The Tonale is Alfa Romeo’s latest product that should bring new customers to the brand who are looking for something smaller and more affordable than the aging Stelvio and Giulia. The small crossover shares its platform with the Jeep Compass and Jeep Commander, as well as the Dodge Hornet, which is a slightly redesigned and re-engineered version of the Italian model. Tonale is positioned as one of the sportiest products in the compact crossover segment, which makes us have high expectations regarding its road performance.
Putting subjective feedback aside, there’s no better way to judge a car’s cornering performance than track times and moose test times. Our colleagues at km77.com recently tested the Tonale with moose and slalom to evaluate how fast the model goes around cones. These two performance and safety tests also show how the in-vehicle electronic assistance system works.
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The tonale from the video has a 131 horsepower (96 kilowatt) petrol engine mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. This special vehicle is from the special edition Edizione Speciale, which means it has 20-inch wheels with 235/40 96V Pirelli PZero performance tires. Power only reaches the front wheels.
Despite its performance-oriented suspension setup, big wheels, and direct steering, the Tonale didn’t impress much in the moose test. The reason seems to be mostly related to the vehicle’s electronic assistance system with test drivers explaining that the electronic stability system almost never brakes the car to make it easier to control. The best effort on the moose test for the Tonale was 46 miles per hour (74 kilometers per hour), which notably exceeded listed vehicles such as the Nissan Ariya and Honda Civic.
In the United States, you can only order the Tonale with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. Alfa Romeo decided to discontinue the 2.0-liter gas mill and leave the crossover with only the 1.3-liter PHEV system which has a total system output of 272 horsepower (203 kilowatts). Despite the engine, however, it doesn’t appear that Tonale is any expert on moose testing, but it’s important to note that the test pilot of the video said the vehicle felt very agile and fast in normal driving.
