Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid 2024 Review

At $78,500 plus on-road costs, the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid Q4 costs a hefty $19,600 more than the Tonale Hybrid Veloce ($58,900 plus ORCs).

But the electrified Italian compact SUV adds more power and equipment, as well as the plug-in hybrid system and all-wheel drive, so it’s somewhat an apple and oranges comparison.

Competitors are varied and plentiful. If you want a sporty European plug-in hybrid compact SUV there’s the larger Cupra Formentor VZe ($64,990 plus ORCs), while the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Exceed Tourer ($71,790 plus ORCs) isn’t sporty but compensates by being larger again, inside and out.

This price point is also becoming increasingly crowded with pure-electric offerings. There’s an all-electric Tonale coming, but in the meantime even if your heart is set on European (therefore discounting the Kia EV6, Hyundai IONIQ 5 and dominant Tesla Model Y), there’s the BMW iX1 (from $78,900 plus ORCs), Mercedes-Benz EQA 250 ($82,300 plus ORCs) and Volvo EX30 Ultra (from $64,990 plus ORCs).

An important point to mention is that all these cars sit below the Luxury Car Tax bracket for fuel-efficient cars, which qualify for the various tax incentives, especially relevant for those looking at leasing.

As mentioned, the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-in Hybrid is packed with gear over and above the regular Hybrid version, despite sharing the Veloce badge. Aside from the obviously mechanical differences, which we’ll cover in a moment, the biggest change is the inclusion of the Lusso Pack as standard.

This adds eight-way power adjustable front seats with heating and ventilation, a heated steering wheel and a 14-speaker Harmon Kardon stereo. Other inclusions are a sunroof, chrome exhaust outlets and the Alfa logo on the rear-left window.

This builds on top of the equipment included by the Veloce Hybrid, such as keyless entry/start, dual-zone climate control, auto lights and wipers, power tailgate, tyre pressure monitoring, adaptive matrix LED headlights and aluminium for the pedals, sills and giant shift paddles.

Mechanically, there are 19-inch wheels (20s a $1500 option), adaptive dampers and four-piston Brembo front brake callipers. Six exterior paint colours are available but only white is standard. Four others (red, blue, black and grey) attract a $1600 surcharge and Montreal Green costs an extra $2500.

A five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty is offered with roadside assistance for the same duration, while servicing will cost you $3100 over the first five visits, required every 12 months or 15,000km.

While the regular Alfa Romeo Tonale was awarded a five-star ANCAP rating, the Plug-In Hybrid remains unrated. As a substantially heavier vehicle it’s reasonable to assume it would perform differently to its hybrid sibling – not necessarily worse, just different.

Regardless, it’s packed with all the kit that’s de rigueur these days. The airbag count is only six but there’s the full active suite with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, plus lane support, forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control with stop&go, intelligent speed-limiter, rear cross-traffic alert and traffic sign recognition.

A 360-degree camera with front and rear sensors is also standard.

It’s a sign of the times that the 10.25-inch infotainment screen in the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid seems on the small side – remember when a 60-inch TV seemed impossibly huge?

Nevertheless, it has all the usual goodies like wireless smartphone mirroring, digital radio, voice control and TomTom navigation, and it’s pretty easily navigated thanks to the menu down the left-hand side. Apple CarPlay connected quickly and consistently in our experience, though the icons are quite small and the screen needs a firmish press.

There’s a 12.3-inch digital instrument display customisable through various screens, though like the MG4 the right-hand scroller on the steering wheel does double duty, so you need to push the little ‘pages’ button to its left to adjust through trip info and the like.

Another new feature to Alfa is the connected services app, allowing you to check the status (or location) of the car and control various features via your smartphone.

This isn’t a case of simply adding a bigger electric motor to the regular models. The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid uses a completely different 1.3-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine with a single camshaft rather than double-overhead cams.

Despite its lower capacity and – seemingly – lower tech, the engine alone is more powerful than the 1.5 turbo unit in the regular Veloce, offering 132kW/270Nm rather than 118kW/240Nm.

This powers the front wheels while a 90kW/250Nm electric motor handles duties at the rear for a combined output of 208kW. Despite a 320kg weight penalty (1811kg kerb), Alfa claims the Tonale PHEV can fire to 100km/h in 6.2sec.

Another change is the use of a conventional six-speed automatic rather than the regular Tonale’s seven-speed dual-clutch unit.

Disregard the official 1.5L/100km combined fuel consumption figure, because fuel use in the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid will vary wildly depending on your driving circumstances. With lots of short running and diligent charging, the useful EV range of around 60km could mean a tank lasts weeks or months.

Conversely, longer high-speed trips using the engine will result in consumption around the 7.0L/100km mark based on our – admittedly short – experience.

The maximum AC charging capacity of the Tonale PHEV is 7.4kW, at which rate it’ll take a bit over two hours to fill the battery, while even from a domestic power socket you’re looking at around eight hours for easy overnight top-ups.

It’s perhaps fitting for a brand that made its name in motorsport that the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid is far better to drive in its Dynamic mode than in Normal.

This leads to somewhat of a moral quandary. The idea of a plug-in hybrid is to be as efficient as possible, but the driving experience is so much more enjoyable in Dynamic, which uses the petrol engine at all times and therefore isn’t efficient at all.

Part of the issue is the shortcomings of the Normal mode. The steering is very quick in modern Alfa tradition but also light to the point of lifelessness, the softer suspension mode does soak up bumps but introduces too much fore-aft movement and the drivetrain is too unresponsive.

The first point perhaps speaks for itself, but I’ll give a couple of examples to illustrate the other two issues, as well as how Dynamic improves its behaviour.

Go over a speedbump in Normal and the Tonale continues to rock back-and-forth as it’s underdamped, whereas in Dynamic it still cushions the bump well and recovers composure immediately. Sure, it feels a little firmer in Dynamic, but body control is so much better that the ride is actually more comfortable.

Now, the powertrain. In Normal mode, electric power is used wherever possible, but the Tonale is calibrated so that there is no instant response from the motor and initial acceleration is so slow that you end up pushing hard enough to wake up the petrol engine, defeating the purpose of the all-electric mode.

Select Dynamic and the engine always operates, throwing fuel economy out the window, but it has more enthusiasm and flooring the throttle shoots the car forward as the 90kW rear motor chimes in.

Having different power sources on each axle (not uncommon; a RAV4 Hybrid operates similarly) does result in one of our more entertainingly irrelevant discoveries in recent memory.

Add a heavy dose of throttle on a slippery surface and 90kW suddenly being applied to the rear wheels has predictable results in the form of instant power oversteer. It’s worth mentioning at this point that, unusually for this segment, the ESC Off on the Alfa’s drive mode selector really is off, so be very careful and don’t assume there is still an electronic guardian angel in background.

This odd quirk notwithstanding, the Tonale Plug-In Hybrid acquits itself reasonably well as a sporty SUV. Dynamic also adds some welcome weight to the steering, there’s decent grip, it’s a little heavy but not outrageously so and that electrified powertrain has plenty of punch.

It’s a pleasant enough cabin within the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid, with the biggest boon being the retention of a row of hard switches for frequently-used functions. It makes life a lot easier having temperature and fan control (among others) just a tap away.

The driving position presents no problems and most should be able to find comfort, while there’s enough space in the rear for front-facing kid seats (rear-facing might require some compromise for the front passenger) and adults as long as they aren’t too tall, since the sunroof impinges on headroom slightly.

The boot isn’t particularly voluminous but should suit most needs, though the PHEV deletes the spare tyre of the regular hybrid. Towing capacity is 1250kg (250kg less than the Hybrid), which might still be a handy figure for those needing to tow small trailers or a jet-ski, though the 75kg downball maximum may be a limiting factor.

In coldly objective terms it’s difficult to make a case for the 2024 Alfa Tonale Plug-In Hybrid. While not a bad car by any means, no matter what you’re after – space, efficiency, performance, driving dynamics – the fiercely competitive small SUV segment means there’s almost certainly something that will make a stronger case.

That’s probably bad news if Alfa had volume aspirations, but the good news is there’s enough substance here to prevent fans of the brand – or those beguiled by the Tonale’s looks – from being disappointed. Though much higher in price, it makes a more convincing argument than the regular hybrid models.

In a way, Alfa releasing a car that feels at its best in its sportiest setting seems entirely appropriate and its combination of unique styling and a fully loaded equipment list should find favour with the Alfisti.

2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrid at a glance:
Price: $78,500 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: 1.3-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 132kW/270Nm (electric motor: 90kW/250Nm)
Combined output: 208kW
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Battery: 15.5kWh lithium-ion
Range: 60km (WLTP)
Energy consumption: 24.1kWh/100km (WLTP)
Fuel: 1.5L/100km (WLTP)
CO2: 34g/km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Unrated