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If ever there were two vehicles that showed what a wide and inaccurate phrase looked like, "SUV", that is the Jeep Wrangler and the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio. Both are undeniably SUVs, or 4x4s if you prefer. Both are manufactured by the same company, in that both brands are owned by Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA).
The two can hardly be more different, though …
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is, for now, the fastest SUV in the world, or at least one that realized the best lap of the famous Nurburgring circuit. A useless enterprise? No doubt, but his lap time of 7 min 51.7 sec gives him undisputed bragging rights.
To get a two ton SUV around the 'Ring that quick', Alfa has equipped the Stelvio with the same 510 hp twin-turbo V6 engine in the Giulia Quadrifoglio salon. Designed and built on behalf of Alfa by Ferrari, this bellowing and sniffing motor drives all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission (which can bad changes in 150 milliseconds) and a rear differential that uses two clutches to distribute the power to the rear wheel that needs it most. The power, under normal circumstances, goes entirely to these rear wheels, but the Stelvio can shunt as much as 50 percent up to the front wheels as and when it's needed.
Helping and encouraging all this is a suspension with adaptive dampers, and the DNA Pro selector, which allows the driver to choose between the Dynamic, Natural and "Adaptive Economy" modes, as well as a specific Race Mode. Quadrifoglio models. There is an additional chbadis domain control unit, a "brain" that monitors all these systems and stability control, and decides on the best way to deploy the power of the car.
How? 118.795 €, which is a hell of a package, especially for a brand that has managed to move only 11 Stelvios so far this year. This is, in some senses, a good deal. Porsche, after all, demands more for the Macan Turbo S Performance model, which has a lower power of 70hp.
The Alfa comes standard with 20-inch Quadrifoglio alloy wheels with specially contoured wheel arches, rear-mounted rear diffuser, sports exhaust with four xenon headlamps with LED daytime running lights, blackboard leather edge and top, leather and alcantara seats, leather steering wheel, carbon fiber trims and stainless steel pedals, Alfa Connect 8.8 "infotainment system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Wrangler arrives
The Wrangler is hardly recognizable as being of the same kind as the Stelvio, not to mention the same company. Still showing, proudly, the lineage that goes back to the original 1941 Willys General Purpose 1/4-Ton Truck, which became the first Jeep, all but the most acute acolytes Jeep eyes will likely fail to spot that this is actually the new model (the gift is the elbow in the slope of the grille, which was flat)
New, though, although it retains the layout of two or four doors, and again, you can have it with a hardtop top, a soft-top, a hardtop with panels removable, or next year, an electric motor canopy.
This is not just a four-wheel drive vehicle, but two separate four-wheel drive systems. "Command-Trac" for Sport and Sahara models, and a more serious "Rock-Trac" off-road for Rubicon models, which are really designed to live in the woods, rather than on the road. You can change the two systems between the rear wheel and all wheel drive, and the Wrangler has a ground clearance of over 250 mm, and it is able to wade from stagnant water up to 760 mm from depth. On Rubicon models, you can even uncouple the front stabilizer bar for maximum off-road travel.
The Wrangler gets new engines this time, using the same 2.2-liter diesel as the Cherokee (and even the Alfa Romeo Stelvio) with 200 hp and 450 Nm of torque. There is also the option of a 2.02 liter four-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine of 272 hp, and next year a hybrid version will be added to the set. Ireland will not get the 3.7-liter V6 gasoline model that will be on sale in the rest of the world. An eight-speed automatic transmission will be available as an option.
Inside, the Wrangler can still seem basic, but it is also much more sophisticated than in the past. Basic models get a seven-inch touch screen, and there's a larger 8.4-inch unit for more expensive models. The high-tech safety equipment includes blind spot monitoring, a rear view camera and electronic damping rollers. You can even have heated seats and a steering wheel, but Jeep points out that the Wrangler remains the toughest SUV you can buy. Flat, the doors can be completely disbadembled, and there are even instructions for doing so and the tools you will need in the center armrest.
The Wrangler prices are currently starting at $ 53,250, but this model should be a bit more expensive when it arrived in the fall.
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