The 2019 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Ti Sport AWD
The 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Ti Sport AWD. Publisher's note: Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days. Seven is typical. Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days. Our "30 Minutes With" series features cars we spent half an hour driving during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Days in Monterey, California. Day one of Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca via Laureles Grade. Once there, you swap cars with another journalist for the drive back, get a different car at The Quail, and repeat. Apart from an hour's lunch (this year sponsored by Nissan), this is the day from 9:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m., although heavy rains forced us to call it a day at 2:30 this year, reducing the number of cars we could drive. Car number four for the day was the second Alfa Romeo I've ever driven, just minutes after the first, the 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Ti Sport AWD.
They have like 10 service advisors and no one can give me a second of their time to try to figure out why my 2018 vehicle doesn't recognize its key. I decided to go to the parts department and switch out the battery (even though no service advisor had a second to suggest this). I will drive to Land Rover Seattle as I did last time (I've only had my vehicle one month) to have my vehicle serviced. Having owned a Mercedes and BMW before and gotten excellent service I am extremely disappointed with this lack of customer service they have going on at Land Rover of Bellevue. If I could give zero stars I would. Don't waste your time. They won't give you the time of day and their whole setup is uncomfortable and inconvenient. I am giving 5 stars to Randy Clausen. Hands down, best car buying experience I've ever had. I asked that Randy get all paperwork ready before I arrived at the dealership. Ask and you shall receive one would think, but in the past I have made this same request of a dealer and they couldn't even get that right.
There have been 4 safety recalls issued from NHTSA. Consequence: In the event of a crash, if the seat back is not properly latched, the seat belt may not properly restrain the occupant, increasing their risk of injury. Remedy: Land Rover will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the second row seat mechanism, replacing it as required, free of charge. Consequence: If a vehicle door unlatches, the distraction may increase the risk of a crash and/or a vehicle occupant may fall out of the vehicle if they are not wearing a seatbelt, increasing their risk of injury. Remedy: Land Rover will notify owners, and dealers will update the keyless entry software, free of charge. Consequence: If the front passenger air bag is disabled during a vehicle crash, there is an increased risk of injury. Remedy: Land Rover will notify owners, and dealers will update the OCS software, free of charge. Consequence: If one or more of the wheel lug nuts crack or detach from the wheel hub, the remaining lug nuts may be unable to keep the wheel secured to the vehicle. If the wheel detaches, loss of vehicle control would result, increasing the risk of a crash. Remedy: Land Rover will notify owners, and dealers will replace the wheel nuts with new wheel nuts, free of charge.
The new Range Rover Sport was developed alongside the larger Range Rover and uses a new architecture: an all-aluminum unibody that weighs considerably less than the outgoing model, resulting in weight savings of more than 800 pounds. You know how much quicker your car is with one occupant versus three? Imagine losing five passengers and what that will do for the car's performance. It means the V-6-powered 2014 model is 0.3 seconds faster to 60 mph than the 2013 V-8 model despite being down 35 horsepower from the 2013 version. The 2014 V-8 model is almost a full second quicker to 60 mph than the old model, thanks to the weight-loss program. It may look like a street monster, but this Land Rover still needs to be able to perform off-road feats as well. All of this advanced technology does not come cheap. 68,495 for the V-6 HSE. 93,295. Land Rover has not stated when the new model will go on sale, but we expect it to be sometime this year.
