Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti 2024 Review

The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti straddles the line between being a luxury offering and offering mainstream pricing. At $50,900 before on-road costs (ORCs), the Ti undercuts the bulk of its major competitors.

The range-topping Veloce offers the same mechanical gubbins but with more kit for $58,900, while the Veloce Plug-In Hybrid gains more grunt and efficiency for $78,500.

The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti is front-wheel drive and gains an efficient mild-hybrid powertrain, utilising a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine.

The Tonale Ti presents well as a premium SUV. It gains ‘Carbon’ cloth/leatherette seat trim, abundant soft-touch materials and a plethora of contrasting colour stitching. Subtle touches like the mesh-look trim in the dash and aluminium inserts in the floor pedals adds to the quality vibe. And although the front seats lack power adjustment, at least there’s electronic lumbar support for the driver.

Keyless entry and dual-zone climate control are standard, while the push-button start is located boldly on the left steering-wheel spoke.

The $5500 Lusso pack affords eight-way powered, heated and ventilated front-seats, a heated steering wheel, perforated black-leather seat trim and a 14-speaker, 465-watt Harman-Kardon sound system.

A dual-pane sunroof is available for $2500, while all body colours except Alfa White are $1600 extra.

The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty with free roadside assist for that period.

Fixed-price servicing costs, at $3675 for five years, tend to be on the high side and are above, for example, Volvo’s XC40 which costs $3000 for the same period.

Although the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti’s airbag count (six) doesn’t include the increasingly familiar far-side airbag, the Italian small SUV received a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2022.

Adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go capabilities, autonomous-emergency braking with vulnerable road-user protection and road-junction assist are included in the Ti’s safety basket. Other standard tech includes lane-departure warning with lane-keep assist, speed-sign recognition, driver-attention detection, a reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors, electronic park brake (with auto hold) and tyre-pressure monitoring.

The Ti version suffers the odd aberration though, because some familiar safety items such as blind-spot detection and rear cross-traffic alert is missing and only available as part of an optional Technology Pack. For an extra $3500 this includes Level 2 autonomous driving with traffic-jam assist, 360-view cameras and auto-dimming external rear-view mirrors.

The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti covers all the familiar tech bases.

A 12.3-inch TFT instrument cluster and a 10.25-inch tablet-style centre touch-screen present all the important information cleanly. There’s also wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless phone charging, a total of four USB-A and USB-C ports and voice assistance.

Via the My Alfa Connect mobile app you can also locate your vehicle and perform various tasks such as remotely locking or unlocking the doors.

As part of the standard Tonale deal, there’s also a ‘DNA’ mode selector (Dynamic, Natural and Advanced-Efficiency), adaptive matrix headlights that double as cornering lights and folding/demisting exterior mirrors.

The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti utilises a smallish 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine that’s paired with a variable-geometry turbocharger and a 48-volt mild-hybrid system for extra grunt and efficiency.

Claimed combined power is 118kW and 240Nm (the latter offered at just 1500rpm), while the small electric motor is rated at 15kW and 55Nm.

The electric motor is contained within the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and briefly powers the Tonale at low speeds in both forward and reverse gears.

The Italian brand claims with some veracity that the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti mild hybrid has similar fuel economy to a diesel. And with a claimed figure of 5.6L/100km, well below its Volvo, Audi and BMW competition, it’s feasible.

Our week with the Tonale Ti covering various driving circumstance saw an average of 6.4L/100km. As per its rivals, the Alfa requires 95 RON fuel, but with a 55-litre tank you could exceed 900km on a single fill.

The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti is set up to deliver on the dynamic prowess we expect from the historied marque. There’s a lot of pedigree at play.

From the outset, the general road behaviour is about as good as you are likely to find in a premium small SUV.

The engine specs don’t promise lightning performance (the AWD PHEV offers more in that regard) but there’s a reasonable briskness in the Tonale’s off-the-line acceleration and high-speed responses.

It’s satisfying enough for Alfistis who are not expecting 375kW Giulia Quadrifoglio performance.

Alfa Romeo says the Tonale mild hybrid will accelerate from zero to 100km/h in a leisurely 8.8sec which, though far from spectacular, is on par with its major rivals. As for the Tonale’s electric-only operation at low speeds – blink and you’ll miss it.

Although the Getrag-supplied seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox is unquestionably efficient, it isn’t the smoothest DCT. It stumbles at times when the Tonale is being reversed and emits the odd (muted) thump in low-speed throttle-on, throttle-off situations.

And whether it’s an Italian thing or not, the Tonale’s floor pedals are awkwardly grouped. They are too close together, leaving little space between the brake (which is a brake-by-wire system) and accelerator. The driver’s right foot is further restricted by the underhanging structural parts of the pedal assembly.

The suspension is an all-independent setup. Using pseudo-MacPherson struts front and rear isn’t a new concept but it has been comprehensively fettled by Alfa’s chassis engineers to make for a satisfyingly athletic SUV.

The Ti’s Koni-developed, frequency-selective dampers help encourage dynamic, Alfa-appropriate behaviour with accurate responses and a comfy ride. Running 18-inch alloys shod with 235/50 tyres helps, too.

The fast-ratio steering (2.2 turns from lock to lock) has been described as too light. That’s arguably true, but you quickly acclimatise to its behaviour and it makes parking easier. What doesn’t is the 11.6-metre turning circle.

The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti’s cabin ushers in a new era for the marque with its apparent quality, tasteful materials and refined architecture.

The seats are supportive and comfortable, while the driving position is ergonomically sound. However, the legroom provided in the back by the semi stadium-style rear seats is best described as adequate – although there are rear air vents.

The generous 500-litre boot, which expands to a spacious 1550 litres with the 60/40-split rear seats folded, also gains a handy central ski port for lengthy items. Sadly, rear visibility out the back from the driver’s seat is restricted by the small side/rear windows and the bulky headrests.

There’s a space-saver spare wheel in this particular Tonale, unlike the PHEV model which gets a puncture-repair kit.

There seems little reason not to place the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti among the top contenders in the premium small SUV segment.

It’s competitively priced and at ‘base’ Ti level it’s right up there in terms of safety technology, dynamics, quality, practicality and equipment levels.

Alfa Romeo pulls at the heartstrings more than some marques and it’s widely accepted that there’s a will to retain it as a viable premium brand. The Tonale has the potential to play a big role in that effort with the popularity of small SUVs globally.

All indications are that the emotionally charged Italian carmaker is not down for the count.

2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Ti at a glance:
Price: $50,900 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol-electric
Output: 118kW/240Nm (electric motor: 15kW/55Nm)
Combined output: 118kW
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 5.6L/100km
CO2: 129g/km
Safety rating: Five-star (2022 ANCAP Year)

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