1986 Alfa Romeo Spider Quadrifoglio Convertible 2-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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2020 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Review & Buying Guide | Small but significant changes

The 2020 Alfa Romeo Stelvio is a luxury SUV aimed at folks who want something different – not necessarily to be flashy, but just to stand out in a crowd of grey Audis and black BMWs. Besides its badge and decidedly un-German styling, the Stelvio drives like no other luxury SUV. It has quick steering with great feel and excellent road holding that provide the sort of involved driving experience you probably don't expect from a high-riding crossover – and that goes triple for the outrageous, 505-horsepower Quadrifoglio that is without question the most desirable and competitive Stelvio. However, to this point, choosing the Stelvio also meant putting up with some overtly cheap interior pieces, an arcane infotainment system, few accident avoidance technologies and a poor reliability reputation. As you'll read below, all but the reliability issue have been addressed for 2020 – and only time will tell if the reliability's been improved. These changes are welcome and make the Stelvio much easier to make a case for getting something different. What's new with Stelvio for 2020? The interior's cheap and wobbly switchgear, which so obviously stood out in the 2019 Stelvio, gets a welcome upgrade for 2020. The electronic shifter is a little more solid in action, it's now covered in stitched perforated leather and surrounded by a metallic housing festooned with a little Italian flag. The electronic parking brake has been relocated to the left of it. The center console has also been redesigned to accommodate a wireless charging pad. Knobs for the "dna" drive mode selector, volume/track and the infotainment control knob feel more solid, while the latter is ringed by a nice knurled metal finish. That knob, however, has become a redundant control interface as the 8.8-inch infotainment display is now touch-operated as well. It also has new graphics and a new interface with a configurable home screen. It's a definite improvement over what was there before. The Stelvio also gets more advanced accident avoidance tech, most of which are among the best-executed on the market. The base price has also gone down by about $1,000 for 2020 despite these upgrades. That's rare. What's the Stelvio's interior and in-car technology like? Despite its many worthwhile upgrades for 2020, the Stelvio's interior still doesn't possess the same luxurious look and feel you'll find in an Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche or Volvo.

2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia still makes us swoon

It may have debuted in June, but Alfa Romeo's hot new Giulia makes its first public appearance at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show this week. And even though we've told you all there is to know right now, we just can't resist bringing you another set of photos, and another round of praise. Alfa is once again showing the Giulia in top-of-the-line Quadrifoglio spec, complete with a twin-turbocharged V6 that's said to make around 510 horsepower. We already know it sounds awesome, and all we can say is, watch out BMW M3. Alfa Romeo is quoting a 0-62 time of less than four seconds, and we're told the car will have the quickest steering in its class. Sounds good to us. The Giulia will officially launch in early 2016, and while the top-trim Quadrifoglio will probably start around $70,000 or $75,000, less-aggressive, more mainstream models will also be available. There's talk of four-cylinder power with both gasoline and diesel motivation, but it's unclear exactly what's in sore for the US-spec car. Still, it's exciting to see the new Giulia, and we're eager to drive Alfa's latest when it goes on sale next year. <p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p> Related Video:

Italian team hitting the track in an electric Alfa Romeo Giulia touring car

Alfa Romeo isn't scheduled to introduce its first electric model until the early 2020s, but the Giulia is giving up gasoline a little bit sooner to participate in the burgeoning ETCR racing series. Italian tuner and race car builder Romeo Ferraris — which isn't officially associated with Alfa Romeo or Ferrari — published renderings of the track-only sedan it plans to start racing in the coming months. Low, wide and winged, the Giulia ETCR looks ready to line up on the starting grid. And, as is often the case with racing cars, it shares little more than a silhouette with the street-legal sports sedan it's based on. The lights on both ends look nearly stock, but almost everything was developed from scratch by Romeo Ferraris and partner Hexathron Racing System. The 54-year old company pointed out the Giulia is its first electric car, and it stressed it developed the model without Alfa Romeo's support. Its 350-horsepower Giulietta TCR was an in-house project as well. While Romeo Ferraris hasn't published technical specifications, the ETCR regulations give us a good idea of what's under the body. Every car will be powered by the same motors, single-speed gearbox, inverter, and 65-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. Series overseer WSC will provide the battery, while the other components will come from Williams Advanced Engineering. The powertrain makes 400 horsepower continuously, and it delivers a maximum output of 670 horsepower. The ETCR series will launch in 2020, though the calendar surprisingly hasn't been published yet. The battery-powered Giulia will need to fend off competition from a similarly modified Hyundai Veloster, and the e-Racer developed by Cupra, which was recently spun off from Volkswagen-owned SEAT. We expect other automakers will toss their hat in the ring in the coming months.