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Alfa Romeo SZ, the brutalist 'Il Mostro,' restored by FCA Heritage

Nicknamed Il Mostro — "the Monster" in Italian — because of its unusual, almost brutalist design, the 1989 Alfa Romeo SZ was meant to showcase all the technological prowess of the Milanese firm at the time. It was also meant to plant a stake in the ground and return the revered marque to its rear-wheel-drive roots. Though it was an evolutionary dead end, the SZ is still considered among the most distinctive cars in a brand filled with distinctive models. It should, then, be no surprise that FCA Heritage, the classic car and history preservation arm of Stellantis (which, apparently, was not part of the name change) has just restored one. The SZ began life at the 1989 Geneva Motor Show as the ES-30 concept, which stood for Experimental Sports 3.0-liter. The production car was named SZ for Sprint Zagato, but the design is credited to Robert Opron of the Fiat Style Center, while Antonio Castellana did the finishing details and interior. Zagato used its coachbuilding expertise to build the cars, whose bodywork was formed from a composite thermoplastic material called Modar, made by Italy's Carplast and France's Stratime. Alfa Romeo also claims it was the first car to be produced using computer-aided design (CAD/CAM). Beneath the sci-fi exterior lay a 12-valve, 3.0-liter V6 plucked from the Alfa Romeo 75 3.0i Quadrifoglio Verde. With 204 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque, it was the most powerful Alfa of the time. Output was fed through a 5-speed transaxle and the suspension, Koni-designed shocks, and brakes reportedly tuned by Fiat and Lancia rally driver Giorgio Pianta and transplanted from the Alfa 75 1.8 Turbo Evolution Group A racer.  The original run was intended to span just 1,000 cars, but some sources say 1,036 were produced. That run ended in 1991, after which a roadster version called the RZ was built from 1992-93.  The example restored has been in Alfa Romeo's possession since the beginning. It served as a test car on the Balocco proving grounds and was used in promotional photos. There are several details on it that differ from production models, so much so that Alfa Romeo says it could be "considered a prototype." Unfortunately, as history shows, the SZ failed to usher in a real-wheel-drive renaissance at Alfa Romeo. After its end, there wasn't another rear-drive model until the 8C Competizione in 2007.

Everything we know about the Alfa Romeo Stelvio

Alfa Romeo is working rapidly on putting a crossover onto the road and these latest awkwardly-shaped spy shots are our best look at the upcoming Stelvio. Crossovers and compact SUVs are still outrageously popular with Americans and Alfa Romeo wants in on the ever-growing segment. The upcoming Stelvio, then, would make Alfa more profitable and make the storied brand once again a household name. Here's an overview of everything we know about the Stelvio. October 24, 2016: A moderately-camouflaged Stelvio is spotted testing in broad daylight with minimal updates. The most recent prototype has three strangely-shaped ridges on the hood, while the headlights and taillights, despite being taped off, still appear to be taken straight from the Giulia sedan. The profile mimics that of the Porsche Macan with the bulbous rear end gaining massive exhaust tips. View 12 Photos October 11, 2016: Photographers captured a lightly-camouflaged Stelvio testing in Europe at night, giving us our best look at the SUV's design. The front of the vehicle shares the same front fascia design as the Giulia sedan with two oval-shaped inlets on the side and the automaker's iconic rounded-triangle grille. The headlights also appear to be the same slit-like units on the Giulia, as well. The side profile of the SUV portrays a rounder design than displayed on previous prototypes that photographers have spotted. At the rear, two small tail pipes protrude out of the vehicle, while the taillights appear to be similar to the Giulia's, too. Unsurprisingly, the Stelvio looks comparable to a Giulia on stilts. View 7 Photos June 28, 2016: A prototype of the Stelvio is spotted wearing a massive amount of camouflage, making the shape and overall design of the SUV hard to discern. Again, the automaker's well-known front end is easy to spot, as are the two large exhaust outlets at the back. The rear end, though, features an interesting, rakish design that is more in line with a Sportback than a SUV. Photographers also managed to get pictures of the SUV's interior, which featured birch-like wood, an integrated screen, and large paddle shifters behind the thick steering wheel. Just like on the Giulia, the start-stop button is mounted directly onto the steering wheel. View 10 Photos April 7, 2016: The Alfa Romeo Stelvio is spotted testing for the first time. Alfa Romeo was caught testing a heavily-camouflaged prototype of the Stelvio wearing an insane amount of unsightly black plastic.

Autoblog's Editors' Picks: Our complete list of the best new vehicles

It's not easy to earn an “EditorsÂ’ Picks” at Autoblog as part of the rating and review process that every new vehicle goes through. Our editors have been at it a long time, which means weÂ’ve driven and reviewed virtually every new car you can go buy on the dealer lot. There are disagreements, of course, and all vehicles have their strengths and weaknesses, but this list features what we think are the best new vehicles chosen by Autoblog editors. We started this formal review process back in 2018, so there's quite of few of them now. So what does it mean to be an EditorsÂ’ Pick? In short, it means itÂ’s a car that we can highly recommend purchasing. There may be one, multiple, or even zero vehicles in any given segment that we give the green light to. What really matters is that itÂ’s a vehicle that weÂ’d tell a friend or family member to go buy if theyÂ’re considering it, because itÂ’s a very good car. The best way to use this list is is with the navigation links below. Click on a segment, and you'll quickly arrive at the top rated pickup truck or SUV, for example. Use the back button to return to these links and search in another segment, like sedans. If youÂ’ve been keeping up with our monthly series of the latest vehicles to earn EditorsÂ’ Pick status, youÂ’re likely going to be familiar with this list already. If not, welcome to the complete list that weÂ’ll be keeping updated as vehicles enter (and others perhaps exit) the good graces of our editorial team. We rate a new car — giving it a numerical score out of 10 — every time thereÂ’s a significant refresh or if it happens to be an all-new model. Any given vehicle may be impressive on a first drive, but we wait until itÂ’s in the hands of our editors to put it through the same type of testing as every other vehicle that rolls through our test fleet before giving it the EditorsÂ’ Pick badge. This ensures consistency and allows more voices to be heard on each individual model. And just so you donÂ’t think weÂ’ve skipped trims or variants of a model, we hand out the EditorsÂ’ Pick based on the overarching model to keep things consistent. So, when you read that the 3 Series is an EditorsÂ’ Pick, yes, that includes the 330i to the M3 and all the variants in between. If thereÂ’s a particular version of that car we vehemently disagree with, we make sure to call that out.