Detailed review and test of the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale plug-in hybrid including price, range, handling and interior.

Alfa Romeo has bolstered its fresh-faced Tonale small SUV lineup in Australia with a PHEV version called the Veloce Plug-In Hybrid Q4, that now sits as the flagship of the range, priced from $78,500.

The Tonale Veloce Plug-In Hybrid Q4 blends a turbocharged 1.3-litre inline-four engine outputting 132kW and 320Nm with an electric motor on the rear axle good for 90kW and 250Nm. At 208kW combined it’s the most powerful of the three available Tonale variants.

With as-tested sub-six-second performance, around 60 kilometres of pure electric driving range and around four litres per hundred of real-world combined fuel consumption, the Tonale PHEV hopes to swoon buyers with all-round driving capability wrapped in seductive Italian design.

Rivals to the Tonale include the Audi Q3, BMW X1 and iX1, Mercedes GLA and EQA and others.

Does it hit all of its targeted marks? Olek Novak puts the newcomer to the test for a week to find out.

Time codes:
0:00 - intro
1:18 - Tonale importance
1:50 - Underpinnings
2:20 - Variant grades
3:00 - Design
4:55 - Key features
5:50 - Safety
6:19 - Interior
7:34 - Positives
8:38 - Negatives
10:46 - Row two
12:30 - Boot space
13:20 - Powertrain
14:25 - Performance
14:40 - On road
18:05 - Steering
19:07 - Handling
19:45 - Ride quality
20:14 - Transmission
21:01 - Dynamic mode
21:57 - Efficiency
23:16 - EV range
23:40 - Charging
25:58 - Running costs
26:44 - Verdict