Road test: Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce

Saturday, 1 July 2023

The Tonale is Alfa Romeo’s latest offering, the first hybrid to ever come from the brand.

Alfa Romeo is entering new ground with its latest SUV offering, the Tonale. It’s also the first-ever electrified model from Alfa, and the first compact SUV as well. Two desirable modern qualities with Alfa Romeo’s traditionally gorgeous packaging? Sounds like a surefire win… Right?

Let’s start with the powertrain. Both the entry Ti and higher-specced Veloce (tested here) use a relatively humble 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol four-cylinder mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. A small electric motor hides in the gearbox, which is in turn fed by a 48-volt, 0.8kWh battery. It’s a mild hybrid really, making 118kW/240Nm all up. All of its torque is made at 1500rpm while peak power arrives at 5750rpm.

The lines between compact and mid-sized SUVs are increasingly blurred, but since this is smaller than the Stelvio, it gets put in the compact category.

RightCar estimates 6.2L/100km for fuel consumption with 143g/km of CO2 emissions, which is about on par for mild hybrids. However, unlike other mild hybrids, the Tonale can run on electric power alone for short stints, like speeds up to about 20kph and when coasting. Alfa calls it an “electric machine” as it can provide power and act as a generator at the same time. Pretty tricky stuff.

In the real world, it’s a bit hit-and-miss. The transition between electric and petrol power can be a bit coarse at lower speeds, and sometimes it takes a second to bring the engine back into the mix, leading to slight delays in acceleration.

Fuel consumption could be better too. I averaged about 7.8L/100km, a fair bit higher than the full hybrid competition, like the Lexus UX 250h.

The electrified four-cylinder isn’t much of a powerhouse but it’s still good fun.

If those power and consumption figures aren’t your cup of tea, a plug-in hybrid version is coming with the 1.3-litre turbocharged petrol engine from the Fiat 500 paired with a 15.5kWh battery and an electric motor to generate 202kW of power. Alfa claims the electric-only range in the PHEV is up to 80km.

But when the engine is firing and everything is working as it should, the Tonale is a genuinely brilliant thing to drive. The four-cylinder is eager to rev and the dual-clutch transmission snappy when paddling yourself (it can dither a bit otherwise), which makes the SUV relatively quick when pushed.

Even better is the chassis and steering combination. The chassis is typical Alfa, slightly firm but brilliant in the corners. Which is interesting because it’s the same platform that underpins the Jeep Compass, not a vehicle I’d rate that highly for handling dynamics.

The wiggly DRLs are mimicked on the rear.

Helping out are adaptive dampers on each corner in Veloce trim. If things get too bouncy, you can also set the dampers to soft mode while retaining the spicier powertrain settings in D mode, using the DNA mode shifter. That’s D for Dynamic, while N stands for Natural (or Normal) and A for Advanced efficiency. Unfortunately, there’s no custom mode, but with that dedicated suspension button you don’t really miss it.

The steering is light but surprisingly good – agile is the word here. Could do with a tad more weight, but this is a compact SUV at the end of the day, not a sports car. Snap the wheel into a corner – not too hard – and the Tonale responds well, only exhibiting understeer when you’re really pushing the throttle through the bend. The body remains flat and stable while gunning it too, reflective of Alfa’s work to make the Tonale feel different to the swathe of other compact SUVs out there.

The Tonale’s interior has a few hard plastics but is generally a high-quality place to be.

Moving on to the rest of the car, Alfa has done a typically fantastic job of the styling. The Tonale gets a pair of triplet headlights, underscored by wavy DRLs mimicked on the rear. The test car here gets the quintessential Alfa teledial wheels which, despite being 19 inches in size, don’t transmit too much noise into the cabin.

Speaking of which, the interior is nicely put together. There’s a floating 10.25-inch display mounted in the centre of the dash with wireless phone mirroring for both Apple and Android models running the latest Uconnect operating system, which is a massive upgrade over previous Alfas.

There’s a tall transmission lever, a leather-wrapped steering wheel housing the start/stop button, massive aluminium paddles attached to the steering column, wireless phone charging and a binnacle housing another digital display for driver information. A few hard plastics detract from the premium-ness a little but generally things are good, with comfy seats and decent storage space. Thankfully, despite the pressure of digitisation these days, Alfa has included a row of physical buttons for air-conditioning below the main screen.

500 litres of storage in the boot, with more if you fold the rear seats down.

The binnacle is a nice nod to Alfa’s heritage, with the classic dials the only real choice of display mode.

There’s decent space for rear passengers, even for taller folk.

Even in the early afternoon Auckland has traffic...

A plug-in hybrid version is coming if the mild hybrid here isn’t enough of a punch for you.

The aesthetics of the Tonale are impossible to deny.

Rear space is good too, although the back windows are on the small side. Those around six-foot will fit comfortably.

So the Tonale is a great little SUV, if not a home run. It’s genuinely sporty, unsurprisingly sexy, and the interior is nicely premium to match the brand. On top of all that, it’s not really that expensive. Alfa asks $66,990 for the upper level Veloce tested here and $59,990 for the Ti. Unfortunately, with the changes to the Clean Car Discount, the Tonale moves into the zero band after July 1, but at least it doesn’t cop any fees.

Competition in the luxury-ish compact hybrid SUV market is fierce, with the aforementioned Lexus UX 250h ($64,400 starting) and the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid ($56,990 starting) both springing to mind. There’s also the Nissan X-Trail e-Power which is slightly larger but the same price as the Veloce at $66,990, or the slightly smaller Nissan Qashqai e-power at $64,990. Honda even has an entrant now with the new ZR-V Sport ($55,000), while the Toyota RAV4 is always a tough one to beat with hybrid variants starting at $48,590.

But none of these, save for maybe the Lexus, are on the Tonale’s level of attractiveness, nor offer the same drive. And for those worried about the worst happening, Alfa Romeo offers a five-year, 100,000km warranty with five years of road side assistance, as well as five years of WoF coverage. A fixed-price service plan for the Tonale is also in the works.

Bonus images