2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio sets Nurburgring SUV record
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio has lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in seven minutes 51.7 seconds, setting a new record for a production SUV.
Its time is eight seconds quicker than the previous record holder, the outgoing Porsche Cayenne Turbo S.
Even as an SUV, the time set by the Stelvio Quadrifoglio places it between the 2017 Volvo S60 Polestar and the 2015 BMW M4 on the race track’s official leaderboard.
The Stelvio Quadrifoglio features the same Ferrari-developed 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 as the Giulia Quadrifoglio. In both instances the 90-degree engine delivers 375kW of power and 600Nm of torque to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic and a torque vectoring differential.
For comparison’s sake, the Stelvio’s platform mate set a time around the track of seven minutes 32 seconds, almost 20 seconds faster.
As Alfa Romeo is only too happy to point out, though, the Italian luxury marque now holds the record for both the fastest production sedan and SUV around the famed track.
Australia
Lesser variants in the Stelvio range will start entering Australian showrooms from the first quarter of 2018, with the Quadrifoglio set follow at a later date.
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