2024 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Review: For Those Who Enjoy Driving

As a premium compact crossover with a sporty bent, few can beat the Alfa Romeo Stelvio. It looks like a movie star, its sharp driving dynamics lead the class, and its powerful 280-horsepower turbocharged engine holds up the performance side of the equation. This year's Stelvio goes on sale in the USA with a rejigged range, the trademark new Trilobe LED Alfa headlights, and a few other improvements. The cabin still has that Italian flair, but this is where the seven-year-old car's cracks start to show. The second row isn't very spacious, nor is the trunk, and while it looks the part, the quality of finishes and plushness of the materials lag behind the class best. At least Alfa doesn't charge you an arm and a leg for this Italian stallion, so it's far cheaper than the Maserati Grecale or Porsche Macan. Instead, it's priced right in line with the BMW X3 and Genesis GV70, which beat it on interior and trunk space, but not driving fun. Is that enough, or is the Stelvio too compromised to earn a second look?

New for 2024

For 2024, the Stelvio range loses the Lusso and Estrema trims. There are new limited-run Carbon Edition and the Quadrifoglio 100th Anniversary Edition trims, both versions of the Quadrifoglio performance trim that we review separately. Applicable to the regular Alfa Romeo Stelvio we review here is the new 2024 Competizione trim at the top of the lineup, which focuses on style and performance with 21-inch wheels, adaptive suspension borrowed from the Quadriofoglio, a 14-speaker Harman Kardon audio system, and a leather-trimmed dashboard.

The Stelvio comes in for a styling update, with revised air intakes in the front fascia and a repositioned Alfa Romeo logo on a lightly refinished grille. The most noticeable changes are to the headlights, which adopt the Trilobe style of other Alfas such as the Tonale, and are upgraded to matrix-design LED units on all trims. Reconfigured taillights with clear lenses also make an appearance. In terms of features and equipment, a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster with three themes is now standard across the board. The best news is that the starting price of the 2024 Alfa Romeo Stelvio has decreased by a few hundred dollars.

2024 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Price: Which One to Buy

The price of a new Alfa Romeo Stelvio in base Sprint guise now starts at $45,950. The MSRP of the Ti is $51,050, followed by the Veloce at $52,850 and the new Competizione at $57,150. Keep in mind that these prices exclude options, extra-cost paint (compulsory on the Competizione), and the $1,595 destination fee.

The price difference between the Ti and Veloce is so small that we think the latter is a very good deal. It looks more menacing with its black exterior trim, red brake calipers, and stunning 20-inch wheels, and benefits from other nice features that differentiate both it and the Ti from the Sprint, such as that dual-pane sunroof, standard all-wheel drive, and a hands-free power liftgate. But the cabin clinches the deal, with those delightful aluminum shift paddles and more heavily bolstered front sports seats. We'd add the $700 Active Assist Plus package for the missing driver aids such as lane-keep assist and speed-sign recognition.

Interior and Features

The dashboard is starting to age, but has been updated over the years with better materials and more features.

Inside the Stelvio, you have to take the good with the bad. To its credit, the general appearance and style of the interior are certainly big selling points, with a stylish dashboard, a standard 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, leather on the seats and on that beautiful steering wheel and shifter knob, aluminum shift paddles in the upper trims, and an optional red interior that looks amazing. But start to prod and poke and you'll find cheaper materials and harder plastics, while interior space isn't great, especially in the second row. Visibility is also restricted due to a small rear window and thick pillars, but at least front and rear parking sensors are standard.

Space

In terms of length and wheelbase, the Stelvio falls short of the X3 and GV70 by only an inch or so, but it's significantly smaller in the cabin. The front section of the cabin is snug but sufficiently spacious for adults, but the second row is a lot more confined than those of its rivals, with legroom falling four to five inches short of the class leaders. It will still accommodate medium-sized adults, but with little room to spare. To its credit, rear headroom is better than we expected.

Cargo

Trunk space also trails the class. There is only 18.5 cubic feet of luggage space behind the second row, which is more than ten cubes behind the GV70 and X3. With the 40/20/40-split rear seat folded down, the trunk volume of 56.5 cu-ft is much better and almost the same as the GV70. The base trim makes do without a luggage cover.

There are various storage spaces in the center console, including two cupholders under a sliding cover, a wireless charging pad, and a lidded under-elbow storage compartment. Of course, there's a lockable glovebox, four door pockets, front seatback netting, and dual rear cupholders in the fold-down armrest, but none of these spaces are particularly spacious.

Materials and Colors

Even the Sprint comes with leather upholstery and it shares its leather-trimmed steering wheel and shifter knob with the other trims. Two interior colors are available - Black or Red, the latter costing $2,000 and upgrading to front sports seats. The Ti also has access to Black or Red, the latter only as part of the $1,935 Performance Driving package, which includes the aforementioned sports seats, bigger wheels, and other items. The Ti is also the only trim with access to Chocolate seats with a black interior, and it also gains genuine aluminum interior trim. The Veloce gets the default Black or Red, but the latter costs only $750 because it already comes with the sports seats.

The Competizione comes with sports seats too, an all-black interior with red stitching on the seats, steering wheel, and shifter knob. It gets leather on the dashboard and upper doors, but this can be added to the Ti or Veloce as part of the $2,225 Premium Interior and Sound package that also includes the premium 14-speaker Harman Kardon audio system. Keep in mind that all interior color combinations are not available with all the paint colors.

Features and Infotainment

The Stelvio is very well-equipped from the bottom of the range, with leather upholstery, front and rear heated seats, a heated tilting/telescoping steering wheel, a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, dual-zone climate control, a garage-door opener, LED ambient interior lighting, and remote start all part of the deal. The upper trims add additional features such as sports front seats, paddle shifters, a sunroof, aluminum trim, and leather on the upper doors and dashboard.

The 8.8-inch touchscreen is a bit small by modern standards, but the infotainment system comes with all the modern features you'd expect. These include navigation, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, SiriusXM with a six-month subscription, voice recognition, Bluetooth, three front and two rear USB outlets, HD radio, a wireless charging pad, and an eight-speaker audio system. A 14-speaker Harman Kardon audio system is standard on the Competizione, but it's optional on the two middle trims as part of the $2,225 Premium Interior and Sound package, which also adds the leather dash and upper doors.

Performance

The potent four-pot punches above its weight with minimal turbo lag and class-competitive fuel consumption.

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio's engine is a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder that develops 280 hp and 306 lb-ft of torque and delivers above expectations in terms of the performance it offers. It sounds good too, and picks up quickly with minimal lag. It is connected to an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission with RWD the default drivetrain configuration on the Sprint and optional AWD. All the other trims get AWD as standard. The powertrain gives the Alfa Romeo Stelvio a 0-60 sprint of only 5.4 seconds and a top speed of 144 mph. Trailering isn't exceptional, with a maximum towing capacity of 3,000 pounds being at the lower end of the class - an X3 can tow up to 4,400 lbs. The 8.1-inch ground clearance betters that of the GV70 by nearly an inch, but with limited wheel travel and no two-speed transfer case, you can't attempt any off-road heroics in the Stelvio.

The Stelvio is still a riot on a twisty road, in a way almost no other SUV can equal except the expensive machinery from Porsche. It sits on the same Giorgio platform as the Giulia sedan and you can tell. It doesn't have the dynamic abilities of the car, nor the excellent steering feedback, but it does a superb job for a tall crossover, changing direction with glee and without bobbing and weaving. The brakes (Brembos in front) are powerful and linear, the steering accurate, and the eight-speed auto perfectly mapped to be an aid - not an obstruction - in gung-ho driving. The ride is firmly damped and body roll well resisted, but it never becomes harsh or crashy. It can become a little bouncy on uneven surfaces, but the excellent damping quells any unwanted body movements quickly in normal driving.

Fuel Efficiency

Gas mileage is right on the class average for gas crossovers. According to the EPA, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio's mpg estimates for the city/highway/combined cycles are 22/29/25 mpg with RWD and 22/28/24 mpg with AWD. The base four-cylinder turbocharged AWD GV70 and X3 return the same 24 mpg combined.

With a 16.9-gallon fuel capacity, the RWD Stelvio will get up to 422 miles on a tank, with the AWD close behind with a range of around 406 miles.

Safety

There aren’t any local crash scores, but a basic driver-assistance suite is fitted to help you avoid an accident, though a surround-view camera isn’t offered at all.

Neither the NHTSA nor the IIHS has ever evaluated the crash safety of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, but as a modern design, it shouldn't give any reason for concern. For what it's worth, the related Giulia sedan on the same platform was given the top Good score by the IIHS for all the tests it was subjected to, and EuroNCAP gave the Stelvio a five-star rating.

The standard driver-assistance suite comprises rain-sensing wipers, automatic LED-matrix LED headlights with auto high beams, an auto-dimming function for all three rearview mirrors, adaptive cruise control with stop, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, front and rear parking sensors, front-collision alert, hill-start assist, hill-descent control, and lane-departure alert. The top three trims have access to the $700 Active Assist Plus package that includes driver-alertness monitoring, lane tracing, an intelligent speed assistant, traffic-jam assist, and traffic-sign recognition. It also adds steering assist to the blind-spot monitoring and lane-keep systems.

Reliability

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio's reliability record has so far been very good. JD Power gave it an excellent score of 85 out of 100 for the Quality & Reliability assessment, and 79 overall, that average dragged down mostly by the car's resale value. Encouragingly, there hasn't been a single Stelvio recall for the last three model years.

Added peace of mind comes from the 2024 Alfa Romeo Stelvio's warranty. Both the limited and powertrain warranties cover the car for four years/50,000 miles, while Alfa Romeo also throws in complimentary maintenance for one year/10,000 miles.

Warranty

Design

It might have been around for a while, but the Stelvio still cuts a dashing figure, with dynamic proportions, a smoothly organic shape, and a purposeful stance. It's dialed up a notch this year with the addition of matrix-LED headlights across the board in the now-familiar Trilobe Alfa style, bringing it in line with other modern Alfas. The distinctive V-Scudetto grille still reaches down into the front bumper, but it's been refined this year, while the clear new taillights help keep the Stelvio fresh, despite its age. The base trim makes do with 18-inch alloys, a power liftgate, power-folding mirrors, and a roof spoiler, but higher trims add a dual-pane sunroof, a hands-free power liftgate, roof rails, and larger wheels of up to 21 inches in size on the Competizione. The base car and the two top trims get a dark exterior appearance package, while the Ti has Vesuvio Gray exterior trim. The top two trims sport a sports-style rear diffuser.

Verdict: Is The 2024 Alfa Romeo Stelvio A Good SUV?

If you want a good-looking compact crossover that feels like a car to drive and handles like a far more expensive Porsche SUV, the Stelvio is the only choice at X3 money. It looks even better this year, has a stylish interior, and comes with an impressive list of standard features. Unfortunately, it's not great at the kinds of things most SUV buyers deem important, and this includes decent second-row space, a big trunk, and competitive towing stats. The infotainment screen is rather small and construction standards aren't quite up to BMW and Audi levels. It serves a purpose for a niche buyer who puts driving above all else, but no longer ticks enough SUV boxes to give the class leaders sleepless nights.