2023 Alfa StelvioVeloce
Today it's time to read about the facelift of the Alfa Stelvio, Alfa's midsize SUV with AKMotoblog. Let's go here with the changes. For example, the headlamps have been changed, updated now, matrix LED and also different design here in the daytime running light, one, two, three elements like we've seen with the smaller SUV, the Alfa Tonale. Then we have the typical Alfa front grille and everything designed in a rather black scheme. This is the sporty Veloce version. Turning indicators, beautiful idea, look at that, in a cascading style and using these three elements, yeah, that's cool, isn't it?
Length, wheels, and rear
4.69m or 184 inches is the length here. We have 20-inch wheels mounted, overall from 19 to 21 and I really like this very unique Alfa design with the open holes here that looks really typical Alfa and quite stunning, doesn't it?
Then the Veloce badging and the Alfa Stelvio already from the outside look so sporty to me, one of the most beautiful SUVs out there. So, we'll see what the interior and the driving part do here today. In the rear, they changed the lamps, so now less red but more transparency right here in this area, but then again, the signature, the light signature is really beautiful and slim, Q4, by the way, legalizing the all-wheel drive.
And in this trim here, we also have the black tips here around the exhaust pipes, quite a powerful look, isn't it?
Turning indicators in the rear... not as spectacular as we've seen in the front.
Interior: Seats and cockpit
The key fob here looks good but doesn't feel that much premium. The door closing sound... also not that good, so that could be a little bit better. Inside the door. It's actually a nice and clean design and
everywhere we can see and feel, we have real buttons and so on. And the first interior overview, of course, the sporty steering wheel and the rear shifting levers here, really massive. They're fixed behind the steering wheel, also galvanized here. That is really cool. Seat base versions in the UK and in Germany will also feature fabric on the inside.
Higher trims like the Veloce here and also all US trims only feature animal skin and the surface here is really stiff, so not the best comfort from seats. However, they hold you quite well, quite tight in corners. Then with 189 or 6'2", still leaves a lot of headroom and the steering wheel here with the manual control, doesn't feel too good. So, yes, we know the Alfas look awesome on the exterior but some things as for the build quality on the interior are, let's say, only mediocre.
The interior cockpit overview has a really clean and beautiful layout, and what I appreciate is... The real buttons. Start/stop at the steering wheel, here for the cruise control and so on, left side, right side for the volume, for example, and on the middle part, lower here, climate unit... and strength, seat heating, heated steering wheel, everything straightforward as for the user interface.
New digital instruments
Love the classic Alfa Romeo design of the instruments, how they are put in there like goggles, you know, like right and left really enclosed.
Digital instruments here with a greeting screen, that looks pretty amazing already. When you start up the vehicle... here the 12.3-inch instruments, new with the facelift, are activated. This is the retro look and in the retro look, by the way, you can see here that 20 and 40 are turned in the opposite direction and that is a citation of past Alfa models.
Other than that, you can also switch to a more modern look... And listen to the turning indicators. Definitely retro sound design. The first time I heard that, I was like, "Okay, would you appreciate that or would you say like, 'I don't want that sound in my vehicle'?" But then when you think about vintage models, then, you know, it grows on you.
Infotainment and storage
Infotainment 8.8-inch is super, super slow indeed. So, yeah, to offer that in nowadays cars, with the facelift, I don't know, even Apple Car Play and Android Auto is kind of slow, but most of the time, you will use it in this very mode then because the car internal system is really not up to date and here also the rearview camera and so on. So, they shouldn't do it in a 2023, 2024 car.
Middle console here in the front part, yes, a USB-A charger, but that's only for charging. Then slide this one open, adaptive cup holders. I'm glad that we still have a real shifting stick here. That's actually quite cool, fits the sporty vehicle. Drive mode selector and volume control, for example, for the passenger. And here, this device can control the infotainment system while driving. Glad to still have that. Under the armrest, cable connections for Apple Car Play and Android Auto, some space, and also inductive charging.
Rear seats
Facelift news, USB-C charger now, at least one in the rear next to USB-A. And the rear seating area, you can see it is kind of narrow, not the smallest, but you see when I'm driving, I can barely fit behind the driver's seat myself, so not too much rear legroom. However, headroom here is absolutely fine.
Trunk/boot
Trunk or boot area, 525 liters or 18.5 cubic feet, well usable, a meter or 40 inches in width and also in length, and we have this cover here, which is not the best. I still take it that way, and then we fold the seats, but they don't fold directly. You have to push them, and then you have a flat loading area. Here, this could be done a little bit better, I think, build quality-wise.
Engines
As for the engines, pretty simple, a 2-liter 4-cylinder turbo petrol engine, 280 horsepower. In the US, you can also get a rear-wheel drive version. Other than that, this all-wheel drive version is here, and then in some markets, you also get 2.2-liter 4-cylinder diesel with 210 horsepower. Here, the acceleration figure for the turbo petrol engine, less than 6 seconds to 100 kilometers an hour or 62 miles an hour, is definitely sufficient, and if you want even more power, there's also the Quadrifoglio version available.
Consumption, you do have to calculate with some 10 liters on 100 kilometers, so like 23 MPG US, 28 MPG UK, quite thirsty. And...the strange thing is, it kind of sounds like a diesel, this petrol engine. Do you hear what I mean? And you also kind of get that on the interior. Even some other customers, we have been EU viewers confirmed that.
Autobahn acceleration petrol 280 hp
With the Alfa Stelvio facelift put to the dynamic mode and German Autobahn, 100 kilometers an hour, 60 miles an hour too. 130 150 160 It's actually quite decent. You feel that the engine is working really hard indeed. Overall the sound, we've discussed it with Giulia as well. At the base RPM level, it sounds basically like a diesel. Here, of course, not anymore, but it sounds also pretty thin on the interior indeed. Here at higher speeds, here around, well, 150 kilometers an hour, it's actually quite loud, so noise insulation, they are definitely behind the competition, and driving feeling wise, said in the interior part, I would like to have the steering wheel a little bit closer towards me, but an automatic transmission is working very well indeed, and you get a good feeling of the vehicle.
The steering is really precise and direct, and it feels super sporty. It doesn't feel like you would be handling a large SUV or something. Let's also do the lane changes here. It's so much fun indeed. Back again... it immediately tells you actually, "Race me!" That's why people buy this vehicle. The same with Giulia. This platform here offers so much driving fun... and that is the moment where it kind of tries to make up for the flaws we mentioned earlier, also like on the interior and maybe infotainment and something, that you start driving it and just feel like, "Wow, this is so much fun."
The assistance systems, I like how you can put in... the speed here on the left side of the steering wheel with thumb... and the feedback it gives you is really nice. Proper buttons to press, not #capacitiveBS and so on, and this now also features with the facelift here, you can activate or deactivate easily the active lane-keeping assist, so the car is centered in the lane actively, and this works in a very smooth way indeed.
So really good upgrade for the assistance systems. You also have a blind spot monitor, for example, but the good thing to me is really that you can always, by pressing a button at the steering wheel, deactivate the lane-keeping assist, and then you are freer to steer once again. That's I think a very practical approach. Once again, higher speeds. It handles so well. Yes, the wind noise is quite notable, I have to say that, but the car overall stays really, really calm and collected, and you feel very safe when controlling it.
That's the thing, that this sporty behavior also feels to this, you know, perceived safety and handling indeed, of course, you should never exaggerate it or something, but it's really, it feels like nothing, you know, moving at high speeds really fits the German Autobahn where we can, at least in some parts, do these really high speeds indeed, and now we're back at less than 100 kilometers an hour, less than 60 miles an hour, and it feels like nothing. It feels like we would be standing still. You can also easily change back to the normal driving mode.
Like this D and A, have this scheme there, and then also the RPMs change a little bit, so in the dynamic mode, the gears are basically lower always, you have always a gear lower, and then the RPMs turn up quicker, so you can better accelerate, have a little more fun as for that aspect. The turning indicators, by the way, I'm not sure how you can hear that, but yeah, I already mentioned them in the interior overview, they just sound kind of weird.
I can just only imagine that it's this retro approach for that as well, you know, accelerating out. That is awesome. Really, really nice.So much fun to turn around. Here changing the autobahn and even one to another, you can see how quickly I approach the other vehicle... and you really forget that you're driving an SUV. That's the cool thing about the Stelvio. It really delivers the driving fun of a sport sedan always reminding us of the Giulia platform.
All-wheel drive still has a rear wheel bias, good acceleration out... and once again, we're up to speed, blocked here. It's really beautiful in the acceleration. Wow, really, really cool. So you can get it also as a rear-wheel drive on the US market, but when you have the all-wheel drive version, then you still remain, you know, with this rear-wheel bias, that you still can get out of the corners in a really nice way.
Driving comfort
Seats, by the way, are not the most comfortable, as we said earlier, but they hold you pretty tight here when I'm doing lane changes and in the corners and so on. So that's the good aspect of it. The base fabric seats that you can get in some countries will deliver more comfort because they're just softer in the surface material.
So that is a thing to get more comfortable. Other than that, here at the moment, 20-inch wheels are mounted, and the suspension is set on a quite stiff note. So if you want more comfort, then I can recommend going for the smaller wheels, actually, depending on the version you pick.
Of course, the stiff suspension delivers me a nice sporty feeling. Here, I can also use the manual shifting paddles. So, for example, shift down, accelerate out, use them again, wow, bang, bang, and then you really hear and feel the gears are being set in. So this also attributes to this driving fun. You can make it even more fun with these fixed paddles here at the steering wheel. that's so much fun. It really gives you some kind of Ferrari vibes, even.
And..you can also use the big shifting lever in the middle in this manual mode to shift up or down. but I mean, when you have these shifting paddles... then you basically can use them, right?
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