Before It’s Gone The 2025 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Reminds Us Why Driving Matters

Luxury crossovers are a dime a dozen these days, but few manage to feel genuinely exciting or original. The 2025 Alfa Romeo Stelvio doesn’t seem interested in blending into the sea of safe, touchscreen-obsessed options — and that is exactly its charm.

While most of the segment is busy adding bigger displays and weight, while watering down steering feel in pursuit of mass appeal, the Stelvio continues to prioritize style and driver engagement above all else. Even against a crowded field of choices from Germany, the US, France, Korea, and elsewhere, this approach makes it stand out.

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It has been nearly a decade since the Stelvio first arrived, which, in car years, is enough time for a revolution. In that span, it has shifted from being a revelation to feeling a bit overlooked. Yet despite newer, flashier rivals, the Stelvio has not lost what makes it special: it remains refreshingly analog in an industry sprinting toward digitization.

Sure, it has the (now practically mandatory) screens and an array of safety systems, but fire up the engine, grab the metal paddle shifters, and the Stelvio instantly reminds you that it was built for the driver first, and everyone else second.

QUICK FACTS

Of course, this isn’t a perfect machine. The cabin materials feel are not even close to the class leaders, and the tech can be finicky. But if you’re shopping for a crossover that feels alive, the Stelvio delivers something almost no one else dares to: a personality.

And in 2025, that’s becoming an endangered species. Before it turns to electrification, we took one more spin in Alfa’s iconic SUV to find out if it’s still got the magic. Of course, to find that out, we had to test it properly. That means treating it like a daily driver, piloting it on the highway and in densely packed urban cityscapes. Spoiler alert: it’s every bit as magical as it always was. We just miss the four-leaf clover.

It Could Have Been Styled By Leonardo Da Vinci

The Stelvio has two great features that stand out, and its exterior design is one of them. We’re not saying the great Italian artist (among other things) had a hand in it, but the design is genuinely attractive. Throughout just seven days, I received no less than two compliments a day while out and about with this car.

Perhaps it’s the way the Stelvio so elegantly reflects the design of the Giulia while simply being larger. The wide headlights, angular grille, and phone-dial wheels do a lot of heavy lifting here. From the B-pillar back, it doesn’t look particularly special, but it doesn’t have to. The front end has enough attitude and vigor to make up for anything else.

Credit must also go to this example’s color, though. So many of the compliments that we received centered not just on the styling but also on the Verde Fangio hue of the bodywork. Notably, one can obtain this same color on the Tonale and Giulia.

Cabin By Nerf

No cabin is perfect, but the Stelvio’s dashing good looks mostly end when one slips into the cabin. Don’t get us wrong, the dash, seats, and finish are attractive. There’s a very nice blend of asymmetrical elements from one side of the dash to the other, blended with appropriate uses of space. For example, the center console has four main control surfaces.

All have lovely little details that make them more pleasurable to use. The dash itself hearkens back to older Alfa Romeo designs and encompasses a small, but not overly tiny, infotainment system. Clearly, screens aren’t the focus here, which in and of itself is a nice surprise sometimes.

Photos Stephen Rivers / Carscoops

I even like the steering wheel with its physical buttons and switches that provide good feedback. Other positive details include the choice to have one volume knob for the front passenger near their seat and a separate one for the driver on the steering wheel.

Read: What If Alfa Romeo Facelifted The Current Giulia?

Where the cabin doesn’t hit a homerun, though, is with regard to the materials used. This is, after all, a $59,140 Italian luxury crossover, and I’m not kidding when I say that the dash pad could’ve rolled out of an actual Nerf production facility, and I wouldn’t know the difference.

Well, perhaps the lack of wild bright colors gives it away, but the touch and feel are nearly identical. The same goes for the door cards, where, rather than leather or some sort of faux suede or Alcantara, we get more Nerf-like foam.

It is not like this foam is surrounded by high-end materials either. Most of the other surfaces are plastic, with just a few patches of leather or rubber sprinkled around. Alfa Romeo could have leaned more heavily on the nice metal used for the paddle shifters or incorporated real wood or more leather to elevate the cabin. Then again, saving money on some materials does have an upside, giving Alfa more room to spend where it really counts.

It gets to spend more on others, like the excellent seats in this car. The front buckets provide ample support and cushioning. We also love the extendable thigh supports and the thick bolsters. It would be great to see Alfa Romeo extend that type of lateral support to the rear passengers.

The back seats are comfortable, but without better bolstering, it’s easy to throw passengers around during more spirited driving. We also like the inclusion of climate vents, power ports, and heated outboard seats. It would be great if Alfa pushed the seats back a bit more, though, as it would provide better leg room.

Speaking of technology, the infotainment system in the Stelvio is simple and unobtrusive in most cases. UConnect, the interface itself, is typically quick and easy to use, but it had several slowdowns and delays during our testing. It’s unclear if this is just a glitchy unit, though, so we suggest testing it yourself should you be checking out an Alfa Romeo, as most of them share this same system.

Turning the conversation from the front of the cabin to the rear, the Stelvio is surprisingly spacious behind the second row, with 19 cubic feet worth of storage. The rear seats do fold down to allow for larger items.

Powertrain Impressions: Engagement Over All Else

Here’s the other big feature of the Stelvio: its drivetrain. It features a 280 horsepower (208 kW) turbocharged four-cylinder engine, an eight-speed automatic gearbox with paddle shifters, and a rear-biased all-wheel drive system. That might not sound like much, but we can count on one hand how many other crossovers share a similar setup.

Most leverage a front-wheel-drive-biased all-wheel drive setup or are altogether front-wheel drive. That’s great for fuel economy, but it’s terrible for driving dynamics. Alfa Romeo clearly kept driving engagement at the top of its list, and the Stelvio is a dramatically better car for it. We tested the Tonale only a few short months before the Stelvio arrived, and in person, apart from size, they look very similar.

From behind the wheel, though, the difference is huge. The Tonale, like its Dodge Hornet twin, is based on Stellantis’ Small Wide platform, the same one under the Jeep Compass, and it feels a bit clumsy. The Stelvio, by contrast, rides on the FCA Giorgio platform, shared with the Giulia sedan as well as several Maseratis, including the Grecale and GranTurismo. It feels like the best-driving crossover this side of a Porsche Macan.

The engine is quick to respond to stabs at the throttle. The steering is sharp and excellent at communicating what’s happening at the tire’ contact patch and the body roll is almost non-existent. In short, it feels like you’re piloting a tall sedan, not a shrunken SUV, and that’s outstanding.

Driver engagement is a part of this vehicle’s DNA from the moment it starts. Consider this small example. The Start/Stop button is on the steering wheel instead of the dash. That’s something that’s also present in Ferraris since the F430, so we’d count it as a positive.

From there, the experience only gets better. The exhaust sounds great, especially for a four-cylinder engine. The gearbox is happy to quickly take cues from the paddle shifters, and it’s willing to let you bang off the rev limiter, too. When pushed hard, the Stelvio is capable of sending power to the front wheels to get off the line or out of a corner quickly. When pushed so hard that the rear tires slip, the fronts can save the car by pulling it out of a slide.

This is where the biggest issue with driving the Stelvio is, though. There isn’t a way to turn off traction control, so when you really push this car, it sometimes jumps in and cuts your legs out from under you.

Notably, the now-dead Quadrifoglio versions had a “Race” mode that did disengage the TCS. Owners of normal Giulia and Stelvio models don’t have access to that unless they want to personally retrofit that feature. If I were to own either, I’d be happy to add that, but it would probably void warranty coverage.

The one final caveat to Stelvio ownership from a driving or riding perspective is comfort. To me, trading a bit of on-road comfort for canyon-carving skill is more than worth it. To my parents, this is a ridiculous tradeoff meant only to harm joints and create new aches to go with the ones they already have.

That said, if a supple ride is what you want and performance doesn’t matter all that much, the Stelvio likely isn’t for you. Don’t worry, as we’ve mentioned, just about every other crossover and SUV leans toward efficiency and comfort rather than performance. There are plenty of fish in the sea, but few like this one.

It’s not uncomfortable, mind you. It’s just a bit more jarring than your average mid-size crossover. Thankfully, Alfa Romeo includes several settings to slacken up the steering, suspension, and throttle to a point where they feel almost as numb as what you’ll get in basically any Toyota, Chevrolet, or Hyundai.

Where the Stelvio most certainly won’t match those mommy-haulers is in the category of fuel economy. Alfa Romeo says the Stelvio can achieve up to 22 mpg in the city, 28 on the highway, and 24 combined. We achieved a combined 19.8 mpg during our week with it.

Competition

Buyers considering cars like the Toyota Highlander, Kia Telluride, or Ford Bronco probably won’t love the Stelvio. Instead, it’s folks ready to move up from something like a Mazda CX-50, a Genesis GV70, a BMW X3, or an Infiniti QX55 that’ll be drawn to the Stelvio. It’s worth noting that Genesis and BMW offer even more powerful versions of their SUVs, but their base versions don’t feel as sharp as the Stelvio.

On the flip side, Porsche with the Macan, does offer a more complete SUV. It’s just as engaging, if not more, and has better interior accouterments. In addition, just like BMW and Genesis, Porsche offers an even more powerful V6 version of the Macan for those who prefer it. In the end, the car one picks between Alfa Romeo, BMW, Porsche, and Genesis, will come down to personal preference.

More: This New Alfa Romeo Stelvio Veloce Lost Nearly Half Its Value After Only 274 Miles

All four drive well. All have their own strengths. But the Alfa Romeo starts at under $50,000 before destination and handling. The Porsche will set buyers back by at least $10,000 more before they check a single option. The Genesis GV70 and BMW X3 both sit near the Alfa Romeo in terms of cost, though, so they’re likely going to be cross-shopped more often. Still, the Stelvio is the best of those three to drive.

Finally, it’s worth also mentioning the Mercedes-Benz GLC here because it’s available with rear-wheel drive full-stop. On paper, that and its $50,000ish base price seem appealing too. It’s not as sharp to drive though, so those who truly focus on performance over all else will end up disappointed if they’re comparing it to the Stelvio.

Final Thoughts

The Stelvio belongs to a dying breed. It’s fast, it steers and handles greatly, and it looks amazing from the outside. SUVs and crossovers like it are slowly going away in favor of EVs, PHEVs, and countless more front-wheel-drive biased alternatives. Those are, in most cases, very good vehicles that the majority of people will enjoy.

Those who love driving, though, have very few options, and the Stelvio is one of the best. It’s fun and playful and still practical enough to suit a small family. Of course, besides being great to drive and rarer than ever, it’s about to be replaced by an all-new generation.

No doubt, it’ll be even quicker, and it’ll probably look pretty good too. But it won’t be like this one. It won’t be as analog. It likely won’t be as light, either, and it could be more expensive.

The Stelvio is far from a perfect SUV. It could use better cabin materials, a faster infotainment system, and even a more powerful engine option. Despite all that, I’m glad it’s still here, at least for now, and for those in the market for a truly sporty SUV, get it while you can. I know I would if I was in the market for an SUV.

Photos Stephen Rivers / Carscoops