Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio: A true driver’s car for better and worse

For its combination of style and sheer brute exuberance it has few if any peers, writes Sean O'Grady

The performance is sweltering – a few seconds to get to 60mph, and a top speed of 176mph (Alfa Romeo)

What do you do when Alfa Romeo asks you if you’d like to enjoy something like the thrills of driving some of the finest roads on the planet? Famous places like the Amalfi coast road in Italy, the Great Ocean Road in Australia? Or locations I’d not really heard of before like the stunning Transfagarasan Pass in Romania and the Trollstigen in Norway? All very tantalising. These entertaining destinations had been chosen for their automotive thrill potential by the highly discerning members of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club.

Unfortunately, the offer was rather a literal one as it was indeed to try out the admittedly formidable Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio in places like those storied destinations, but not the destinations themselves. “Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio”, by the way is Italian for “fast, posh SUV”; and the car is named after the Stelvio Pass, Italy’s highest and most spectacular, so its all very fitting, albeit transposed into a British environment.