun-to-drive crossover SUVs on the market.
The 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio shoots and scoots on a level like the mid-grade Jaguar F-Pace and Porsche Macan. It rates 8 points out of 10 on our performance scale. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
The Stelvio’s two-engine lineup mirrors the Giulia. A 2.0-liter turbo-4 builds 280 horsepower and 306 pound-feet of torque in base and Ti models. This engine should keep Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class, BMW X3, and Audi Q5 owners up at night.
There’s only a little hyperbole at work there. The turbo-4 outguns the base engines in the BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLC300, and Audi Q5, while it has enough grunt to hold its own against the X3 and Q5’s optional V-6 powertrains. Performance is strong from a standstill and up through redline, with the broad, flat torque curve kicking the nearly 4,000-pound crossover in the pants whenever it’s necessary. The Stelvio can hit 60 faster than any other base model in the segment, arriving there in 5.4 seconds before hitting a 144-mph top speed.
The 2.0-liter’s partner in crime is ZF’s fantastic 8-speed automatic transmission. It’s an unobtrusive transmission when the DNA drive mode selector is in Natural, kicking down as needed and holding gears where appropriate. It’s good in Advanced Efficiency, short-shifting along to save fuel. The transmission’s potential comes to full life in Dynamic mode. Shifts are fast and almost brutally hard. It’s unlike any other SUV we’ve driven, with high-rpm gear changes delivering a swift kick in the back. The changes are smooth and quick on downshifts, so don’t be surprised if, like us, you start using manual mode just for giggles.
The Stelvio isn’t some automotive fullback, capable of only running in a straight line. It’s a four-wheeled ballerina. This is one of the most agile, enjoyable vehicles in its segment, easily matching up with the sublime handling of the Jaguar F-Pace. A perfect 50-50 weight distribution ensures a wonderful balance and a neutral handling character that’s willing to rotate if you drive it properly. The Stelvio is good in Ti Sport form, but the upcoming adaptive suspension and mechanical limited-slip differential in the Ti Performance Package should deliver even sharper handling when they arrive later this year.
Divine steering intervenes on the Stelvio’s behalf. Lightning-fast with an 12.0:1 steering ratio and exceptionally precise, the steering feels natural and builds weight well. It’s very talkative, giving drivers a clear idea of what the front axle is doing. Feedback in general is excellent through the seats. It doesn’t track all that well at highway speeds and can get tiring, but the trade-off in the bends is worth it.
We’ll level some criticism at the Stelvio’s brakes. Alfa Romeo uses an all-electric brake pedal that records input and transmits it to a computer, which directs the action of the brake calipers. It’s a fantastic system in high- or medium-speed, dynamic conditions. It’s also virtually impossible to stop the Stelvio smoothly at the sort of speeds you’ll encounter in high-traffic areas.
Comfort & Quality
A tiny backseat is the 2018 Alfa Stelvio’s biggest demerit, and will make it difficult for Alfa Romeo to appeal to families with older children.
The Alfa Stelvio commits a couple of sins on its way to SUV divinity. We’d still rather hang with the sinners.
In the Stelvio, excellent optional front seats offer plenty of support and some leather, real wood and aluminum trim hit grace notes. None of those make up for a cramped second row, a smallish cargo hold, and an overarching sense of cheapness throughout the interior.
We give the Stelvio a 6 out of 10. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
Alfa Romeo offers three different seating options on the Stelvio—while leather is standard, Ti Sports get more heavily bolstered chairs and the Ti Lusso scores more luxurious hides. Those with broader frames might not care for the super supportive Sport seats, but if you plan on tackling twisty roads regularly, they’re the only way to fly.
The rest of the Stelvio’s cabin is a mixed bag. Real wood trim—Dark Gray Oak—is standard on Ti models, while the Lusso gets an optional Light Walnut. The Ti Sport is available with real aluminum. Along with the leather dash, there’s a lot to like here. But none of it feels very solid, and while the plastics are technically soft touch, they’re weirdly firm, too. The hard black plastic surrounding the shift lever and controls for the infotainment system also feels out of place. We question how well this cabin will hold up to more than a few years of use.
Second-row leg room should be fine for children, but with just 31.9 inches—over 4.5 inches less than the next closest European crossover, the BMW X3—adults will want to avoid the back seats on all but the shortest of journeys. Head room is tight too, although at 38.9 inches in back, the Stelvio sits neatly between the Mercedes GLC on the low end and the BMW X3 and Audi Q5 on the high end.
The Stelvio has merely average cargo space, with 18.5 cubic feet of cargo space behind the second row and up to 56.5 cubic feet in total. That trails behind the new Audi Q5 (26.8 cubic feet with 60.4 in total) and the BMW X3 (27.6 cubic feet and 63.3 in total), although the Stelvio’s maximum ties the Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class.
Safety
Crash test ratings aren’t available for the 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio yet.
Neither NHTSA nor the IIHS has gotten around to crashing the 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio yet, so we aren’t rating it yet. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
All Stelvios are available with active safety systems like forward-collision warnings with automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warnings, and blind-spot monitors. Most of these features are in one of two packages—a $650 Driver Assistance Static package adds blind-spot monitors, while the $1,500 Driver Assistance Dynamic Plus adds the rest. A rearview camera with rear parking sensors is standard on all models.
Features
A solid roster of standard equipment and a range of luxury and performance options keeps the Alfa Romeo Stelvio competitive, while a solid warranty should give owners some peace of mind.
All 2018 Stelvios come standard with power features, 18-inch wheels, LED taillights, dual-zone climate control, leather seats, a 7.0-inch display in the instrument cluster, a 6.5-inch infotainment system that will add Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility later this year, an eight-speaker stereo, and a power liftgate for $42,990, including a $995 destination charge. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
The Ti trim adds $2,000 to the price tag and brings with it wood trim, heated leather seats, an 8.8-inch infotainment system, SiriusXM satellite radio, 19-inch wheels, and front parking sensors.
Option packages are relatively simple. Base Stelvio owners can add the $1,800 Sport Package and get 19-inch alloys, a sport-tuned suspension, gloss-black window surrounds, a sportier steering wheel, and those gorgeous paddle shifters. A Driver Assistance Static Package costs $800 and adds blind-spot monitors, front and rear parking sensors, and auto-dimming mirrors. Advanced safety equipment is available in the Driver Assistance Dynamic Plus Package that adds adaptive cruise control, automatic high beams, forward-collision warnings with automatic emergency braking, and lane-departure warnings. Finally, a $795 Cold Weather Package adds heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, and heated washer nozzles.
Stand-alone equipment on the base Stelvio includes navigation for the 6.5-inch infotainment system and the upgraded 8.8-inch display.
The Stelvio Ti ups the ante with plenty of extra options, including the mutually exclusive Sport and Lusso packages. The Sport Package costs $2,500 and adds all the same equipment as the base Stelvio plus sport seats and 20-inch wheels. The Lusso Package adds upgraded leather on the seats and steering wheel, a leather-wrapped dash, and wood trim.
The Ti Performance Package is available on non-Sport models and adds an active suspension, mechanical limited-slip differential, and column-mounted paddle shifters. The same package is available for the Ti Sport, sans the already included paddle shifters. Alfa Romeo will announce pricing for these packages later this year.
This all sounds good. It does not, however, address Alfa Romeo’s reputation for reliability (or lack thereof). Alfa offers a 4-year, 50,000-mile warranty on the Stelvio. A 5-year, 100,000-mile warranty covers the powertrain, while the first service is free. It’s better than most mainstream cars, but far behind the free-maintenance offers you’ll get on an F-Pace or an XT5.
Fuel Economy
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio’s 28-mpg highway rating is perfectly average for the class, keeping pace with its European rivals.
The 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio returns an EPA-estimated 22 mpg city, 28 highway, 24 combined. Those figures are good enough for a 6 out of 10 on our fuel-efficiency scale. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
In terms of fuel-sipping technology, the Advanced Efficiency driving mode, a recalcitrant stop-start system, and the 8-speed automatic transmission are about as good as the Stelvio gets.
Source: https://www.thecarconnection.com/overview/alfa-romeo_stelvio_2018