SETTING THE TONE FOR ANOTHER GENERATION OF ALFISTI
Tonale Plug-In Hybrid Q4
The quality of people is surely proportional to what they have to say. By how they say it, by the way they manage to seamlessly make us part of their stories, by the way their presence sets our imagination on fire. All of this is simply amazing, but for a relationship to develop with such great people, there is one more important thing they need to be able to do. Without that, a true connection can’t ever be established. They need to know when and how to listen. They need to genuinely be prepared, leave space and cherish the life that happens outside of their agenda. It’s only then that a relationship based on respect and mutual understanding blossoms to its full potential.
Why would a car be any different? Could a car exhibit that level of confidence and superiority to be able to switch its voice on and off? A car that drives like an Alfa, but listens like a mother? Switch the Tonale Plug-In Hybrid Q4 into Dynamic mode and you will connect with the there and then like in the best of Alfa. Switch it into Advance Efficiency mode and it almost disappears, in the best possible sense of the term. You effortlessly glide through the busy city streets and whatever else is important in your life can take centre stage. Of course, you still drive the car, but it doesn’t drive you. It turns from an insatiable lover to your psychotherapist. And it’s really up to you which side of the story you choose to share with the world.
We chose red. But of course we did. We are Alfisti. So in the eyes of the innocent bystanders, even as we glide in complete silence, we place the ludic before everything. And yes, this car is cheek blushing sexy in red. It was the first time I saw a red one in motion as I was photographing it and I noticed that sometimes I didn’t trust what I was seeing in the viewfinder and I had to check with my naked eyes that I was not dreaming. I wasn’t. The way it lifts the pulse of quiet Italian villages by just showing up is dangerously disturbing. In the best possible way. As we were shooting the car in front of a church I couldn’t help thinking that the local clergy would not be completely at ease with us dangling the temptation of sin right on their doorstep. Out of pure respect we set off to more private quarters, where we could consume our relationship away from prying eyes. We went in the nearby hills, on roads designed to showcase Tonale's best moves.
And she moves in mysterious ways. That is, until you learn about the torque vectoring deployment wizardry, but let’s cover the basics first. It certainly helps that weight distribution front to rear is nearly equal. Power is delivered to all 4 wheels, with the front wheels motivated by a 180 HP combustion engine, while the rear wheels sing to the tune of a 100 HP electric motor. There is no mechanical connection between the two systems. And there really is no need for such a connection. As there is a telepathic one that seems much faster anyway. A simple and very elegant solution. When pushed hard, it feels like a rear wheel drive car. When you put the power down when exiting a turn the nose stays planted and you never lose the feel for the front end under full throttle. On track and as you reach the limit of grip, all four wheels start sliding at about the same time and you get that addictive on the edge feeling, not the drift in the modern sense of the word, but the glide so characteristic of the racing cars of the fifties and sixties, one of the many golden ages of Alfa. On the road, especially in the wet and on less than perfect surfaces, there is a touch of understeer to warn you that the trees are getting closer at a faster rate than they probably should. And you soon back off on your entry speed as you realise you can now only carry more braking deeper into the corner, but you also get a special reward for doing this. And now is the right time to detail the torque vectoring deployment. As you brake, the inner wheels brake harder than the outer ones and as you exit the corner the energy is released in the opposite way, with more of it going to the outside wheels, effectively shortening the car, as it turns as if it magically shrunk its wheelbase. Quite a party piece. And not something you would expect in this class of cars. But then again, this is an Alfa.
As we entered the first village with the brakes as hot as a Playboy cover, it was time to switch to the Advanced Efficiency mode and let our blood pressure slowly decrease as the adrenalin rush was past its climactic peak. This was great, because instead of having to cope with the tempers and tantrums that all sportscars throw at you whilst driving in traffic, we could instead relax and think of the finer things in life. Things such as the drive that we just experienced moments before, on the twisties. Meaningful thoughts, to be savoured in peace. To do just that, we watched our Tonale turn green. It can sail along in full electric mode for some 80km, in complete silence and with enough pace to keep up with city traffic and with just 26g/km of CO2 emissions - the best in class performance. If you forget you drive a plug-in hybrid and don’t charge it for a week, you only need to wait two and a half hours to get it fully topped up again. Zero drama. It is such an easy car to live with. Anybody can get into this car and drive off with an instant feeling of familiarity. It is as welcoming as a Southern Italian village table on its patron saint’s day. You only just met the people but it feels like you always knew them. There is so much technology in this car and it all works so well, but it has the modesty to just shut up about it.
Is there a market out there for a car that can deliver driving pleasure but also accept that sometimes the driver has a life that goes above and beyond that? And, more importantly, would such a car be a true Alfa? There are cars out here that are good at one thing only, single minded creations that are sharp and focussed. Many of the best ones throughout history came from Alfa Romeo. They excel at one thing only and were unquestionable champions of the brand. But Alfa is a gift to the society in its entirety, not just a toy for some privileged elites. Alfa always found a way to create cars that alchemically blend driving pleasure with comfort in a way that others were never able to emulate. And with this latest version of the Tonale, there will be many sleepless nights for all who mistakenly bought one of its market rivals.
Because this is a car you can so easily fall in love with.
