Very Italian, very Alfa Romeo, this cool crossover is molto elegante

The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale is an important vehicle for Alfa; as so many brands do, Alfa Romeo has plans to electrify its lineup, and the Tonale luxury compact crossover is its first foray into that world. It’s also its first entry in the competitive subcompact/compact luxury segment. With a base price of $44,995 for the gasoline version and $54,995 for the plug-in hybrid (PHEV), it’s also the least expensive way to get into an Alfa.

If all goes to plan, it should open up a whole new segment of buyers for the car company.

There’s a lot riding on the cool crossover.

It is very Italian. It’s built at Alfa’s Pomigliano plant just outside of Naples. The factory has been around since before Fiat owned the brand. While that may seem like a trivial thing, if there’s one thing Alfa knows how to do, it’s tap into its heritage in designing and engineering its cars.

Even the Tonale, an entry into a new segment, wasn’t going to make the grade without the requisite Alfa-ness.

You can see it in the way they’ve shaped the LED daytime running lamps — if you squint, you can see hints of the old 147 and 155 sedans — the “telephone dial” wheels with red brake calipers behind them, and the way the rear fascia gets a full-length light bar.

Alfa says it’s designed to recall the modern Brera hatch; I couldn’t help but be reminded of the 164, a unique forward-looking design from the ’80s. The classic Scudetto grille and mirror caps with Italian flags painted on them just scream Alfa, as does the Verde Fangio (green), Rosso (red) and Misano (blue) paintjobs. The classic Alfa serpent emblem remains, but, on the PHEV model, it appears in certain areas with its head replaced by an electrical plug. Get it?

The Tonale rides a little lower than the likes of the BMW X1 or Mercedes-Benz GLA, but that’s the point; by Alfa’s own admission, they really wanted the Tonale to look like a tall hot hatch, and if we’re honest, how much ground clearance does someone with a subcompact crossover really need?

The result is a crossover that looks suitably squat, ready to dispatch the curves if not the backcountry.

Inside, the new Tonale continues the Alfa trend of designing interiors that provide a flash of modernity, but are more of a black-tie affair. The dash of our tester has a splash of brushed silver here and bright trimwork there, but it is mainly a deep black affair.

Alfas are drivers’ cars and they don’t want to distract too much from that; at 12.3 inches, the gauge cluster display is larger than the infotainment display, which measures 10.25 inches. The reason? Simple. In a driver’s car, the instruments are what matter most, not the widgets on your media screen. There are also supplementary gauges for oil pressure and power meters.

In addition to looking classic-cool, the interior offers the most front- and rear legroom and storage behind the rear seats in the segment; there’s actually more room behind the Tonale’s rear seats than there is in Alfa’s own (larger) Stelvio, because that SUV gets such a steep rake to its rear window.

Alfa says the Tonale can transport four tall adults comfortably; I found the legroom to be fine, but headroom is such that I barely cleared the headliner, especially with the $1,495 moonroof option. Rear seat occupants don’t fare much better. Good that you can opt out of the moonroof, no matter which trim you choose, without losing any other features.

We spent the duration of this test in the top PHEV Veloce model, which provides 285 horsepower and 347 pounds-feet of torque from a turbo 1.3-litre, inline-four cylinder engine, plus rear axle-mounted 90 kilowatt (kW) electric vehicle motor. It provides 50 km of EV range, so if you can plug-in at night (with charge times in and around the 2.5-hour range on a Level 2 charger), your Tonale PHEV could, ostensibly, become a Tonale EV.

Here’s the thing, though; with that kind of power, as well as standard all-wheel-drive and a nine-speed gearbox with column-mounted paddle shifters, there’s too much fun to be had to really make that efficiency claim.

Power is enough to get you to 100 km/h from a standstill in about 6.5 seconds. But the real thrill comes as speeds increase; the torque curve is such that you’ve got acceleration in most any gear to perform your everyday speed manoeuvres, such as highway passes.

As the world turns and the road begins to twist, the Tonale returns very quick steering response, although I would like a little more road feel. Even with the extra weight of the 15 kWh battery and EV system, the body is kept nicely in-check through the turns.

For most of my drive, I kept it in dynamic mode (which joins advanced efficiency and natural drive modes), which allows drivers to choose from between two damper settings Even with 20-inch wheels and the firm dampers, I didn’t feel myself pogo-ing across the tarmac. Alfas need to be able to handle as well as, if not better than, the competition to set them apart.’

My limited time in the Tonale shows it answers the bell. Alfa owners buy for style and driving experience, but compact luxury CUV drivers often buy for comfort and features. The Tonale has the style and it has the drive, and, when similarly equipped, it’s actually better priced than some of its competitors.

Thanks to the Tonale, there could very well be would-be Alfisti ready to jump aboard the bandwagon.

Editor’s note: Please be aware that availability of vehicles depends on supply.

2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale

Type: Five-door subcompact luxury crossover, either as a front-engine/rear EV motor; or as a two-litre turbo four-cylinder, all-wheel drive

Power: PHEV is 1.3-litre, four-cylinder turbo; 90-kilowatt (kW), EV motor, generating 285 horsepower (hp), 347 lbs.-ft. of torque (motive force); engine is two-litre, four-cylinder turbo, producing 268 hp, 295 lb-ft of torque

Fuel economy: Not applicable as it’s all new

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic

Cargo: 648 litres or 22.8 cubic feet; 1,430 l or 50.4 cu. ft.

Price: $54,995, for PHEV; $44,995, for two-litre engine