Alfa Romeo Tonale review: Flawed beauty is full of improvements but falls into the style over substance trap

It’s arguably one of the prettiest SUVs currently on the market, but that alone hasn’t helped the Alfa Romeo Tonale attract a swathe of buyers in Australia, certainly not in the type of numbers that would keep the Italian brand’s accountants happy.

Perhaps that’s why Alfa’s engineers have rolled up their sleeves and brought a ‘heavily updated’ Tonale to market just three years after its initial launch. That’s a short mid-life cycle, by any new-car metric.

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And it needed it, with the original Tonale, as gorgeous as it looked, not delivering on its Alfa promise with a lethargic engine and mild-hybrid system, not to mention a firm ride.

Alfa says it has listened to its customers and responded by “getting rid of a few of those niggle points,” according to the brand’s local rep.

It’s immediately apparent the $64,990 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ibrida (Italian for hybrid) on test here is cut from a different cloth. An overhaul of its exterior design, especially at the front, pays dividends, the updated model looking more muscular, more sporty, more Alfa.

The most obvious change is the redesigned ‘Trilobe’ and ‘Scudetto’ grille, paying homage to the gorgeous 33 Stradale limited-production supercar. 

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A wider track has resulted in more pronounced front and rear wheel arches housing a new Stilo wheel design, measuring in at 19 inches. There was nothing wrong with the old wheel design, but as Italians say, Così va la vita!

One glaring carryover, and it still jars, is Alfa’s decision to leave the number plate holder off-centre on the front bumper. It gives the Tonale an unbalanced look, even more so when viewed against European market models where the plate is now firmly centred.

Inside, the Tonale looks like, well, an Alfa Romeo, which is no bad thing as the Italian brand has always charmed with its driver-centric cockpits. Sadly, the traditional gear lever of the pre-updated model is no more, replaced by a rotary dial that, while it works just fine, lacks the tactility of a proper lever, even if it is just there to shift from P into D.

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But the rest of the cabin looks and feels purposeful, like an Alfa should, with sumptuous perforated leather seats, a ‘sporty’ leather steering wheel, aluminium pedals and the brand’s now-signature DNA drive mode selector just fore of the centre console.

And credit to Alfa for persisting with physical switches for the Tonale’s climate controls. It feels like rewarding the bare minimum, but such is today’s proliferation of fiddly screen-based HVAC controls that any vehicle with knobs, switches and dials is worth mentioning.

The second row remains tight, however – hardly surprising for this small SUV segment – but the rear bench sits nice and high, affording those consigned to row two good visibility. Around the back, lifting the tailgate reveals a 500-litre cargo area that expands to 1550 litres with the second row stowed away. Not bad for this slice of the market. There’s a space-saver spare under the boot floor.

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Power for the Veloce Ibrida comes from a 1.5-litre turbo-four that’s good on its own for 117kW and 240Nm. This being a mild-ibrida, a small 15kW/55Nm electric motor boosts total output to 128kW. A seven-speed dual-clutch auto transmits the grunt to the front wheels.

It’s important to note that this ‘mild-hybrid’ system isn’t there to power the Tonale on its own. The electric motor can move the car at – very – low speeds from standstill, such as when parking or backing up into the garage. And yes, it will help the Tonale coast on battery power alone if the right conditions are met, such as very slow-moving traffic or driving downhill.

But its main job is to provide that extra little bit of kick (11kW of it) to the Tonale’s performance. 

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Alfa says the mild-hybrid system has been retuned with ‘refined hybrid control processors’ that bring more responsiveness and smoother transitions between petrol-only and petrol-electric motivation. And it’s a gear-driven 48-volt system rather than belt-driven which, according to Alfa, allows for “greater hybrid electric drive”.

There’s no question the system is smoother in its transitions than the pre-updated model, which always felt just a touch clunky. But as for ‘greater hybrid electric drive’, that seems a little fanciful. It doesn’t take much throttle pressure to provoke the petrol engine into life, which proves zippy enough in around-town situations. Alfa claims a 0-100km/h time of 8.5 seconds – not particularly fast, but such is the flow of traffic today that you’ll barely notice.

You won’t notice any rorty engine note, either. There isn’t one, and that’s one of its biggest disappointments. Alfas of old always had a song, a guttural soundtrack that prickled the hairs and curled the corners of your mouth upwards. Not this Alfa, which remains decidedly mute and sociable. Boo.

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The seven-speed dual-clutch isn’t the last word in refinement, either, showing a hesitancy at slow speeds that proves frustrating and, on occasion, alarming.

The biggest criticism is reserved for the suspension. It’s an improvement over the pre-updated model, yes, but still brittle and firm. It simply doesn’t gel with patchy city streets, the chassis jolting and jostling around uncomfortably.

Things get better out on the smoother surfaces of the motorway and no doubt that firmness would pay dividends on the billiard-table smoothness of a race track. But that’s not what this car is for.

On the plus side, the steering is nicely calibrated, with some heft (at least in Dynamic mode) but not so much that your forearms are getting a workout. Responses are quick and accurate, making for an easy time navigating tight urban enclaves.

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The Tonale’s mild-hybrid powertrain does bring some fuel benefits. Alfa says it’ll sip 5.4L/100km. Pleasingly, my short time with the Tonale returned an indicated 5.1L. That’s not too shabby at all, and on par with some regular hybrid systems from other brands.

It’s one of a handful of bright spots on the updated Tonale which, while it tries very hard to live up to the Alfa badge on its Scudetto, doesn’t quite evoke the same passion of Alfas of old. Yes, it’s stunning to look at, and arguably one of the best-looking SUVs currently on sale. But it’s also an Alfa for the modern age, an age that prioritises high-riding soft-roaders over almost everything else, with rules around emissions relegating driver engagement to the second row. 

Alfa deserves praise for recognising the flaws of the original Tonale and then setting about trying to rectify them. And there have been improvements. But the changes haven’t gone far enough, leaving the Alfa Romeo Tonale firmly on the Style over Substance side of the ledger.

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Specs: Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce