When you’re looking for a car that’s fun to drive, SUVs aren’t the first thing that comes to mind. The Stelvio has shaken things up, proving that a few extra inches off the ground doesn’t compromise purity at the wheel. And while most people don’t have room in real life for the Quadrifoglio’s more than five hundred horsepower, the 280 Veloce could be the answer to all of your questions.

Words Andrea Albertazzi / Photos Alessio Becker

What are the answers we seek when we need to understand if a car is the right one for us? Is it the one that responds to needs intended as space on board and driving pleasure? But it also has to be engaging and make us want to spend time – our precious time – in that very cockpit. All of this together, in just one car and without spending astronomical figures. Sometimes it only takes 600 meters, provided that they are like the ones I have just ingested as if I had been in sugar withdrawal for too long to even remember the taste of similar curves.

The truth is that once I reached the Col de Braus I had already faced the glorious switchbacks of Col de Turini, but it is in this microscopic geographical handkerchief in which 8 hairpin bends are enclosed seemingly created by the Lord of the Curves himself, a superior entity that probably had a secret meeting with the top management of Alfa Romeo when they designed the Stelvio. Having reached its mid-life restyling, the SUV from Arese has given us the opportunity to demonstrate how it has stood the test of time, that check that in the immediate future could be distorted by excitement due to the fact that the biscione had returned with great fanfare supported by another model – the Giulia – capable of bringing back interest in the brand. And if we fell madly in love with the two most extreme Quadrifoglio versions, however capable of managing coexistence with those who don’t care about doing too many calculations at the petrol pump, the Veloce represents an even more important model for me.

First of all, we are talking about an SUV that is clearly more aimed at a wider use than the twin-turbo V6s. The Stelvio Veloce of our test is a 280 horsepower Q4, therefore the most high-performance variant before the Quadrifoglio step. It is logical not to expect performance of a similar level, but rather a greater balance that is able to make it a perfect daily car, as well as a fun object in the precise moment in which the road beyond the hood is not a boring motorway, but one of the most famous special stages in the rally world. The turbocharged in-line 4-cylinder engine is here combined with four-wheel drive via an 8-speed automatic transmission. As mentioned, there are 280 horses, +120 and +71 compared to the diesel options and 240 less than the Quadrifoglio, which for the record also costs 40 thousand Euros more. However, torque is the matter I would focus on the most: those 400 Nm that delivered between 2,250 and 4,500 rpm make a small-sized engine like this 2-liter turn in a linear manner, without ever perceiving a weight that slightly exceeds 1,700 kg.

It’s an Alfa Romeo, and as it should be, driving is one of the main values ​​on which the technicians from Arese have focused. This restyling is no exception. Traction is mainly distributed on the rear axle, but the Q4 all-wheel drive can transmit up to 50% of the power to the front axle via an electromechanically controlled clutch. Translated into simple words, this means greater safety on slippery surfaces and more precision during the most dynamic driving moments. Just like today, where far from sunny Menton, the Col de Turini does not hide some traces of melting snow. The winter tires bite well on every surface and to my great surprise they only make themselves felt for a more pronounced rolling than usual. Yes, because the wow factor of the Stelvio – as I well remember – is an extremely lower seating position compared to any other SUV. You literally feel enveloped in the passenger compartment, to the advantage of more effective control.

What a pleasure: it’s time to move the DNA wheel to Dynamic and the gear lever to sequential, after all paddles this large rarely appear, let alone on a medium-powered SUV. Too bad there’s no way to increase the volume, because the subdued sound of the 4-cylinder doesn’t do justice to how the 280 horses move the Stelvio Veloce from one curve to the next. The suspension does the rest, however, and keeps the car pressed down almost to make you forget that you’re not on the sister Giulia and that you have enough centimeters from the ground to pull over wherever you want, not caring if the asphalt isn’t as smooth as a child’s cheek. The same child who wakes up when you rediscover the pleasure of pulling up to 6,100 rpm and then red line, shoot the next gear and keep climbing.

Here comes the Col de Braus, I have been waiting for it for a long time, well aware that its perfect hairpin bends know how to undermine a wrong entry. The experience of these eight corners is visceral. It turns off the light of the brain and asks, or rather demands to be experienced as if you were wearing a suit and helmet while racing against a stopwatch. And right here, in these 600 miserable meters, the Stelvio Veloce remains planted on the ground as if it were on rails. With the automatic that manages the transmission better than I could have done, in a mix of fishing between power and torque that let the four-wheel drive grip the rough asphalt just enough to make me shoot forward with a hint of oversteer. You read that right, find me an SUV that drives like this and isn’t called Ferrari Purosangue and I’ll pay for a dinner a month for the rest of my life.

That steering wheel, wide enough and with the ignition button of an exotic supercar is the icing on the cake. Whether it is 520 horsepower or 280, the Stelvio moves with enviable safety and then, let’s be clear, the Veloce has a power that can satisfy 99.9% of buyers, also because to exploit it properly you will risk your neck and your license. With this I do not mean to say that it is an alternative to the Quadrifoglio: after all the feedback from the V6 is a world on its own, ditto that emotional pandemonium that is unleashed when you have enough space and guts to start getting serious. The 280-hp Stelvio Veloce is however the demonstration that excellent cars can exist, even without mortgaging your house to pay for petrol and road tax. It knows how to entertain not only because it goes fast, but because it drives like a maniac. It has the same connection with the asphalt and performance of a proper sports car, such as the 5.7 seconds to go from 0 to 100 kph.

And then, a detail that is not at all obvious because we are talking about a model intended for a much wider audience, a price that starts at around €63,000 for the Sprint trim and reaches €72,000 for the Tributo Italiano, passing through the intermediate step of our Veloce, at €69,000. Having reached the top of the Braus I feel that time has not yet come to continue further. I maneuver and go back appreciating how the weight that is certainly not that of a Lotus does not create any kind of handicap to the drivability of the Stelvio, not even on the intense descent that takes me back to l’Escarene. U-turn – once again – and while out of the corner of my eye I notice that fuel consumption is perfectly acceptable, especially considering the pace and the climbs faced – 8 liters/100 km, in this specific case – I go back to those hairpin bends for another face to face.

I wasn’t wrong and this second time I try to give it even more gas, feeling more like a compact sports sedan than a 5-seater family car with plenty of space in the back and on-board technology that has been further improved compared to the pre-restyling model. The watchword remains ergonomics, both for the passenger compartment and for the soft lines that characterize the aesthetics of the Stelvio. With the Veloce spec we then have an even more decisive look, especially at the rear with a beautiful diffuser and two large strictly real exhaust pipes. Ergonomics also in the way it eats up curves, because it does so with ease and with a road-wheels-steering-butt dialogue that creates addiction. And if a car primarily designed for everyday use succeeds so well in all these things, even different from each other like going fast – indeed Veloce – and being willing to be driven everywhere, it is the confirmation that those just 600 meters were the sincere answer I was looking for.

ALFA ROMEO STELVIO VELOCE

Engine 4 cylinder Turbo, 1.995 cc Power 280 hp @ 5.250 rpm Torque 400 Nm @ 2.250-4.500 rpm

Traction All-Wheel-Drive Transmission 8-Speed Automatic Gearbox Weight 1.735 kg

0-100 kph 5,7 sec Top Speed 230 kph Price €68.950