Should you buy one?

This is a heart versus head question, and tough to answer. On rational grounds, there’s no reason at all to buy an Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio. It’s thirsty, expensive to tax, and will cost you a packet in the service bay in the long term. But that could be said for any high-performance SUV

But start thinking emotionally, and it’s hard to conclude that it’s not an impressive piece of kit. It offers towering performance (in Dynamic mode, anyway) and high drama thanks to its engine note when you’re on it. Plus, the handling is great fun, body control is good, and the ride quality is reasonable enough to mean you can use it as your daily driver.

However, with real-world fuel economy of around 22mpg, high servicing and parts costs, you’ll pay through the nose for the pleasure. A BMW X3 M is the sharper, more sophisticated option while the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 is more practical and less thirsty. Both are also better built, but arguably less charismatic.

But with these caveats, and given that these high-performance SUVs are expensive to run by their nature, it’s hard not to love the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio. For that reason, we’d at the very least recommend you go for a test drive before searching cars for sale…

What we like

The Stelvio is quick, sounds great in Dynamic mode, and has that certain ‘something’ that sets it apart from all of its rivals.

What we don’t like

Not as spacious as rivals, isn’t as well-built or tech-filled as rivals, and it’s incredibly thirsty.