SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.
My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.
This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a preselected course. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.
Posted: 18 November 2017
The numbers
Base Prices: Super R810 000, First Edition R946 000
Engine: 1995 cc, chain driven SOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder turbopetrol
Power: 206 kW at 5200 rpm
Torque: 400 Nm between 2250 and 4700 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 5.7 seconds
Maximum speed: 230 km/h
Claimed average fuel consumption: 7.0 l/100 km
Tank: 64 litres
Cargo: 525 – 1600 litres
Ground clearance: 206 mm
Turning circle: 11.7 metres
Wading depth: 480 mm
Maximum (braked) towing capacity: 2300 kg
Warranty: 3 years / 100 000 km
Maintenance plan: 6 years / 100 000 km
Stelvio is not a Latin studmuffin. It’s a mountain pass in northern Italy. Appearing on the bucket lists of car enthusiasts worldwide, it is 49 kilometres long and climbs more than 1800 metres through 87 corners. Forty-eight are described as “challenging switchbacks.”
Alfa Romeo bravely named its first SUV in the pass’s honour but backed it up with equipment to match: sophisticated suspension, oversized brakes, lightweight construction, 52.2 to 47.8 percent front to rear balance, quick-ratio steering, a decently powerful 2.0-litre turbopetrol engine and all-wheel drive. Alfa Romeo dubs its Torsen based system Q4; the Q always comes first.
Stelvio is built at Cassino on the Giorgio platform shared by Giulia but with wider tracks front and rear and increased ground clearance – 206 mm. A 2.2-litre diesel is available overseas but our local distributors are waiting-and-seeing for now. What we can expect, in Q3 of 2018, is the Quadrifoglio Verde (QV) version with its 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 supplied by Ferrari. That’s good for 375 kW, 600 Nm and all the passion you can handle.
Not that the two-litre is in any way lethargic: fancy 206 kW, 400 Nm, zero to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds and a top velocity of 230? Thanks to aluminium body panels and certain suspension components and a carbon-fibre propeller shaft, Stelvio tips the scales at 1660 kg for a mass / power ratio of 8.1 kg per kilowatt. Being really quite big and luxurious, its natural competitors include those X-men from Bavaria and Jaguar’s F-Pace. Don’t, therefore, think “cheap Alfa-Fiat” but rather “full-size luxury SUV” - with lots of standard kit for which most others charge extra.
The base unit is called Super and features an eight-speed ZF8HP50 (second generation) automatic gearbox, 18” alloy wheels; twin channel HVAC, parking sensors and camera; eight-speaker Uconnect sound system; vehicle dynamic control and powered tailgate with three settings. Alfa Romeo’s familiar dna selector controls throttle response and damper settings. Then add tyre pressure monitoring; satnav, automatic headlights and wipers; hill descent control; leather seats; lane departure warning; Integrated Brake System (an electro-mechanical arrangement that cuts weight, gives excellent "feel," eliminates pedal vibration and provides instant response for shorter braking distances); forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking at speeds up to 65 km/h.
First Edition increases wheel size to 20” and ups the music spec’ to 10-speakers and a more sophisticated amplifier. Optional is an even more powerful Harmon Kardon14-speaker setup. The leather is smarter, seats and steering wheel are warmed, powered eight-way seat adjustment is added, headlights are auto-dipping Bi-Xenon units and the cruise control becomes adaptive. Then add keyless go, headlight washers, blind spot- and cross path warnings, a sunroof and paddle shifters.
In keeping with its name, our familiarisation drive took in six of the Western Cape’s most famous mountain passes and then added a longish stretch of moderately rough dirt road. That was so we could find out for ourselves how stable and comfortable it can be in less than ideal conditions. Overall, it drove and handled like a sports saloon and accelerated like, well, an Alfa. At no time did it feel top heavy or awkward and despite being driven quite aggressively on the day, it averaged 8.4 litres per hundred kilometres. We believe you could do better.
On the practical side, its boot is big, back seat leg- and headroom is excellent and the spare is a pump-up space saver. The first shipment of 106 vehicles was sold out before they arrived but you might still find one if you ask nicely.
Information gathered at a manufacturer sponsored press event
See our road test here
This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.
If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles. And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8