7:27 am, October 12, 2022
The Alfa Romeo Tonale is the first car in a whole new era of the Italian brand being relevant again to UK buyers.
Words we’ve all heard before, granted, but Alfa Romeo – now under the mighty (and importantly) profitable wing of Stellantis – is serious this time around.
The proud outfit believes the Tonale, which sits under the Stelvio SUV, will make its brand appeal to around 40 per cent of UK buyers – such is the popularity of SUVs. Before the Tonale, only around 15 per cent of consumers would have had Alfa Romeo on their radars.
Not only is there a larger pool of people potentially on offer to Alfa Romeo dealers, but there’s a different customer entirely. Alfa marketing bumf says the brand appeals to mainly to over-50s men who are married or divorced. The Tonale, however, will appeal to younger customers in their thirties and forties, and more women. And when the plug-in hybrid arrives next year, you can even throw company car buyers into that pot, too.
To find out more about it, our man James Batchelor has been behind the wheel of the latest model. Here is what he had to say…
What’s new?
The grille and headlight designs – we’ll come back to those – might be traditionally Alfa Romeo, but this is a completely brand new car for the Italian firm – and it needed to be, let’s face it. Naturally being part of Stellantis means there’s lots of parts sharing, such as the platform which is pitched from the Jeep Compass, but this is the first ‘electrified’ Alfa Romeo. In fact, there will be no solely petrol or diesel versions of the Tonale as the new baby SUV is being positioned as the first step in Alfa becoming a pure-electric carmaker in 2027.
What’s under the bonnet?
Just hybrids. The first version to arrive in showrooms just about now is the 158bhp 1.5-litre mild-hybrid. It’s not your usual mild-hybrid which uses an electric generator instead of a traditional starter motor, though, as the Tonale mild-hybrid’s system can actually power the car for short distances in electric power. Appearing early next year is the range-topper and the car that’s the big deal for company car drivers. The plug-in hybrid will offer cheaper running costs for business users, and with its electric motor on the back axle, it’ll also be the most potent with 272bhp and four-wheel drive.
What’s it like to drive?
It’s clear with many small premium SUVs that driving dynamics haven’t featured too high up the engineers’ list of priorities, but with the Tonale it’s been given top-billing; Alfa fans need not worry with the brand in Stellantis’s control, evidently.
The steering, just like it is in the Giulia and Stelvio, is surprisingly alert and direct. You could call it a bit overactive for such a car, but it helps give the Tonale a pleasing USP in a sea of depressingly similar SUVs.
The chassis is pretty good too, feeling alert and willing to be wrestled into a series of twisting s-bends, should you want to do that in your hybrid SUV.
The ride is similarly polished and the car works well on undulating and pot-marked roads. Our Veloce test car added adaptive dampers, but we never felt the need to slacken off or sharpen up them up.
All cars, though, get Alfa’s DNA switch (‘D’ for dynamic, ‘N’ for natural and ‘A’ for advanced efficiency) and the Tonale suits Dynamic mode best with its slightly sharper throttle and gearbox settings.
The black mark is the hybrid powertrain, though. Low speed manoeuvres are pleasingly carried out in EV mode, and for the most part the car deals with petrol and the odd burst of electric power well. Occasionally, however, the car dithers, not knowing which power source to be in, leading to annoying dead spots in acceleration. It’s in this area we reckon the plug-in hybrid will perform better, with the larger electric motor better assisting and taking over from the petrol engine.
The saving grace are the aluminium gearshift paddles. Just like the Giulia, the Ferrari-esque paddles encourage you to switch out of the default auto mode and actually use the seven-speed dual-clutch ‘box. In manual mode and with the driver being in charge, some of the hybrid’s shortcomings are overcome. Sadly the paddles are only standard-fit on the Veloce model.
How does it look?
The designers have been able to keep the production car close to the concept version – a rare thing even these days. Alfa points to various design elements which have been taken from famous earlier models, such as the waistline from the sixties GT, the rear window’s pointed bottom edge being just like the 147’s, and the headlights with their three semi-circular LEDs being present on everything from the 159 to the SZ coupe. The wheels, all ‘teledials’ in design, are just the icing on the Panettone cake.
It’s a design that works really well, in fact, and the Tonale does look different from its nearest BMW and Jaguar rivals. Strangely, though, the car looks better in metallic colours like Misano Blue (pictured) and the luscious Montreal Green. Alfa’s traditional red makes the Tonale look a bit blobby in our opinion.
What’s it like inside?
Under Stellantis’s management, Alfa Romeo is on a major quality crusade – both materially and in an engineering sense. The fit and finish and general touch and feel of the leathers, soft-touch plastics and flashes of fake metal are all good. The Tonale feels pleasingly sturdy and premium, and easily has the measure of a Jaguar E-Pace, for example.
The tech is the major improvement, though. The traditional Alfa Romeo ‘cannocchiale’ instrument binnacle is now all digital and it’s joined by a large touchscreen. Both look great with the former sporting 60s-esque digital clocks, and the latter actually being easy to use.
Elsewhere, the interior is spacious enough but not enormously so, and the 500-litre boot is more than big enough.
What’s the spec like?
There are just two main trims for the time being (a third model, the ‘Speciale’, is available for a short time). Alfa being Alfa, the two trim levels sound deliciously sporting and are well equipped.
Entry-level Ti gets 18-inch alloys, a 10.25-inch touchscreen, 12-inch digital dials and a reversing camera. On top of that there are Matrix full LED headlights, an electric tailgate, keyless entry and adaptive cruise control.
Veloce, which Alfa expects will take around 70 per cent of sales, adds black exterior detailing, 19-inch wheels, adaptive suspension, red brake callipers and those large aluminium gearshift paddles.
Prices kick off at £38,595 for the limited Speciale launch model (which gets the Veloce’s spec plus a few extra goodies), while the Ti and Veloce models come in at £39,995 and £42,495 respectively. Not cheap but few cars are in this sector.
What do the press think?
Autocar said: ‘The Tonale, like rather too many Alfa Romeos before it, stops notably short of perfection. But there’s plenty to distract you from its plainer herd of rivals. Perhaps the PHEV might really hammer the point home’. Top Gear said: ‘There’s enough going on here to deservedly distract you from a swathe of duller rivals. Hopefully the ownership experience will match.’
What do we think?
The Tonale is a new kind of Alfa Romeo which, like or hate it, is a bit more rational than more exuberant models that have come before. It’s a necessary step to make the fabled Italian brand more relevant to today’s finicky customer, and there is much to like with the Tonale.
It doesn’t excel in any one particular area, but neither does it merely exist – something which could be levelled at many a rival. The plug-in hybrid will likely be the pick of the range and improve on some of the hybrid’s faults.
It’ll be interesting to see if Alfa can finally convince buyers to part with their cash, and whether the good times will return with the company’s adoption of the agency sales model next year.
The knowledge
Model: Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce 1.5 160 MHEV DCT
Price as tested: £42,595
Engine: 1.5-litre mild-hybrid petrol
Power: 158bhp
Torque: 240Nm
0-60mph: 8.6 seconds
Top speed: 132mph
Economy: 45.3-49.6mpg
Emissions: 130-142g/km CO2
Target buyers
Families who have probably never considered an Alfa Romeo before
The rivals
BMW X1
Jaguar E-Pace
Volvo XC40
Key selling points
Big uplift in material quality
Fun to drive
Tech is easy to use
Deal clincher
Styling stands out from the traditional small premium SUV rivals
