Sensa Spina: The 2025 Alfa Romeo Tonale

You know how this is supposed to work, right? A manufacturer introduces a car with a gasoline engine and then adds a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model a year or so later.

Well, Alfa Romeo has never been about conventional thinking, and so the Tonale---introduced as a 2024 model solely as a plug-in hybrid, now can be had with a gasoline engine.

Going plugless ("sensa spina" in Italian) gets you a turbocharged 2.0-liter dual overhead cam direct injection four-cylinder with 268 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque.

That's down a little in horsepower and a lot in torque from the 1.3-liter four Tonale PHEV's 285/347, but it gets to 60 from a standing start just as quickly---6.0 seconds. That's because the horsepower and torque dip is offset by the lack of 450-ish pounds of battery and charging gear. The turbo Tonale comes in a couple of hundred pounds under the two-ton mark, while the PHEV is over it by roughly the same margin.

And it's a much more pleasant cruiser, because going plugless also gets you a nine-speed automatic transmission, while the Tonale plug-in has only six speeds.

Fuel economy suffers a bit, but not as much as one might think. You of course give up the 32 miles of pure electric range per charge, but after that, the PHEV's combined city/highway fuel economy estimate of 29 miles per gallon is only 5 mpg more than the two-liter's 24 mpg combined.

The joy in an Alfa, though, is less about straight-line performance and more about handling---and the dual-mode active suspension that's part of the $1,000 Veloce Package (along with gloss red brake calipers with white script, dark fender badging, aluminum paddle shifters and aluminum door sills) makes the turbo Tonale and extremely willing dance partner on any winding road you encounter.

Who am I kidding? You'll be searching them out. I can buy Truckee Sourdough at three grocery stores within two miles of my house, but the Tonale keeps whispering that a 240-mile roundtrip, running up and down U.S. 50 and the west shore of Lake Tahoe to Truckee itself every time I need a loaf of bread is the smart move.

Practicalities? Well, for a small SUV (the Tonale is actually an inch and a half shorter than a Honda HR-V), it is more than respectable in the daily life stuff---27 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats. Fold 'em and you get 55.

Rear seat legroom is a surprisingly generous 38.0 inches---more than the larger Alfa Romeo Stelvio offers.

The base price of the 2025 Alfa Romeo Tonale is $36,495 ($38,490 including destination). That buys an extensive list of standard safety features, eight-way power adjustable front seats with four-way power lumbar adjustments, heated front seats, a heated leather sport steering wheel, 60/40 split rear seats with a ski pass-through, an automatically-dimming interior rearview mirror, front and rear floormats, aluminum pedals, LED headlamps and taillamps, 18-inch diamond-cut wheels, heated exterior mirrors, gloss painted mirror caps, privacy glass, a 12.3-inch driver display, a 10.25-inch touchscreen with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and a three-month subscription to Sirius XM 360L.

Our test Tonale also had some extra-cost options in addition to the aforementioned Veloce Package for $1,000. The Verde Fangio metallic exterior paint is $2,200, the Premium Package (leather-trimmed bucket seats, ambient lighting, ventilated front seats, a hands-free power liftgate, and gloss black painted daylight opening moldings) adds $2,000, the power moonroof is another $1,400, an upgraded Harman Kardon premium audio system is $1,000, swapping out the 18-inch diamond-cut wheels for those gorgeous 20-inch five-hole Grigios is $2,000 andan additional key fob costs $40.

Bottom line on the window sticker: $48,130.

The turbo, seven extra gears and the extra three gears transform the Tonale. I thought the Tonale PHEV was a little overpriced. This package, loaded as it is for under $50K, strikes me as a screaming deal.