Moving forward from sleek sports model to modern SUV commuter

Alfa Romeos can be the most moving of machines, bringing  joy to many a driver and tears  to some.

Automotive legend Henry Ford in 1938 said: “Every time I see an Alfa Romeo pass by, I raise my hat.”

And there have been any number of Alfas to adulate since then – some perhaps more worthy of a tip of the hat than others.

Yet there remains (in dull drivers’ quarters) a sardonic attitude to these Italian sports cars, sedans and wagons.

Told that a 30-year-old Alfa 33 wagon was headed to Birdsville and beyond, one city chap remarked: “Game. I wouldn’t trust an Alfa to drive across town”.

Yet that unreconstructed, four-wheel-drive Alfa made Birdsville, Boulia up to Winton and back at good speed, with a blown head gasket the only failure (one well-overloaded 33 wagon in the pack made it better than halfway up the famed Big Red dune).

Well before then, a 1.8 litre Alfetta was a beloved family sedan around here. Quick and comfortable, that was a very special tourer for back-country roads.

The motoring world has, in the main, moved on from twin-cam motors, five-speed manual transmissions and sporting heritages.

These days, there’s more focus on battery kilowatt hours and computer-aided auto driving.

And so, on to the Alfa Romeo Tonale Hybrid Q4: a 21st century plug-in hybrid with hints of heritage in a compact  SUV body.

And it is a handsome body. It can’t quite escape that ubiquitous, small SUV profile but the front end, with heart-shaped grille and angry lights, has a premium style. And those elegant 20-inch alloy wheels are imposing.

It’s not a big car by any means and while drivers past the old 183cm (6’) mark can get comfortable enough behind the wheel, it’s hard to find the right spot to read all the read-outs – including road speed. Actually, all digital read-outs, including how much fuel (petrol or electric) is available, are tricky to follow.

Yet the hybrid drivetrain for this Alfa Romeo is easy to understand: a 132kW, 1.3 litre turbocharged, four-cylinder engine with six-speed automatic transmission supplies the giddy-up for the front axle, with an electric motor with up to 90kW of power and 250Nm of torque supplying power to the rear axle.

It’s said that the car can run for up to 60km on electric power only.

What’s nice – almost Alfa-like – is the decent urge when the throttle’s opened wide in Dynamic drive mode. It can be a reasonably lively SUV, well-kitted and quite the modern commuter.

Trouble is, the price tag starts around $77,500 for a pretty compact machine.

And while time and fashions change and most of us stick with the pace, it’s quite disconcerting to move off in an Alfa under silent electric power rather than the snap, crackle and rasp of Alfa Romeos such as the magical 147 GTA from the early 2000s.

And the chassis of this generic  Tonale cannot match the character of older Alfa Romeos.

Today, there are other, often  cheaper, hybrids which offer more  driver involvement.