TWIN TEST: ALFA ROMEO TONALE vs AUDI Q3

PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES

A fleet-friendly PHEV crossover is something very different indeed from Alfa Romeo. Matt Saunders hopes there’s more to the Tonale than just low benefit-in-kind tax

PHOTOGRAPHY LUC LACEY

It feels like an Alfa in some respects but not at all in others

et me start L this exercise as I mean to go on, with a couple of general observations that I hope can be agreed on no matter where on the love-’em-or-hate-’em Alfa Romeo scale you happen to sit.

Older, longer-established car brands are, we know, generally less agile than younger ones. They can find it difficult to move with the times. Every new model seems to have a certain friction or inertia to overcome before it can be launched. Sporty car brands, meanwhile, often have trouble crossing the Rubicon with cars that find big commercial success at volume. We all wish there were more car enthusiasts in the world, but some car brands have learned the truth to their considerable cost. Both key problems have afflicted Alfa Romeo over the decades. Between them, they might even explain why the Italian brand has never reached the potential that so many executive decision makers have seen in it so very many times before.

If you can’t beat the automotive mainstream, you join it, by building a car like the Alfa Romeo Tonale. Milan’s latest is a compact SUV of the kind that has dominated sales statistics for a decade or more now. So, unlike the expensiveto-engineer Giulia saloon ever was, it’s a smart commercial bet.

Yet it isn’t the kind of car that we expect from the Alfa we know. In my experience, fully paid-up members of the Alfisti tend to have long enough memories (or sufficiently deeply buried pain) that the latest thing from the company doesn’t swing their affection either one way or the other. But might the Tonale be different, I wonder? How much ‘real Alfa’ is there in this car, exactly? Could there have been any more baked in? And, in the broadest of senses, is it likely to be a force for good or one for ill for its maker? 

These are the questions to which we look to a Tonale, a close rival and a chilly winter’s day on the Chilterns for answers. Our Tonale is a left-hand-drive, range-topping PHEV Veloce – which costs £48,495, so frankly it had better be as good as they claim. And the rival is from a brand that doesn’t need to ‘aspire’ to be an established modern premium operator. The Audi Q3, here in 45 TFSIe S Line specification, is a bit shorter at the kerb than the Tonale. A little oddly for an Audi, it isn’t the car bringing four-wheel drive to the table here. And it doesn’t quite make as convincing a tax-saving PHEV business case as the Tonale, for reasons we will come to. But it is available from several grand cheaper – and it isn’t far behind in terms of on-paper power or performance.

Dispassionate, rational reasons haven’t tended to sell Alfa too well in the past, but the company clearly wants to turn over a new leaf here. The Tonale is pricey compared with some plug-in hybrid competitors, but because it comes with a 15.5kWh battery and officially up to 43 miles of equivalent electriconly range, it gets itself into the 8% company car tax bracket, whereas many others are still stuck at 12% or even 14%.

That fact, delivered in a car with a roomier four-seater cabin than some and plenty of equipment for the money, stands to get the Tonale into buying conversations, both private and fleet, in which Alfas have seldom if ever featured before. It might win some showroom attention. Get it onto a shortlist. Win it a test drive, even.

So what will it do from there to convert? On the uppermost of top levels, I’m not sure the Tonale has the same kind of distinguishing design appeal the Giulia and the Stelvio SUV brought a few years ago. As far as compact SUVs go, it’s sort of nice looking, but it doesn’t rise above the noisy visual quagmire of its rivals like great Alfas tend to.

Compact SUVs with transverse engines just don’t give designers the stance, volumes and angles that they need to make appealinglooking cars, I fear. (And, as we keep on buying them, we continue to tell anyone who will listen how little we care and discount any right of complaint.) So while you might have an inkling that you prefer the Tonale’s look to the Q3’s, I doubt that you could point to anything about it that’s objectively a better bit of design. I actually prefer the Q3’s slightly squatter, more tightly packaged proportions. If only it had less fussily ‘technical’ Audi detailing.

The Tonale definitely offers more cabin space than the Q3, plus a boot with more usable space than the relative difference between the on-paper cargo volumes of these cars (380 litres versus 385 litres) would suggest. With a family to transport, you would feel notably more reassured with the Tonale’s practicality, while the Q3’s marginally tighter interior gives it a little bit more of a hatchback vibe.

Milanese biscione with plug for head is quite a neat touch

Well laid out with a decent quality feel and sporty touches

Which brings us onto broader cabin appeal. Without wishing to reopen old wounds, might this be where the case for the Italian begins slowly to peel, unravel and disintegrate? Well, no, actually. If this were Alfa taking a swing at Audi’s A6 or Q7 (as it’s promising to do come 2025), it might be. But, mostly because Audi’s smaller cars don’t have the inscrutable sense of richness and built-in quality of its bigger ones, the Tonale gets away with one here. Its premium feel and perceived quality aren’t selling points, but they’re good enough.

Its digital technology is slightly less crisply rendered and intuitive than the Q3’s. Its material finish and feel is a little less consistent, with shinier mouldings and

❝ It stands to get into buying conversations in which Alfas have seldom if ever appeared before ❞

cheaper-looking decorative trims and ambient lighting features. Its seats are bit less adjustable and supportive. And there’s no excuse for failing to line up the centre of the steering column with the corresponding point on the instrument binnacle, especially on a left-hooker, is there? That isn’t okay on an Italian car – in fact, on any car – in 2023. For OCD’s sake, Alfa, sort it out.

However, the overall impression the Tonale’s interior gives you is one of a car with a generally sensible ergonomic layout, a passably appealing finish, a little bit of material lustre and design intrigue here and there (the famous ‘biscione’ grass snake from the Alfa crest has been redesigned quite artfully with a power plug for a head and used as a decorative motif).

The Q3’s fittings feel more robust and its materials look a shade more expensive, but the difference isn’t large or that significant.

Where the difference between these cars ought to loom large is in the driving. Most Alfas that could stay in touch with a German rival in any Autocar group test where ‘static’ respects are concerned would, traditionally, waltz off into the sunset at this point. But this is new territory, remember. And while the Tonale tries to do the same, its success in creating a really clear 

The Alfa’s battery may give you more electric-only range, but the Audi’s hybrid modes, which allow you to empty, save and recharge the battery so easily, make up a lot of the shortfall in normal motoring.

Audi’s 1.4 engine is very familiar; Alfa’s 1.3 from Jeep 4xes

It is no A8 but is still solidly made; digital tech beats Tonale’s

 dynamic selling point is limited, to say the least.

That big battery and the weight it imposes (1835kg all in versus 1740kg for the Q3) is part of the problem, but it’s by no means all of it. Again, in a strictly rational sense, the Tonale might be the right car for you because it offers real-world electric-only range: a dependable 30 miles of it even in near-freezing temperatures, according to our testing, compared with more like 20 miles for the Q3. But it’s a surprisingly disappointing driver’s car, weedy-sounding, clunky-shifting and unresponsive with its electrified powertrain,

decidedly reluctant and disinterested-feeling in its throttle calibration and heavyfeeling with its body control when you do get some speed up. The Tonale does at least steer like an Alfa: quickly, lightly and with that initial sense of zip and keenness that augurs so well. Its lateral body control is good, too, although vertical control is less good. By comparison, the Q3’s wheel is slower and heavier (albeit not without feel) and it turns less smartly and rolls a tad farther. It’s what happens after you’ve Getting got the Alfa committed to a corner, the Q3 up to and as you’re making off down the the Tonale Veloce’s road ahead, that lets it down. Even equipment level means in Dynamic driving mode, the spending a few quid on PHEV powertrain is slow to options. Adaptive cruise control with all of the active safety systems, for example, costs £800 extra.

2nd Low BIK tax ratings will deliver fleet appeal, but there’s not nearly enough old-fashioned driver appeal to go with it.

rouse. The accelerator pedal’s tuning feels as if it’s saving any electric motor boost for the very bottom of its extension, rather than feeding it in right at the top. Hiding it away, almost.

Also, because the Tonale’s petrol engine and electric motors operate independently of each other (one is in the front and one is in the back, whereas the Audi’s are teamed up upstream of the gearbox), they often don’t combine very cleverly under wider pedal applications. In order to get the electric rear axle to really drive the car out of a bend, you can’t avoid overworking the front one and making the six-speed gearbox shift quite clunkily and hastily.

So after exploring the Tonale at its most exciting, you can only Audi is slower than the Alfa, but its powertrain is much better resolved

1st

Plenty of premium features in an appealing compact SUV, with great drivability, comfort and refinement.

Cold reception for the Alfa but not for the Audi

conclude that it’s best when moving along more gently.

In the strictest of objective terms, when you flatten their pedals and just witness what happens, you can’t mistake that the Tonale is clearly faster than the Q3. But the Audi’s slicker, smoother tuning and greater drivability make it markedly easier to drive, as well as more pleasant. Its petrol engine is also considerably better isolated than the Tonale’s and doesn’t sound nearly so meek and underwhelming when it’s running.

And so the Q3’s better value proposition, its less wallowy and heavy-feeling back-road ride and its all-round stronger credentials as a compact luxury car end up giving it a pretty clear win in the end. The Tonale may have a better electric-only range and moments of dynamic spiritedness with it, but they’re just too few, too far between and too often accompanied with other cues for driver frustration for it to really challenge its German rival.

Customers will excuse it, of course, forgive it and allow for its shortcomings. Plenty won’t even care how it compares with rivals. Nor need they, because if the closely related Jeep Compass 4xe PHEV is good enough to do its maker a power of commercial good, this Tonale certainly is likewise.

Is it really a proper Alfa, though, or is it a filler, a tick in an important box? I doubt whether even the most passionate Alfa devotee, if they were honest, would ultimately need telling. L

Rating Price Engine

Power Torque Gearbox Kerb weight 0-62mph Top speed Battery Economy Electric range CO2, tax band

Audi Q3 45 TFSIe S Line

AAAAC £44,585 4 cyls in line, 1395cc, turbocharged, petrol, plus electric motor 242bhp at 5000rpm 295lb ft at 1550rpm 6-spd automatic, FWD 1740kg 7.3sec 130mph 13.0/10.4kWh (total/usable) 141.2-148.7mpg 28-29 miles 44g/km, 14%

Alfa Romeo Tonale PHEV Q4 Veloce

AAACC £48,495 4 cyls in line, 1332cc, turbocharged, petrol, plus electric motor 276bhp at 5750rpm 295lb ft at 1850rpm 6-spd automatic, 4WD 1835kg 6.2sec 128mph 15.5/12.0kWh (total/usable) 201.8-217.3mpg 38-43 miles 32-38g/km, 8-12%

GHOST IN THE MACHINE

James Attwood crosses over to the other side of the world and the home of Hyundai to meet Casper the friendly mini car

M

eet Casper. Casper is your new friend and, well, he’s a bit of a cheeky character. Okay, yes, Casper is just a car, but Hyundai has created a whole backstory filled with mention of ‘character’ and ‘personality’ to explain how he – sorry, it – will appeal to young urban buyers, so let’s just roll with it. Besides, Casper really is quite adorable.

The Hyundai Casper was launched last year as the smallest car the firm offers in its gargantuan domestic Korean line-up, and is best described as a crossover version of the i10 city car. It uses the same platform (also shared with the Kia Picanto), but at 3595mm long is actually 100mm shorter than its sibling. It’s narrower too, although predictably higher.

Hyundai designer Simon Loasby describes the Casper as “combining the character of a Fiat 500 and a Jeep” – and it’s certainly more befitting of that description than the Fiat 500X, a car that actually is a mix of a 500 and a Jeep. It’s distinctive too, with split front headlights, a sleek rear LED light panel and even a smiley face moulded into the C-pillar. Casper likes to smile, it seems.

The interior perhaps isn’t quite as slick, with designers unable to hide the relatively cheap plastics and basic materials. But there are some dynamic flashes on the trim and a decent infotainment screen, even if it does look slightly ungainly poking out the top of the dashboard.

The Casper isn’t just a beefed-up hatchback like, say, the Toyota Aygo X but a ‘proper’ crossover – and its small size is to meet Korea’s ‘light car’ class. There certainly isn’t much like it in the UK, save for perhaps the Suzuki Ignis. And, yes, you can’t buy a Casper in the UK. But why? After all, the Brits and other Europeans love small cars, and crossovers are hugely popular.

It’s not like Hyundai has abandoned the city car market,

Interior is hardly poverty spec given £8665 price tag

unlike many rivals. The

Hyundai i10 and its Kia Picanto sibling are the only two proper examples left in the UK market, and Hyundai has shown laudable commitment to the class.

One reason the Casper isn’t offered in the UK is revealed somewhat when you get behind the wheel. Because its cuteness and charm can’t hide the fact that it’s hardly the most refined thing going. It’s offered with a choice of 1.0-litre engines, and in Korean spec it won’t win any awards for refinement – even with our top-spec test car featuring the T-GDi turbo engine. Casper might be friendly, but at speed he’s a bit of a whiner.

Still, the Casper’s charm does hold up. Once you’ve adjusted to the slightly unrefined powertrain and reached a decent speed, it retains

Price £8665 (Korea only) Engine 3 cyls, 999cc turbocharged, petrol Power 99bhp at 4500-6000rpm Torque 127lb ft at 1500-4000rpm Gearbox 4-spd automatic, FWD Kerb weight 986-1060kg 0-62mph na Top speed na Economy 34.7-36.1mpg CO2, tax band 130-136g/km

❝ Casper might be friendly, but at speed he’s a bit of a whiner ❞

its pace reasonably well and has that enjoyable small car pep that comes from positive handling and a short wheelbase. It lacks the finesse, polish and plentiful kit of the European-spec i10, but then the cheapest Casper in Korea costs roughly £8665. The entry-level i10 in the UK costs £14,995.

It’s got some neat features, too. Remove the headrests and the front and back seats both fold flat, effectively turning the entire interior into a flat bed. Loasby claims Casper owners use it to sleep in when going camping. How hashtag lifestyle.

The issues with bringing the Casper to Europe are the same reason so many car firms have turned away from small cars in recent years: safety regulations, Euro 7 emissions regulations Cheery notes abound both inside and out and so on. Basically, it’s hard to make small cars profitable. The cost of all the kit the Casper would most likely need in Europe would probably push it beyond the reach of its intended target audience.

In Korea, its target audience is more youthful than that of many other Hyundai models, which explains why the Casper is only sold online. And this brings us to another reason we don’t get the model: it’s really popular in Korea.

The country’s car market is unusually broad, a melting pot of American- and Chinese-influenced saloons with European-influenced hatchbacks and SUVs. Electric cars, denoted in Korea by a light blue numberplate, are still relatively rare. And as the de facto national car firm, Hyundai straddles all of it – and the Casper is the model it’s using to capture young city dwellers.

Spend any time in traffic in Seoul – and if you’ve spent any time in Seoul, you’ve spent time in traffic – and you’ll see a significant number of Caspers on the road. The diminutive size, modern styling and neat LED lighting help it to stand out, and there’s not much else like it. The only real class rivals come from within the Hyundai Motor Group, with the Kia Morning (née Picanto) and Ray, an even boxier crossover built on the same platform.

Undoubtedly, the Casper feels more at home in urban traffic than larger crossovers do, and it’s a cinch to place on busy roads. But just as you’re picturing it threading through London traffic, you press the accelerator and hear the whine of the slightly rough three-cylinder petrol engine.

But there is hope, with suggestions of an electric reworking potentially reaching Europe. Priced right, that could be an absolute smash hit. After all, in an era when the future of the city car is at risk, the Casper is a reminder of how adorably fun they can be. Sadly, for now, we’ll have to wait for a chance to make firm friends with Casper. L

It’s shorter in length than an i10 and not nearly as refined

THREE OTHER KOREAN CARS WE’D LIKE ON UK ROADS

HYUNDAI STARIA The Staria’s styling may be super-modern, but strip that away and you’re left with a Volkswagen Multivan-rivalling van-based MPV that drives very much like a van. You can get a camper version with a built-in kitchen, mind.

HYUNDAI POREST Speaking of campers, Hyundai also offers a proper van-based camper. It’s based on the Porter truck – Porest is a portmanteau of Porter and rest, apparently – and features a built-in kitchen and three separate sleeping areas.

KIA RAY Kia’s long-running model is similar in overall dimensions to the Casper, but takes the form of an even boxier minivan, with a sliding door on the passenger side. It’s offered with petrol or LPG powertrains, and in 2011 spawned an electric variant – Kia’s first-ever production EV.