Alfa Romeo

Tonale

The Alfa Romeo Tonale is a stylish five-door compact SUV that drives beautifully, is packed with tech and also covers all the practicality bases along the way.

Test Drive

Alfa Romeo Tonale TI 1.5 160hp Hybrid (2023)

Alfa Romeo fans are a die-hard breed, many of whom are drawn to cars that can put in a true performance. So, launching a new model needs to tick a lot of boxes.

Firstly, it needs to carry the Alfa badging with pride, but it also needs to cover all the ‘greener’ planet-saving bases these days too.

The all-new Tonale does a very decent job of addressing both those issues.

The Tonale is a compact SUV that oozes Italian flair and designers have somehow managed to give a practical family car bags of dynamic styling appeal.

Eye-catching design cues include a distinctive grille housing the Alfa Romeo emblem, an offset front number plate, glossy black painted body kit with satin inserts, a rear spoiler, body-coloured door handles, sweeping Matrix LED headlights with automatic high beam, full LED rear lamps, chrome Tonale and Ti (Turismo Internazionale) badges, plus dark 18-inch alloy wheels.

Moving inside, there’s a sport leather steering wheel, supportive dark carbon upholstered seats, a chunky gear lever, soft-touch dash and door inserts, lots of attractive contrast stitching on the seats, doors and central cubby box, a clear 12.3-inch driver information display and a smart 10.25-inch touchscreen.

On-board tech also impresses with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connection, sat nav, dual zone air conditioning, DAB radio, a six-speaker sound system, a reversing camera with dynamic lines, Bluetooth, a wireless charging pad and plenty more besides.

The driver’s seat is four-way power-adjustable making it easy to find the perfect driving position and all controls, dials and readouts are easy to access on the fly in this very driver-focused cockpit.

Our front-wheel drive test car, costing £39,995, was powered by a four-cylinder, 1.5-litre mild hybrid petrol engine delivering 160hp and 240Nm of torque.

It could sprint to 62mph from a standing start in 8.8 seconds and maxed out at 135mph. According to official WLTP figures, the Tonale can deliver a combined 47.1mpg with carbon emissions of 135g/km.

When it comes to performance, the Tonale moves smoothly through the seven-speed automatic transmission. There are no paddles to change gears manually but this can be achieved via the gear lever. To be honest, the automatic timing is impressive and it quickly drops down a gear when bursts of pace are needed for overtaking or the likes.

Although it’s not blisteringly quick out the traps, the Tonale is nicely balanced through twisting country lanes and still possesses some of the magical Alfa appeal when faced with sharp curves. The grip is impressive with minimal sign of body sway and this car can cruise effortlessly on motorways at 70mph.

It’s agile enough to cope with the madness of the school run and, when you fancy a little more fun, drive modes call DNA alter the handling. These settings stand for Dynamic, Natural and Advanced.

The ride does seem on the firm side, so expect to feel the full force of any unexpected bumps or dips in the road, but the cabin is generally well insulated from outside noise such as engine, wind or road surface rumble.

In fact, we clocked up about 700 miles during a week behind the wheel and never tired of driving this car. It delivered on all counts without any fuss.

Space within the Tonale is decent enough for a compact SUV and a trio of youngsters can sit comfortably in the back. The boot can swallow 500 litres of kit, increasing to 1,550 litres with the 60:40 split-folding rear seats dropped flat.

Elsewhere, there is a small cubby box, door bins, a glovebox, seat back pockets, front and rear cup holders and a number of USB and USB-C ports to keep devices charged and connected.

Safety features that helped the Tonale secure a maximum five-star Euro NCAP rating include autonomous emergency braking, intelligent speed assist, lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition, intelligent cruise control, a driver fatigue monitor and six airbags.

All in all, the Tonale is an impressive all-rounder and the influence of stablemates within the Stellantis Group is clear to see in this very upmarket cockpit. Yet, it still maintains traditional Alfa Romeo appeal and character along the way.