Welcome back to drive notes, which is a Cliff Note’s review of vehicles that are currently in, or recently were in, my possession for a test.
Today we have the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale eAWD.
The Tonale is built along its sibling, the Dodge Hornet, in Italy. Unlike the Hornet, the Tonale is available only as a plug-in hybrid, using the same powertrain as the Dodge Hornet R/T. This setup mates a 1.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder to a 90 kW electric motor for a system output of 285 horsepower and 347 lb-ft of torque. Alfa promises up to 30 miles of electric-only range.
I’ve been harsh on the Hornet R/T — I prefer the internal-combustion GT — but the driving experience was different with the Alfa. Better in some ways, worse in others. Read on.
Pros
- The Hornet handles pretty well for a small crossover, and the Tonale feels just as sharp, if not sharper, both in the default drive mode, and in Dynamic.
- Although it’s on the stiff side, the ride never punishes. Even on cruddy Chicago streets.
- The interior looked, if not felt, slightly upscale from the Hornet.
- It’s quick, though it seems to take the powertrain a second to get sorted when you go from cruising to tromping on it.
- The powertrain transitions are mostly smooth, though occasionally harsh.
- That said, the powertrain generally felt much better sorted than on the Hornet R/T.
- The styling is a bit sexier here than on the similar Hornet.
- I had no chance to charge, but the Level 2 charging times shown by the trip computer at each shutdown weren’t unreasonable. Even on slow charging, you’d be able to juice up overnight.
- Like with other Stellantis PHEVs, there’s an eSave mode to help better manage battery usage.
Cons
- The were some weird electronic issues. Some I understood — the constant beeps were warning me that there was a speed camera ahead. But occasionally the ADAS system activated unnecessarily. It was also perplexing to find that the switch that customizes the gauges is on the wiper stalk.
- Activating the defogger somehow cranked the heat up to Hades. Thankfully, one could just put the climate control back to auto and all would be good again.
- If you want to hop out of CarPlay to use UConnect, there can be a lot of menu-hopping required to do what you want/need to do. This tester also had more lag than I am used to from the generally excellent UConnect system. It also had 16K miles on it, which is a lot for a press car — I don’t know if that makes a difference, but it does mean this vehicle has been used more than most I test.
- Rear headroom is a teeny, tiny bit cramped.
- The vehicle didn’t unlock when I was standing right next to it with the keys in my pocket. Not sure if this was a setting — some vehicles offer customization — or if keyless entry was failing.
Given the choice between the Hornet R/T and the Alfa, I’d pick the Alfa, and not because it’s better-looking — though it is — or because of the Alfa brand cachet. It’s just more fully baked. That said, there are minor flaws here that will annoy all but the biggest Alfa cognoscenti.
[Images © 2024 Tim Healey/TTAC.com]
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