Video: 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio

The United States' only formula one track, and we need you to drive a brand new Alfa Romeo, and I'm thinking to myself, cool. That's really gonna be awesome. Maybe it'll be like the four C sports car, that'll be cool. Or maybe the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, the brutally fast sports sedan that I drove at Sonoma a little over a year ago. But no, it's actually neither of those things. It's this, this is the 2018 Stelvio Quadrifoglio, and you know what? I ain't mad. Not at all. (laughing) So what is a Quadrifoglio? What makes it special? Well, if you want the history of Quadrifoglio, which means "four leaf clover" in Italian, you can look it up on our Giulia video, the Giulia Quadrifoglio where we explain to you the whole history behind this, but in short, it is basically the highest performance trim level of any Alfa Romeo model. If you see this for this four leaf clover badge on the fender, you know that this thing is a force to be reckoned with. The Stelvio Quadrifoglio brings a number of high-performance parts to the party that you get on the Giulia Quadrifoglio, you get the 2.9 liter twin turbocharged V6 engine. It pumps out 505 horsepower and 443 pound feet of torque. You get the same high-performance, eight speed transmission, and you get something more that you don't get on the Giulia, all wheel drive. It's standard on the Stelvio Quadrifoglio, it's not even an option on the Giulia Quadrifoglio, but you don't get everything. You don't get some of the carbon fiber parts that you get on the Giulia and you don't get any of the active aerodynamics either. So let's be honest here. None of these are ever going to see a track, probably in their life. This is probably the only time you're ever going to see the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio driven in anger around a racetrack, because let's face it. That's not really where SUV's are meant to be, however, Alfa Romeo makes this thing so that you can take it on a track, and it'll do some pretty extraordinary things. Out of all the SUV's I've driven on tracks, high-performance ones, this has to be the best one yet. You see the Stelvio itself is just a taller Giulia sedan. It's based off the same platform. They call it the Giorgio platform, and the Giorgio platform is outstanding on a track, it's light, It's incredibly well-balanced, it's super fast, and it makes noises like this! That noise comes from a 2.9 liter twin turbo charged V6 engine. It's making 505 horsepower, and 443 pound feet of torque. And it's made it up to an eight speed automatic transmission that when you put it in the race mode, like it is now, the whole car behaves just beautifully. Yes, it's heavier than the Giulia Quadrifoglio by almost 500 pounds, and it sits higher than a Giulia as well. I mean, it's an SUV. So you are sitting up a little ways, but you know what? It's not that much. It still has an incredible balance. It's easy to drive this thing around the track at really exciting speeds. And that noise, only Italian cars sound like that. (engine roaring) The throttle response is outstanding. You know, with the turbos, there really isn't much in the way of turbo lag because this transmission keeps things on boil really quite well. The steering in the Quadrifoglio model is fantastic. It's got a really super quick 12.0 to one ratio and it's just lightning fast, really direct, excellent feedback. The brakes are also extremely strong. You've got two different types. Standard are the regular steel Brembo brakes, six piston up front, four piston in the back, or optional are some carbon ceramic brakes. But frankly, carbon ceramic brakes out on the street are always a little problematic. They always make a lot of noise unless you get 'em really hot. (brakes whining) Carbon ceramic brakes folks. That's the noise they make. So, better to really stick with the steel ones unless you plan on taking this thing to the track every single weekend, which, it seems highly unlikely. So what do we have here? Well, you've got a Giulia Quadrifoglio, same powertrain, same transmission, same suspension improvements. Well, a little bit tuned differently because this is a heavier vehicle, but what it adds is all wheel drive. You can't get all wheel drive in the Giulia Quadrifoglio. So if you want that additional traction, which you're on a track like this, somewhat offsets that extra weight, you have to get the Stelvio, the SUV. That's the big question. Is it a decent trade-off? The Stelvio is 477 pounds heavier than the Giulia, but it's got the extra traction of all wheel drive. Now, when you're going around a track like this, the thing is still heavier, it still pushes, it still under steers, not so easy to break the rear end loose, but, hmm, for my money, if you do want a track, an SUV, you know, what are your choices? This, Porsche Macan, Jaguar F pace, maybe the BMW X4, this thing, I think performs better than any of 'em. So I still don't know if a track based high-performance SUV really makes sense to me, but if you're looking for something that is fast and stylish and has that little element of Italian exoticness well, Alfa Romeo has got something that you really might want to look at, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio goes on sale soon, and it's going to start at just under $82,000. You can read more about it at cars.com. Mama Mia, that's a spicy meatball. (laughing)