Tested: 2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale Tries HarderAndi Hedrick - Car and Driver05/13/26 UPDATE: This review has been updated with instrumented test results.The Alfa Romeo Tonale has an opportunity on its hands. Its kissin' cousin, the Dodge Hornet, was canceled after going into a production hiatus as the result of import tariffs. The Tonale is built in the same factory and suffers the same cross-border annoyances, but it's moving full steam ahead with a mild refresh for 2026 regardless, which gives the SUV an opportunity to scoop up some of the buyers left standing around with Dodge-shaped holes in their hearts.Adding Some Things, Removing OthersThe 2026 Tonale's most notable update isn't an addition, but a removal. The plug-in hybrid, which was the Alfa's only available powertrain at the model's inception, has been discontinued. The turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four, introduced just last year, becomes the sole survivor. The engine is unchanged for 2026, producing the same 268 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque as before. A nine-speed automatic and all-wheel drive remain standard.Andi Hedrick - Car and DriverThe Tonale's nonhybrid four might lack the power of the now departed PHEV, but at the test track, the difference is marginal. In our hands, a 2025 nonhybrid reached 60 mph in a sufficiently quick 5.6 seconds, just 0.1 second behind the last PHEV Tonale we tested. Plus, the plug-in weighed in some 453 pounds heavier. Unsurprisingly, our test-track efforts showed that 2026's changes had no effect on its acceleration, returning the same 5.6-second result to 60 mph, and the same quarter-mile time of 14.3 seconds at 96 mph. The difference in weight was an insignificant increase of 12 pounds, with the 2026 model tipping the scales at 3850.AdvertisementAdvertisementFun fact: While we're used to talking about forbidden fruit in terms of Euro-spec cars we can't get in the U.S., the 268-hp turbo four isn't available in Europe. And, according to a member of the Tonale's product planning team, some buyers are quite jealous of that fact, as European variants are generally underpowered. It's nice when the shoe is on the other foot.Andi Hedrick - Car and DriverThere are a few visual differences setting the 2026 Tonale apart from its predecessors. The front bumper sees mild adjustments to the grille design, and the enlarged lower air dam brings more visual cohesion to the package. A small set of inlet nostrils adds a bit of flair on both sides of the grille. The bumper is less pronounced than before, slightly reducing both overall length and front overhang. As with most mid-cycle refreshes, there are also new wheels and new paint colors (red, yellow, and dark green). Wheel offsets have changed, too, adding 0.3 inch to the vehicle's track width. Though you might think additional track width might confer additional lateral grip, in this case it did not: A 2025 nonhybrid Tonale managed 0.87 g on our skidpad, while the 2026 could only muster 0.85 g.Andi Hedrick - Car and DriverTrims, packaging, and options get a bit of a rejiggering as well. The lineup now starts with the base Sprint trim, which is pretty well contented with a pair of front displays (12.3-inch gauge display, 10.3-inch central touchscreen), heated and powered front cloth seats, a heated steering wheel, 18-inch wheels, and a host of modern driver assists. Moving up to the Veloce trim adds leather seats—black is standard, with red leather as a new no-cost option—in addition to red Brembo brake calipers, aluminum shift paddles, 19-inch wheels, and adaptive dampers. The Sport Speciale is the new top trim, packing black Brembo calipers, ambient cabin lighting, two-tone Alcantara-trimmed seats, an Alcantara-wrapped dashboard, and some slick three-spoke 20-inch wheels.Here's where things get weird: The Sport Speciale ditches the dual-mode suspension (becoming an option instead of standard), and it just so happens to be the same price as the Veloce. To Alfa, it's about choosing a path; the Veloce sticks with leather and positions itself as the slightly sportier choice, while the Sport Speciale aims for a more luxurious endgame with its higher-end trimmings. All variants can be optioned with a black roof for some extra visual punch, and thankfully, Sport Speciale owners can pay $350 to have the adaptive dampers shoehorned back in.Driving the Tonale: Same Ol', Same Ol'Since the U.S.-spec powertrain isn't certified overseas, our time behind the wheel of the 2026 Tonale took place at Alfa Romeo's Balocco Proving Ground outside of Milan. Not that we could tell—nestled within Balocco is a morass of tight, sinewy pavement meant to represent a winding European back road. Unlike real Italian B-roads, though, the ones in Balocco are free of Carabinieri.AdvertisementAdvertisementIn our previous forays with the Tonale, we found it to be a little light on luxury, but it made up for that with a predilection for corner carving, especially with its ludicrously tight 13.6:1 steering ratio. Considering the bulk of the Tonale's refresh focuses on the ancillaries, the 2026 model is just as eager to hustle as its predecessors. The steering might be tight, but the SUV tracks true at highway speeds without requiring constant micromanaging, so it's not a frenetic mess holding a steady 70 or 80 mph. At those speeds, there's some wind noise over the mirrors and around the A-pillars, but road noise from below isn't too bad. Once we settled into a nice 75-mph cruise, our real-world highway fuel-economy test returned a mediocre 27 mpg, 2 mpg below its EPA estimate. By comparison, the BMW X1 earned an EPA estimate in the low 30s for the highway.Andi Hedrick - Car and DriverAdvertisementAdvertisementEverything jells nicely when you're slapping this thing through a series of never-ending corners. The front end responds to inputs quickly, and understeer is minimal. Our Sport Speciale test car lacked the adaptive suspension option, but it struck a good balance, prioritizing body control and stiffness but not overdoing it so that normal driving felt laborious. It's still stiff enough to three-wheel over mild curbing. The Tonale's brakes proved stout in our short-term outing. The initial bite is light and a little far into the pedal throw, but stopping power is easy to modulate once you're in the thick of it. When you need to stop in a hurry, the Tonale will provide; at the test track, we recorded a 70-to-0-mph stopping distance of 165 feet, about even with the last BMW X1 we tested.There's not enough power to overwhelm the tires, so you can really glom on to the throttle and let the turbo four bark its countertenor tune, which makes for a good cabin soundtrack amid the wails from the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 4 all-season tires that were on our test car. Alfa's trademark gigantic paddle shifters are nice to play with, but the nine-speed gearbox can be a little lazy in responding to inputs, so we preferred to let the computers handle the cogs.Andi Hedrick - Car and DriverWithout the Hornet to undercut it, the 2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale has more room than ever to convince buyers on the idea of a not terribly expensive, driving-focused small SUV. Pricing opens at $39,745, with the two uplevel trims starting at $44,245. The changes to the lineup—especially the no-cost top-trim switcheroo—should sweeten that deal further.➡️ Skip the lot. Let Car and Driver help you find your next car.AdvertisementAdvertisementShop New Cars Shop Used CarsYou Might Also LikeGift Guide: Best Ride-On Electric Cars for KidsFuture Cars Worth Waiting For: 2025–2029