Alfa Romeo Stelvio Vs Jaguar F-Pace
Premium SUVs have pretty much supplanted executive saloons as the market鈥檚 favourite family cars, certainly putting a big dent in four-door sales. Now manufacturers are making them more dynamic than ever. The two models we鈥檝e lined up here put the sports in Sports Utility Vehicle, and the latest 276bhp 2.0-litre petrol engine in the Alfa Romeo Stelvio combines the off-roader鈥檚 agility with an even greater hit of performance. This has been Jaguar鈥檚 dominant area of the market up until now, with its F-Pace SUV, but the British brand has given it a boost with a revised petrol engine line-up. So which car makes the more compelling case for itself? For: Performance and handling, good body control, 2.0-litre engine sounds great. Against: Infotainment is woeful, gearbox is jerky when used in manual mode. The Stelvio shares much with its Giulia saloon stablemate. The SUV鈥檚 chassis is adapted from the same platform, while the 276bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine is carried across from the Giulia Veloce, too.
In true Alfa Romeo tradition, it鈥檚 a sweet engine. Crisp throttle response and a nice audible rasp when revved mean it鈥檚 fun to extend and work hard; you鈥檒l need more revs than in the Giulia because of the Stelvio鈥檚 heavier body. It weighs 1,660kg, but this is still respectably low and 182kg lighter than the F-Pace, thanks to extensive use of lightweight materials, such as aluminium. As a result, the Alfa sprinted from 0-60mph in an impressive 5.4 seconds, making it as fast as some hot hatches. It was helped by the Stelvio鈥檚 Q4 all-wheel-drive system, which delivers great traction. While it might be down on power compared with the Jag, giving away 20bhp in total, the Alfa鈥檚 lower kerbweight helped during our in-gear tests. It took 6.9 seconds to accelerate between 50 and 70mph in seventh and a rapid 5.1 seconds going from 30 to 70mph through the ratios. However, on full throttle the transmission can be a little jerky, especially in manual mode.
At least it鈥檚 smooth and assured in the automatic setting at anything less than maximum acceleration, though. There are few complaints with the Stelvio鈥檚 chassis when it comes to driving enjoyment. Fast steering is rapidly becoming an Alfa trademark, and it鈥檚 present here. The nose darts towards corners because there鈥檚 enough grip and agility to support this. In fact, it鈥檚 surprisingly capable and enjoyable to drive for an SUV, once you鈥檝e got used to the speed of direction changes. The Alfa is even more agile than the Jag, which feels heavier and slower to react by comparison. Yet that鈥檚 not to say that the Stelvio is perfect. It sits higher from the road so there is some roll, while this sportier focus means occasionally the damping degrades as the Stelvio bumps around when loaded up in bends, or crashes going over nasty road crevices. The F-Pace isn鈥檛 immune to this, either, but most of the time the Stelvio鈥檚 suspension delivers enough compliance and, therefore, comfort to ensure it鈥檒l be easy to live with. What won鈥檛 be so tolerable is the infotainment.
The system is poor, although you do get an 8.8-inch screen with sat-nav, phone connectivity, all-round parking sensors, climate and cruise control, some good safety tech, plus a heated steering wheel and leather seats. Quality isn鈥檛 great, but it鈥檚 sufficient. 鈥?Tech: Infotainment set-up is the Stelvio鈥檚 Achilles鈥?heel. It鈥檚 slow to respond to inputs and has grainy graphics. It鈥檚 better to use the standard CarPlay and Android Auto. 鈥?Transmission: Gearbox is at its best in auto setting. It can be jerky under heavy acceleration, especially when driven in manual mode. 鈥?Materials: Heated leather seats are a bonus, but there are some cheap-looking plastics that don鈥檛 fit in with the price tag. For: Respectable ride quality, a great level of space and usability, enjoyable mix of ride and handling. Against: Engine not as sweet as Alfa鈥檚, gearbox is sluggish, feels heavier and less alert than the Stelvio. The F-Pace range has undergone a revamp recently.
Petrol buyers no longer have the option of a V6 motor, so until the 5.0-litre supercharged V8 SVR model arrives, this 30t version is the most powerful engine option and therefore a rival to the Alfa Romeo. It鈥檚 a 296bhp version of Jaguar鈥檚 2.0-litre turbocharged Ingenium petrol unit, linked to an eight-speed automatic transmission that sends power to all four wheels. The chassis layout is similar to the Alfa鈥檚, too, with double- wishbone suspension at the front and a multi-link set-up fitted at the rear. However, this is where the similarities between our test competitors end, because the two models perform and feel quite different on the road. The Jaguar tips the scales at 1,842kg, so despite its extra power but an identical 400Nm of torque, performance off the line wasn鈥檛 quite as urgent. The weight dulls the reactions off the line and the box is more sluggish to shift up, so the F-Pace trailed the Alfa by 1.3 seconds over the 0-60mph sprint.