Meet the newest edition to the Alfa Romeo model lineup, the all-new Tonale SUV. Its name, ‘Toh-nah-lay’, is an Italian adjective used to often describe music and Timbre or tone colour is a musical term that describes the characteristic and quality of sound of any instrument or voice.
The Tonale combines Alfa Romeo’s Italian style with new hybrid powertrains and the mild hybrid version is available in two grades with this Montreal Green Tonale being the higher spec of the two, the Veloce. Both grades are powered by a 1.5 litre, 4-cylinder turbocharged mild hybrid that has a 15kW electric motor and unlike some other mild-hybrids, Alfa’s MHEV system can drive the wheels up to 40km/h. I found that the hybrid system was a little rough switching between battery and engine particularly at start up.
There is not a lot of potency either from the 1.5 litre engine with just 118kW of power and 240Nm of torque, so the acceleration from 0-100km/h takes 8.8 seconds and the top speed is 212km/h. The official combined fuel use of the Tonale is 5.6L/100km and for my time with the Veloce I used 8.5L/100km.
The front wheel drive Tonale has a sporty 7-speed dual clutch transmission with Alfa’s customary large Aluminium column-mounted paddle shifters. I love the look and feel of these paddle shifters, but I don’t think you are really going to use them much on a SUV that doesn’t have a great deal of performance prowess.
The Tonale also has Alfa’s D, N, A drive mode system, that means you can choose from Dynamic, Natural, or Automatic drive mode using the rotary selector. In Dynamic mode you can also adjust the stiffness of the dampers and you will need them on the softest setting as I felt the ride of the Tonale was unrefined and jiggly over bumps.
I found the feeling from the steering was very light and sensitive to touch and it moved around too much, so when the steering assist is activated the wheel felt like it is constantly moving. Behind the leather steering wheel, which is heated on my Veloce as part of the optional Lusso Pack, is a 12.3-inch full digital driver’s dash that you can configure.
I like the Italian flag detail on the centre console and the lack of gloss black that is seen in so many other modern vehicles. The two cup holders have grippy sides and one is deeper than the other and there is good sized drink bottle storage cubbies in each of the front doors.
The Lusso Pack also adds heating and ventilation to the perforated leather front seats and 8-way electric adjustment on both front seats with driver’s seat getting three memory positions. The seats are firm and although the cooled seats worked well, they were a bit noisy when operating like most cars that have this feature.
There’s plenty of technology on offer in the new Tonale with wireless Apple Carplay/Android Auto that connects to the 10.25 Infotainment screen. The deep cubby at the front of the centre console contains the wireless charging pad with one USB-C port, one USB-A port and a 12V socket, which has a nice design. A 14-Speaker Harman Kardon Audio System comes as part of the Lusso Pack and the media sources include AM/FM radio, DAB, Bluetooth and USB. I noted that the DAB reception was better in the Tonale than other vehicles I have driven with less dropping out occurring in the outer suburbs of Sydney.
Voice control can be used for the infotainment system and is now designated by a microphone on the steering wheel button. It worked well for me for making phone calls and changing the radio station, but entering a destination on the sat nav is not available in Australia.
For a small SUV I found that there was ample head and leg room for me in the rear seats, and for younger passengers there are two ISOFix/three rear tether child seat restraint points, but most likely only enough room for two seats due to the overall width. The centre seat folds down as an arm rest with two shallow cup holders in it that have grippy sides and there are good-sized drink bottle storage cubbies in rear doors. The two rear air vents have individual direction control and one central manual on/off switch and below this is one USB-C port and one USB-A port.
The Veloce has a powered tailgate with open/close buttons on tailgate, in the cabin and on the good looking Alfa key fob. The boot is large enough for the weekly shop or a pram and a small shop and if more space is required the rear seats have a 60:40 split fold mechanism with the release on the outer seat shoulders or if you just need to store long items then it has a central peek a boo door. The boot space has four substantial tie down points, two hooks, two lights and one 12V socket in the and there is a temporary use spare tyre located under the boot floor. I like that there are small supports that hold up the boot floor with you, this is something more car companies should do.
The Alfa Romeo Tonale has a 5-star ANCAP (2022) rating with an Adult Occupant Protection score of 84% (32.15 out of 38) and a Child Occupant Protection score of 87% (42.88 out of 49). This ANCAP safety rating applies to 1.5 petrol MHEV variants only. PHEV variants are unrated. There is dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting airbags fitted to the Tonale.
Active driving safety fitted to standard to the Tonale include Autonomous Emergency Braking, Active Blind Spot Assist with Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Keep Assist, and Adaptive Cruise Control. ANCAP tests of the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) (Car-to-Car) system showed GOOD performance with collisions avoided or mitigated in most test scenarios, including AEB Junction Assist where the test vehicle can autonomously brake to avoid crashes when turning across the path of an oncoming vehicle. ANCAP tests of lane support system functionality showed GOOD performance, including in several of the more critical emergency lane keeping test scenarios and the overall ANCAP Safety Assist score is 85%.
The Tonale also comes standard with a rear-view camera alongside a 3600-overhead camera with front, rear, and side parking sensors. The front parking sensors are very sensitive and when I was positioning the Tonale in a space with plenty of room they would not allow me to move. For convenience the Tonal also has auto lights and auto high beam control and auto rain sensitive wipers.
All new Alfa Romeo vehicles have a 5 Year / Unlimited kilometre factory warranty coverage with 5 years roadside assistance. The service interval for the Tonale MHEV is every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first. Using the Service Calculator on the Alfa Romeo website I calculated that the first five services would cost $3,675 in total.
The Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce starts at $56,400 excluding on-road costs and as tested with the optional tri-coat Montreal Green paint ($2,500) and Lusso Pack ($4,500) this Veloce was $63,400 excluding on-road costs. You can price your Tonale on-line or visit your preferred Alfa Romeo dealer to learn more about the 2023 plated new and demonstrator Tonale runout offers.
| Pros | Cons |
| The stylish interior | The rough transition of the hybrid powertrain |
| DAB radio reception | The unrefined ride |
| The supports in the boot that hold the floor up | The overly sensitive steering |
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.