Alfa Romeo hits the comeback trail with the charming all-new Tonale small SUV
- How much does the Alfa Romeo Tonale cost?
- What equipment comes with the Alfa Romeo Tonale?
- How safe is the Alfa Romeo Tonale?
- What technology does the Alfa Romeo Tonale feature?
- What powers the Alfa Romeo Tonale?
- How fuel efficient is the Alfa Romeo Tonale?
- What is the Alfa Romeo Tonale like to drive?
- Can the Alfa Romeo Tonale go off-road?
- What is the Alfa Romeo Tonale like inside?
- Should I buy an Alfa Romeo Tonale?
The Alfa Romeo Tonale small SUV is just the tonic the Italian car-maker needs to improve its fortunes in Australia. Slotting in below the Stelvio mid-size SUV and alongside the Giulia sedan as the third model in the local line-up, the Tonale is a crucial addition as Alfa Romeo rebuilds its brand worldwide and steers toward a full-electric future from 2025. Starting below $50,000 before on-road costs are added, the Tonale is powered by an efficient mild-hybrid petrol engine and is packed with equipment, yet doesn’t skimp on Italian flair that helps it stand out from the pack.
How much does the Alfa Romeo Tonale cost?
Priced from $49,900 plus on-road costs, the 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale becomes the most affordable model in the Italian car-maker’s showroom.
Suffering from poor sales in recent years, which has raised questions over the brand’s viability in Australia, Alfa Romeo remains committed to our market and believes the Tonale will be pivotal to its expected turnaround.
It has launched with two model grades sharing a mild-hybrid turbo-petrol engine – the entry-level Tonale Hybrid Ti (from $49,900) and the top-spec Tonale Hybrid Veloce (from $56,400) – while a more powerful and expensive plug-in hybrid will follow later.
A variety of other new Alfa Romeo SUVs in different segments should also be heading Down Under, but for now the focus is on Tonale.
Company executives expect about 70 per cent of buyers to opt for the flagship Tonale Hybrid Veloce, and while they wouldn’t reveal sales predictions for the new range, supply is said to be “ample” and that should ensure delivery times won’t be protracted.
Both Tonale models are competitively priced against European rivals such as the Audi Q3 (from $50,600), BMW X1 (from $60,400) and Volvo XC40 (from $53,490), which was carsales’ Car of the Year back in 2018.
Warranty coverage for the Alfa Romeo Tonale is five years/unlimited kilometres, with free roadside assistance running for five years.
Service intervals are spaced at every 12 months or 15,000km, while capped-price servicing prices are fairly high at $3675 over five years – $545 at years one, three and five, $645 year two and $1345 year four.
What equipment comes with the Alfa Romeo Tonale?
Alfa Romeo really needs the Tonale to be successful, so it comes as no surprise that product planners have thrown literally everything at this model.
The generous equipment list on the entry-level 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale Hybrid Ti starts with 18-inch alloy wheels, Matrix LED headlights with animated indicators, and power-folding and heated exterior mirrors.
Headline features in the cabin include an impressively high-resolution 10.25-inch central touch-screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (wired and wireless), a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, wireless phone charging pad, dual-zone automatic climate control and keyless entry/start, along with cloth and leather-accented seat upholstery with contrast stitching.
The leather-wrapped sports steering wheel and alloy pedals add a bit of telltale Alfa Romeo passion to the cabin, as does the DNA drive mode selector dial.
The overall ambience is suitably classy.
The Tonale Hybrid Veloce adds bigger 19-inch alloy wheels, scarlet Brembo brake callipers, dark exterior accents, tinted windows, adaptive suspension, massive aluminium gear shift paddles behind the steering wheel, a 360-degree parking camera, auto-dimming side mirrors and perforated black Alcantara and leatherette seat upholstery with crimson stitching and embroidered ‘Biscone’ logos.
Disappointingly, all models come standard with manually adjustable seats.
If you want eight-way power-adjustable front seats you’ll have to fork out an extra $4500 for the Lusso pack, which also adds heating and cooling to the seats, a heated steering wheel, full leather upholstery with dark grey stitching and a 14-speaker, 465W Harman Kardon audio system.
There’s also a $2500 Technology pack for the base-grade Tonale Ti adding blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, traffic jam assist, side parking sensors, a 360-degree camera and auto-dimming side mirrors – most of which you might have expected to be standard from a premium brand like Alfa Romeo, and which are all included on the Veloce.
The options list is positively miniscule compared to its German rivals. There’s a panoramic dual-pane glass sunroof ($2500), while four of the six exterior paint jobs add $1600: Alfa Red, Alfa Black, Vesuvio Grey, Misano Blue. Only Alfa White is gratis.
Going for Veloce also unlocks unique 20-inch alloy wheels ($1500) and Montreal Green tri-coat paint ($2500).
How safe is the Alfa Romeo Tonale?
Despite being based on an ageing platform architecture shared with the Jeep Compass, the 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale has snagged top marks for protection with a maximum five-star rating from independent safety authority ANCAP.
As well as six airbags covering front and rear passengers, all models are fitted as standard with adaptive cruise control with traffic sign recognition (real-time speed limit updates), lane keep assist and lane departure warning, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian, cyclist and vehicle detection, front and rear parking sensors, driver fatigue detection and tyre pressure monitoring.
Matrix LED headlights are also standard on both models, which use an advanced high-beam system that shuts down individual LEDs to avoid dazzling other drivers while keeping the high beams on to dynamically illuminate around other motorists.
What technology does the Alfa Romeo Tonale feature?
With more than 22 inches of digital real-estate from its twin LCD screens, the 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale is billed as a class leader in this regard.
In addition to a range of useful features on both digital screens, such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility (wired and wireless) and an excellent GPS-based satellite navigation system with voice control, the Tonale also comes with the Italian brand’s first implementation of Alfa Connect services.
By linking the vehicle with the Alfa Connect app, owners can perform a number of remote operations via their smartphone. These include locking, unlocking and flashing the Tonale’s lights, plus there’s a vehicle finding tool to help you locate the SUV in a chockers car park.
The app will also talk with the car to provide a monthly report and update owners on any mechanical issues. Alexa integration is part of the package, which will expand its remit considerably.
What powers the Alfa Romeo Tonale?
Just one engine is available to Australian buyers of the 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale at launch – a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, which also features a 48-volt mild-hybrid system.
The powertrain stumps up 118kW of power and 240Nm of torque, which is on par with most of its German rivals.
Power is transferred to the front wheels via seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The hybrid system includes a small 15kW/135Nm electric motor that has enough pulling power to propel the car silently in certain scenarios.
We managed to coax the Tonale from standstill to around 20km/h on pure electricity, but it drains the 48V (0.8kWh) lithium-ion battery quickly.
How fuel efficient is the Alfa Romeo Tonale?
The official combined-cycle fuel consumption figure for the 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale is 5.6L/100km.
We managed to get the average mileage on our first drive as low as 4.2L/100km when trundling through central Adelaide, but settled on 7.2L/100km by the end of the test.
That included flogging the SUV through the Adelaide hills, which pushed consumption up to 8.9L/100km, but by and large the Tonale proved to be fairly frugal.
What is the Alfa Romeo Tonale like to drive?
Alfa Romeo has always prided itself on injecting sports car spirit into every vehicle it produces. This has made rusted-on Alfa enthusiasts – the Alfisti – very happy, and many journalists too…
But it hasn’t always helped attract new customers and generate increased sales for the brand.
Perhaps to appeal to a broader audience this time around, the 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale dials back that trademark sportiness – just a little bit – and pumps up comfort levels a bit more.
Despite some misgivings around late-stage prototype Tonale SUVs we drove in Italy last year, the entry-level Tonale Ti’s passive suspension manages to straddle an affable line between absorbent ride comfort and dynamic handling.
It’s a relatively quiet SUV – Alfa has used sound-deadening materials to good effect here – and certainly has a more premium feel than top-shelf small SUVs from mainstream Asian brands.
The three drive mode settings provide tangible changes to the way the car behaves as well, altering steering weight and engine response.
We spent more time driving the flagship Tonale Veloce that gets adaptive dampers, and its two suspension settings (Comfort and Dynamic) give it more scope at both ends of the driving spectrum.
Cruising through Adelaide and the surrounding suburbs in Comfort mode offered slightly more compliance than the Ti model’s one-size-fits-all-scenarios suspension, and likewise it felt smoother and more settled on country roads, despite its larger, sportier wheel-and-tyre combination.
Lock in Dynamic mode on the DNA dial and the suspension and steering firm up appreciably, giving the Tonale Veloce plenty of confidence through corners and better body control.
There is a hint of torque steer under full throttle at standstill, but the Veloce tracks through corners keenly and with impressive grip – testament to the solid work Alfa Romeo’s chassis engineers have wrought here.
The brake-by-wire system – while effective – lacks feedback, as does the steering, diluting the connection between car and driver somewhat.
Then there’s the engine. It’s very good around town, generating ample mid-range torque and able to deliver impressive fuel economy, while being refined and quiet at civil speeds.
But drop the hammer and the engine takes a while to rev and struggles to pull the vehicle’s circa-1500kg mass with any sort of urgency.
This makes blasting out of corners less ‘yee-haw!’ and more ‘yawn-oh’.
Alfa Romeo claims a 0-100km/h time of 8.8 seconds, but testing showed it to be slightly slower than that.
Can the Alfa Romeo Tonale go off-road?
There’s no specific off-road mode and given it’s a front-drive vehicle with average ground clearance (140mm), the 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale would struggle on steep climbs or boggy trails.
On well-graded dirt roads it was predictable and surprisingly obedient, but anything beyond gravel would be an act of sheer folly.
What is the Alfa Romeo Tonale like inside?
While the exterior is appealing, the chassis balanced and the mild-hybrid powertrain frugal, the 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale will probably win over a lot of prospective buyers with its premium interior fit-out.
The cabin blends sportiness and a certain Italian vitality with enough luxury to make it highly competitive with its European rivals.
All the major touchpoints are nicely finished, particularly the sports seats, the leather-clad steering wheel and the two-tiered dashboard design with circular air vents.
There’s not too many cheap plastics in evidence, and smaller touches add personality – the way all the controls seem to wrap around the driver, the engine start button on the steering wheel and little Italian flags here and there.
Physical climate controls are a welcome sight and interior space is good for both front and rear occupants given the vehicle’s 4528mm length.
But, as we mentioned earlier, power-adjustable front seats will set you back $4500, as part of the Lusso or luxury pack. If this bundle was included as standard on the Veloce – even for a slightly higher base price – Alfa would’ve been closer to nailing the brief.
Overall, the Tonale is still a compelling package with its lovely 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a very sharp 10-inch central screen.
We like the fact that there are USB-A and USB-C ports front and rear, so you don’t need adapters or countless cables, and the power-operated tailgate exposes a remarkably large boot, with a generous 500 litres of cargo space.
Should I buy an Alfa Romeo Tonale?
The 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale is not as dynamic or engaging as we’ve come to expect from the Italian brand, but it is a better everyday drive.
With the sort of broad-spectrum charm few Alfas have ever provided, we really like what the Tonale brings to the table: it’s a well-equipped and stylish small SUV with an intriguing blend of sportiness, luxury and efficiency.
It’s an easy-going cruiser, pleasant to drive and has plenty of interior space, with a premium look and feel both inside and out.
Chuck in quintessential Italian flair to make help it stand out from the premium small SUV crowd – without radically alienating more conservative buyers – and there’s a sense that Alfa is set to make good progress down the comeback trail.
2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale Hybrid Veloce at a glance:
Price: $56,400 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 118kW/240Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 5.6L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 129g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)
Keyword: Alfa Romeo Tonale 2023 Review