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By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 55

In this improved form, Alfa Romeo's Stelvio Quadrifoglio continues to be the most charismatic high performance SUV you could choose. Not much has changed with this updated version, though the Milanese maker has wrung a bit more power from the Ferrari-derived twin turbo V6 this model shares with the glorious Giulia Quadrifoglio super sports saloon.

Background word count: 137

It's rather refreshing in automotive world currently obsessed with electrification to come across a car like this. Proper sports cars might be a dying breed but proper sports car engines are still, for the moment anyway, alive and well. And the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio model we look at here absolutely has one; a turbocharged 520hp V6 bi-turbo shoe-horned in below its carbon fibre bonnet. This powerplant was designed by former Ferrari engineer - Gianluca Pivetti. And another ex-Ferrari engineer, Philippe Krief, handled the team responsible for trying to make this big SUV handle somewhere in the same ballpark as the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio saloon that shares nearly all this fast Stelvio's engineering. Which is quite a task given that this SUV is 200kg heavier. How does it fare in this updated form? Let's find out.

Driving Experience word count: 438

Under the bonnet, as with the Giulia Quadrifoglio, lies a 2.9-litre petrol V6 Biturbo powerplant that's essentially a cut-down version of the 4.0-litre V8 used in Maranello's old 488 GTB. For this revised model, it now develops a thundering 520hp, 10hp more than before. That hasn't made much difference to performance, but that wasn't lacking before. This Alfa still lacks launch control, but it's still able to storm to 62mph in a 3.8s time only slightly slower than that Ferrari we just mentioned. And should you find yourself a track or a stretch of unrestricted autobahn, it'll keep powering on up to 176mph. Apparently, one of these laps the Nurburgring Nordschleife SUV in just 7 minutes 51.8 seconds. Alfa's thrown all the performance technology it has at this halo model and on this top Stelvio, you get one feature not fitted to UK versions of the Giulia Quadrifoglio - the Italian maker's innovative Q4 all-wheel-drive system, which can shift up to 50% of the engine's prodigious torque frontwards whenever the electronics sense that the rear tyres are running out of traction. In the original Stelvio Quadrifoglio model, a pair of clutch packs in the rear differential allowed torque to be distributed from side to side at the rear as cornering forces dictated. For this enhanced version, Alfa has switched to a more straightforward mechanical limited slip differential borrowed from the Giulia GTA. Unfortunately, the brand hasn't improved the rather dead pedal feel of the brake-by-wire system. But everything else about this car encourages you to take it by the scruff of the neck and hurl the thing about; there's a level of poise and agility here that you simply wouldn't expect from a near-two-tonne mid-sized SUV. 'Active Torque Vectoring' helps get the power down through the bends and Synaptic Dynamic Control 'Active Suspension' varies the adaptive damping, which alters with the selected D,N or A drive mode ('D' [for 'Dynamic'] is the sportiest); plus there's an extra 'Race' setting for tyre-smoking starts. The damping can be individually adjusted via a button on the mode controller. 'Alfa Chassis Domain Control' connects the different drive systems to deliver the best set-up as the car is being driven. There's also an 'Alfa Active Aero' system that alters the angle of the front splitter to help this Stelvio scythe through the air more cleanly. An 8-speed paddleshift ZF auto transmission is of course mandatory - complete with lovely large cool aluminium paddleshifters. Lightweight carbon-ceramic brakes are an expensive option few will want to stretch to, but you might want to find a little extra in your budget for the sonorous Akrapovic exhaust.