1986 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. 2dr 2.0l Dohc & Many Performance Upgrades. 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:

‘Yee haw’ in Italian - Alfa Romeo Giulia is the Car of Texas

You can't underestimate the visceral pull of the new Giulia Quadrifoglio's 505 horsepower wrapped in Alfa Romeo's sweet, seductive sheetmetal. Autoblog said the hottest Giulia "puts some practical meat on the bone for American drivers bored of the usual Audi A4/Mercedes C-Class/ BMW 3 Series suspects." The Quadrifoglio delivers 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and laps the Nurburgring Nordschleife in just 7:32. This makes it - for the moment - the fastest four-passenger production car around the 12.9-mile circuit. Austin's Circuit of the Americas F1 venue isn't Germany's Nordschleife, but that's where the Texas Auto Writers Association gathered for its annual Spring Roundup - some 50 auto writers, broadcasters and bloggers evaluating 40-plus cars and crossovers in 11 categories, with best-of-class wins such as Performance Car of Texas, Family Car of Texas and – ultimately – best of show, the Car of Texas. In a vote as out of the blue as that one back in November, Giulia got the nod. When evaluating a Car of Texas at a track, the Giulia Quadrifoglio is a no-brainer. Beyond its brute power is a linear dynamic behind the wheel, even if the track's official road speed for this event was 60 miles per hour. Competing against it in the Performance Sedan category were the Dodge Charger R/T and SRT Hellcat, along with a Lexus GS F and VW Jetta GLI. Beyond its surfeit of power is the Giulia's raucous personality and – we'll admit – novelty. Many of the younger journalists at COTA had only vague memories of the brand. This was also, regrettably, a relatively weak grouping of performance machinery. The headliners – such as the Mercedes-AMG GT S and Nissan GT-R – were prominent, but cars most likely to be tagged a Car of Texas, such as a Shelby Mustang or hot Camaro, weren't. Ford brought only its Focus RS, and GM execs have deemed regional press events not worthy of their attention. Also, both BMW and Audi were no-shows, although – in defense of the Giulia – the M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63S were whipped by the Alfa in at least one recent hot sedan comparison. In short, Alfa swept a smallish field. But a win's a win, and every win bodes well for Alfa, even in a market where the first car is a truck, and the second car might be a second truck. Related Video: Auto News Alfa Romeo Ownership Luxury Performance Sedan no ribbon

2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale previewed ahead of February unveiling

After a false start, Alfa Romeo is finally ready to introduce the production version of the Tonale concept it presented in 2019. It released a short video on its social media channels to preview the model, which will be positioned below the Stelvio as an entry-level crossover. The murky, 12-second flick highlights the Tonale's digital instrument cluster, which features a layout called "cannocchiale" ("telescope" in Italian) by the brand. It seemingly consists of a screen flanked by a pair of round dials, and it's loosely inspired by the layout found in some of Alfa's classic models. Later examples of the 115-series GTV used a pair of large analog gauges separated by warning lights and smaller gauges. Discover driver-centric design in the cockpit of the new #AlfaRomeoTonale, featuring the multi-functional “Cannocchiale” cluster. “La Metamorfosi” begins February 8th. https://t.co/7tknJCcFTR pic.twitter.com/dh7o9BUwBq — Alfa Romeo USA (@AlfaRomeoUSA) January 26, 2022 What's more interesting than the cluster is the image of the Tonale that appears on the middle screen. Shown above, it's our first official look at the Stelvio's baby brother. Surprisingly, the crossover shares more styling cues with the 2019 concept than with the prototype spotted at a design clinic later that year. The shape of the grille hasn't changed much, and there are three U-shaped LEDs integrated into each headlight. The rest of the design remains shrouded in darkness. Our crystal ball tells us that the production model will look a lot like a toned-down version of the concept; we're not expecting the proportions to significantly change. Unverified rumors claim that the Tonale will be closely related to the Jeep Compass beneath the sheetmetal, and it will be offered with several engines and at least one plug-in hybrid drivetrain. It's this system that sources say delayed the launch: Alfa Romeo's boss reportedly sent engineers back to the drawing board in April 2021. Alfa Romeo will unveil the Tonale online on February 8, 2022, at 9 a.m. ET, which is 6 a.m. in California. And, while the odds of seeing it on our shores were previously unknown, Alfa Romeo's American division all but confirmed in a tweet that the model will be sold here. Related video: