2022 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Rwd on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is new SUV king of the 'Ring

It's been a couple years since the last Nurburgring SUV lap record was set by the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, a quick time of 7 minutes and 59 seconds making it the first SUV to pull off a sub-8 minute time. The Cayenne's glory days are over, though, as the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio just obliterated that time. Alfa's wild SUV with its Ferrari-based 510-horsepower twin-turbo V6 managed to whip around the north loop of the 'Ring in just 7 minutes and 51 seconds. Not only does that make it 8 seconds quicker than the Cayenne, it's an insane 23 seconds faster than the Land Rover Range Rover SVR, the record holder before Porsche. The Stelvio also was working with a notable power disadvantage compared with the Cayenne and the Range Rover. The Porsche packed 565 horsepower, and the Land Rover had 542 horsepower. View 9 Photos Alfa Romeo also got the whole lap on film, which you can view up above. The video also shows that the Stelvio had an aftermarket roll cage fitted for an extra layer of safety. Alfa didn't say anything about how that might affect performance or what may have been done to offset it. But as we always point out with these records, they shouldn't be taken too seriously, especially for the SUV segment, in which we can virtually guarantee no one will be attempting to replicate this lap time with their personal Stelvios. Related Video:

Touring's Disco Volante makes us green with envy [w/video]

In its entire production run, Alfa Romeo only ever built 500 examples of the 8C Competizione – just 90 of which ended up in the United States – and another 500 Spiders. That makes it a pretty rare car indeed, but it's positively commonplace compared to the Disco Volante, the version reborn by the talented and steady hands at Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. In correspondece with Autoblog, Touring's CEO Piero Mancardi confirmed that the coachbuilder will only build eight examples of the Disco Volante, in colors chosen by their individual customers: one in black, one in blue, one in silver, the one in green you see here and the rest in different shades of red. That makes this particular example a one-of-a-kind work of art that we were privileged to behold here at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, and you can see what we saw through the camera lens in the high-resolution image gallery above, or by checking out the video below. Featured Gallery Touring Disco Volante: Geneva 2014 View 20 Photos Related Gallery Alfa Romeo Disco Volante by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera in green & gold View 38 Photos Image Credit: Live photos copyright 2014 Drew Phillips / AOL Geneva Motor Show Alfa Romeo Coupe Luxury Performance 2014 Geneva Motor Show touring alfa romeo 8c competizione carrozzeria touring superleggera disco volante

2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale First Drive: An electrifying Italian alternative

MILAN, Italy – Chicken or egg? ItÂ’s often a matter of perspective. In this case, the 2023 Dodge Hornet is based on the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale – itÂ’s even built in Italy – yet it was the Dodge that arrived first on American shores. By the narrowest of margins, true, but it happened nevertheless. That leaves the Tonale (pronounced "toe-nal-ay," not "toe-nail") to carve out a premium niche for itself above the buzzy Italian-American.   How? For starters, the Tonale is exclusively available as a plug-in hybrid in the United States. Only Canada and Mexico will get the lower-output, gasoline-only variant. Producing 285 horsepower and 347 pound-feet of torque combined, the plug-in powertrain consists of a 1.3-liter turbocharged four-banger and six-speed automatic transmission up front and a 121-horsepower electric motor on the rear axle. ThereÂ’s no physical connection between them, so power from the gas engine canÂ’t be sent rearward or vice versa. That means the Tonale is effectively rear-wheel drive when in electric-only mode. It can run like that for more than 30 miles if the 15.5-kilowatt-hour battery is fully charged, which requires about 2.5 hours on a level 2 setup. Provided you donÂ’t ask more of the powertrain than the battery and motor are able to deliver, it will putter along in combustion-free silence. Mashing the throttle will engage the gas engine no matter what hybrid mode youÂ’re in; more on those below. The standard Tonale is equipped with a MacPherson strut suspension with Frequency Selective Damping (FSD) shocks. They may sound like fancy electronic dampers but FSD shocks do their magic without any digital intervention. While not as sharp as performance-tuned shocks, nor as comfortable as those engineered to deliver the best ride, they offer a solid balance that is much less costly or complex than the adaptive setup that comes standard on the range-topping Veloce model. The VeloceÂ’s adaptive suspension is incorporated into Alfa's "DNA" drive mode selection system, tightening up in “Dynamic” and backing off in “Natural” and “Advanced Efficiency.” The TonaleÂ’s other sporty add-ons — aluminum steering column-mounted paddle shifters, aluminum pedals and red Brembo calipers with white Alfa Romeo script — are part of the “High Performance Driving Package,” which is optional on the mid-range Sprint and baked into the Veloce. The hybrid modes mentioned earlier exist outside the D-N-A dial.