Alfa Romeo Stelvio review

It’s a very comfy place to be, the Stelvio. There’s a maturity to the way it handles long distances that very little of Alfa’s histrionic back catalogue can claim. Those 4cyl engines sound highly strung when worked hard, but they’re almost suspiciously silent on a motorway cruise, with expensive damping adding to the interior ambience. It’s a nice, relaxing place to be, with even the Quadrifoglio riding plushly. It never feels harsh like a Jaguar F-Pace on 22s, that’s for sure.

Add into this a 525-litre boot with a low, wide lip, good rear head and legroom (at least for sub six-foot adults) and interior quality that’s higher than the Giulia (door bins lined with carpet make all the difference, you know) and you have that most un-Alfa of things: an extremely solid all-rounder. The option of heated rear seats, a huge glass sunroof and abundant charging ports only rams the point home.

The new infotainment system is great, too. It operates via touchscreen or physical dial and its display is both widescreen and high definition. If you’re anything like us, you’ll connect your phone and utilise the smart link-up: Apple CarPlay looks especially dazzling and works better here than in some of the Stelvio’s foes, though we’ve found on Android Auto that Google Maps has a habit of flipping between day and night colour schemes for no reason. Weird.

Meanwhile there’s a wireless charging pad if your mobile’s modern enough, but if it’s not, you’ll get an ‘unidentified item in bagging area’ style alert when you pop your keys or glasses case in the extremely handy spot it inhabits. This is an Alfa after all; got to have a few foibles thrown in somewhere.