Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio Review | Still brilliant?

Welcome to the updated Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and if you're the kind of person that looks at a Giulia Quadrifoglio and thinks I want that heavier, taller and all-wheel drive then keep watching because I think you'll like this car. For 2024 both the Giulia and Stelvio have had a modest but noticeable range of updates both to styling and what's under the skin. The 3x3 headlight pattern with matrix LEDs is one of the more obvious changes but there's also been tweaks to the grille design and rear lights with Stelvio getting a clear lens appearance for the latter. Honestly it isn't that much different to the pre-facelift version if we're being really honest but actually I do think it's a little bit better and that's largely thanks to the 3x3 headlamp signature which you can see here and that's based on the ones from the Alfa Romeo Zagato and that was a very very good looking car and actually being fair to this thing it's probably the best or one of the best looking SUVs on sale even if some of the proportions don't work quite as well as they do on the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. Climb inside and the main change to the Stelvio's cabin is the introduction of a 12.3 inch digital dashboard display. It's got three main themes, evolved, kind of futuristic, relax, less information heavy and my personal favourite heritage. This is inspired by the dials from 60s and 70s Alfas and features details like the inverted numbers at the end of the speedo. A small thing but it's a nice touch. As for the rest of the cabin it's starting to feel pretty dated in here if I'm honest. I mean the infotainment system is a perfect example of that because the screen itself is pretty small compared to rivals and also it's quite fuzzy and the software behind it is it's not basic but then it's nowhere near the German rivals. It does have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with a wide connection so if you use that functionality it shouldn't make too much of a difference but beyond that there's not a whole lot going on here and yeah the rest of the cabin I mean as you can see it certainly doesn't feel like something from the 2020s. It's definitely in the decade before that. The good thing though is that you have got plenty of physical controls. So you've got the climate control which has got these nice big chunky dials you can easily change the temperature without having to fiddle around on the touch screen. You've got a rotary dial controller here. You've got proper buttons and actually that's a really nice bonus. So although it doesn't feel bang up to date and you haven't got a bank of screens across the fascia what you have got is reasonably good ease of use which counts for something. Despite the Stelvio looking and feeling smaller than many newer rivals there's still plenty of space in the cabin including enough room for four large adults even if headroom in the back is a little bit tight. Meanwhile the boot is 525 litres not that much smaller than a BMW X3 and of course it's got an electric tailgate. Okay so solid practicality but what does all that mean? What about the weight of this car? It's always a sore point with SUVs and at 1830 kilograms this isn't a light car but then when its rivals are closer to two tons or in some cases over two tons this actually starts to look pretty good and it means that the Stelvio Quadrifoglio has a certain something about its handling that you just don't get in other performance SUVs in the 90,000 pound bracket. Just like the Giulia QV the steering is super quick and the front end responds in time. Yes the car feels taller and heavier than its saloon counterpart but that doesn't stop the Stelvio Quadrifoglio doing its best impression of a two-seat sports car. It's just so alert and so agile that it takes your mind a few minutes to recalibrate to how this thing goes around corners. The high driving position it tells you one thing but the steering and the agility tells you something completely different. With 513 brake horsepower up 10 brake horsepower from before the 2.9 litre bi-turbo V6 does naught to 62 miles an hour in a mere 3.8 seconds and unlike the Giulia QV and its rear wheel drive layout the Stelvio has no problem putting its power down out of corners. The slower stuff it actually feels a little bit quicker sometimes. Strangely the engine note to me sounds different to the Giulia QV. It's more like a six-cylinder diesel BMW sound but on the inside it's all right. On the outside it sounds fantastic if you crack the window open you can really appreciate it and you also get a rasp every time you go up through the gears or go down through the gears on the eight-speed gearbox. I tell you what this isn't just quick for an SUV it is quick by anyone's standards. It really oh really really goes. Coming into corners the brakes are a tiny bit short on feel but you soon forget that when you delve into the realms of seemingly infinite front-end grip and incredible traction on exit. It's only on very rare occasions where you feel like it's lacking any outright speed compared with the Giulia QV largely thanks to the security of all-wheel drive. Although saying that you can tighten your line through a corner two ways you can either give the throttle a prod and then the new mechanical limited-slip differential not electric anymore mechanical can handle up to 50% of the power to the rear wheels or you can just let off the accelerator and then the front tucks in nicely as well. It's really intuitive. I think it's less noticeable than in the Giulia Quadrifoglio but this mechanical limited-slip diff is definitely more consistent and easier to get on with than the old electronic limited-slip diff that could be good but could also be quite frustrating and difficult to understand. However those cat-like responses come at a price because it doesn't matter what you do with the drive mode selector and adaptive dampers the ride quality is very firm especially at low speeds. Understandably it's hard to deliver this kind of agility in a car of this size without making some compromises to outright comfort but even so you're gonna feel the bumps more in this than you will in many of its rivals. I've also got a chunk of wind noise from the mirrors especially at high speeds and then at low speeds I find the controls so the accelerator the gearbox it can be a bit jerkier than other performance SUVs so it's not as smooth or as polished when you're just driving around town at normal speeds. Mind you because this car was designed a good few years ago you haven't got anywhere near the amount of incessant chimes or warning sounds that you get from lane departure warnings or traffic sign recognition as you get on brand new cars. It pretty much just leaves you alone and there's a lot to be said for that although one thing or one sound that I'm not too sure about is the indicator. Sounds a bit like a grandfather clock. On the one hand then the Stelvio Quadrifoglio feels dated and probably too biased towards the performance end of performance SUV because if you're buying a fast SUV then is razor sharp handling really your top priority or would you rather a comfortable tech laden bus that goes quickly in a straight line. However if you are one of those people that had your heart set on a two-seat performance car but other things got in the way then it doesn't change the fact that the Stelvio Quadrifoglio is without doubt one of the most enjoyable and fun performance SUVs that you can buy with any budget. It's far from perfect but in some ways I think that just adds to the appeal.