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Our carsReady, aim, apex!
Tim ‘the sniper’
Pollard goes
about his craftOCTOBER 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK
Roof bar analysis(bear with us)Alfa Romeo Stelvio 2.2
TD Milano Edizione
Month 6The story so far
Most SUVs scream ‘ADVENTURE!’ but not the Stelvio; not
even with those optional roof bars
+It doesn’t matter that the Stelvio doesn’t fit into any
particular sector, it’s a new thing!- Yes, but what exactly is it?
Price £45,590 (£47,510 as tested) Performance 2143cc
turbodiesel four-cylinder, 207bhp, 6.6sec 0-62mph, 134mph
Efficiency 43.5mpg (official), 33.8mpg (tested), 147g/km
CO2 Energy cost 19.2p per mile Miles this month 770
Total miles 6202LogbookA contemplative Mark Walton
ponders the Stelvio’s place in the worldMaybe car journalists think
about these things more
than normal folk who have
more important things
to worry about, but I keep
looking at the Stelvio and
wondering what kind of
car it is. Take the roof rails:
these have evolved from
the sturdy bars of a Camel
Trophy Land Rover into the
black pencil lines that adorn
the Alfa. I like them. But they
are £300, and a bit pointless.
They’re like those thick
aluminium sump guards
that have now morphed into
a different coloured bit of
plastic bumper moulding.
Evolutionary biologistswould call it ‘vestigiality’.
The Stelvio itself doesn’t
have a fake skid plate in
its front bumper. In fact it
doesn’t have a front bumper.
Maybe that’s why it doesn’t
look much like an SUV.
Maybe I’m being unfair on
the roof bars, because they’re
not useless. Slender though
they are, they will support
Cross Bars (a £225 option)
which in turn will hold a bike
carrier (£96) or a windsurf
carrier (£63). Such accessories
would help it look more
rugged and adventurous...
but they’d also ruin the sleek,
fastback profile.
It’s a puzzle.Neither rugged
nor adventurous
Ford Focus 1.5 T
Titanium X
Month 1The story so far
We’re taking on the new
tech-fest Ford Focus in wagon
form. Will it ace family life?
+Looking good in Ruby Red,
well-equipped too- Has it lost the fizz of earlier
Focuses?
Price £24,755 (£26,905 as
tested) Performance 1497cc
three-cylinder, 148bhp, 9.0sec
0-62mph, 129mph Efficiency
51.4mpg (official), n/a mpg
(tested), 125g/km CO2 Energy
cost n/a Miles this month 105
Total miles 2553Logbookspace in the coming weeks.
Ours is the downsized three-
cylinder petrol engine, dubbed
1.5 T EcoBoost in Blue Ovalese,
and first impressions are it’s a
cracker. With 148bhp and 177lb ft of
torque, it’s plenty fast enough and
well matched to a slick six-speed
manual transmission (it’s amazing
how few stick-shifts pass through
our hands these days). I’m still on
my first tank of fuel, so haven’t
crunched the fuel economy yet.
Happily, mid-40s mpg seems likely.
To the £24,755 list price we’ve
added four modest options: £800
Ruby Red metallic (a visual delight),
£750 LED headlamps (a bright idea
for this coming winter, I hope), £450
hands-free tailgate (not convinced,
but let’s see) and a £150 heated
steering wheel (I could do without
this). We’ll be probing the sense of
these optional extras in the course
of the next six months.
Have you driven the new Focus
Estate? Or are you a former owner,
like me? If you fancy having a drive
in this one and talking it through
with the CAR team, email me:
[email protected]
Interested? Come and join our
impromptu Focus group!