say that one Alfa Romeo Stelvio , even being the Quadrifoglio, it's a better driver’s car than a Mazda MX-5 or a Honda Civic Type-R may seem like heresy. Yet that's exactly what happened at the first Carwow Awards this year in which the Italian SUV received the “Driver’s Award”.
We are well aware that the Stelvio Quadrifoglio is not just any SUV, boasting a 50:50 weight distribution and a 2.9 l twin-turbo V6 engine — by Ferrari — capable of delivering 510 hp. The performances are also impressive, with Stelvio reaching the 283 km/h and complying with the 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.8s.
But is it all enough to be considered a driver's car? It is not enough to have many horses under the hood, it is a more complex matter. It has to do not only with dynamic attributes, but also with the human-machine connection, even driving pleasure… and that's the question, can an SUV fulfill all these attributes?
A new paradigm?
According to the Carwow panel of judges the Stelvio succeeds, as they judged, “It may not be the first high-performance SUV, but the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is by far the most pleasurable to drive — in fact , is much more fun to drive than most pure sport models “, which was the reason why he was awarded the prize.
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despite the Stelvio Quadrifoglio being a special SUV — making it through the Nordschleife on the Nürburgring in just 7min51.7 s is not for all cars — it is curious to see a prize awarded to distinguish the ultimate driving pleasure of a… SUV, so we have to ask: yeah the beginning of the Hot SUV era?
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