Driving Alfa Romeo’s Stelvio SUV, updated last year, now in four models with the addition of the Veloce, a sportier variant priced at $78,950. There’s a plethora of premium SUV’s to choose from but this Alfa Romeo is the SUV with sports car performance. A drivers’ car through and through, the best of both worlds offering the space, comfort and practicality of a mid-sized all-wheel drive SUV with the rewarding experience of a sports car.

The entry model’s 2.0-litre turbo engine further boosted to 206kW and 400Nm of torque drives through a smooth 8-speed automatic with paddle shifters.

The drive experience with three drive modes is rewarding to say the least, as you’d expect from a marque that’s built its image on sports performance. It steers, handles, and brakes with exceptional sharpness, comes with five-star safety and is loaded with comfort and convenience features.

But there’s small elements that frustrate like the rather small centre infotainment touch screen while the multi-function display in front of the driver has well sized analogue instruments, but the posted active cruise control speed is so small it’s extremely difficult to read. The dash while tailored and smart lacks the functionality of some of the more affordable less sporty SUV’s in the market.

Warranty at 3 years or 150,000 kilometres also below par.

I’m David Berthon

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