**A High-Performance SUV That Exceeds Expectations**

As I stepped out of my car and onto the road, I was immediately struck by the impressive specs of this high-performance SUV. The engine is located way back in the chassis, which helps with weight distribution and reduces the likelihood of it feeling heavy despite its size. This clever design feature allows for a more agile driving experience, making it feel like a much smaller car than its actual size would suggest.

The DNA dial is another impressive feature that offers multiple drive modes, including Eco, Normal D, Dynamic, and Race mode. The Race mode is particularly exciting, as it allows the driver to switch back to a softer damper setting, which works beautifully even on bumpy roads. This is especially useful when driving on rough surfaces, where a stiffer damper would make the ride feel harsher than necessary.

As I set off down the road, I was struck by how sharp and precise the steering felt. It's clear that this SUV has been designed to provide exceptional handling, with a ratio of 12:1 between steering and wheelspin. The car feels incredibly direct and responsive, making it easy to place exactly where you want it on the road.

One thing that did surprise me was how well the car balanced itself when running out of grip. Rather than struggling to stay upright, the front end would simply wash wide, which meant that I could feel every corner without any issues. This may sound frustrating at first, but in reality, it just means that you get every ounce of performance out of the car, making for a truly satisfying driving experience.

**A Closer Look at the Engine and Brakes**

As I continued to drive, I took a closer look at the engine and brakes. The engine is impressive, with plenty of power on tap, but it's clear that this SUV has been designed to handle heavy loads and towing duties. The brakes are also noteworthy, with cast-iron rotors that have held up remarkably well during our test.

However, I did notice that the brakes were starting to feel a bit worn after a quick blast from top to bottom. This is to be expected, given the high speeds we were reaching and the heavy loads being thrown around. While this may not be a deal-breaker for everyone, it's definitely something to consider when deciding whether or not to purchase this SUV.

**Value for Money**

As I sat in the cabin of this SUV, I couldn't help but think about its value for money. At £50,000, I think this car represents excellent value for those who want a high-performance SUV that can handle heavy loads and towing duties. However, at a more premium price point of £100,000, I started to feel that it's become a bit too expensive.

That being said, there are certainly some nice touches to the interior, such as the panels of carbon-fiber trim and the Sparco sports seats with carbon shell backing. The seating position is also very comfortable, with plenty of room to stretch out and good visibility out on the road.

**Conclusion**

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed by this high-performance SUV, particularly when compared to some of its rivals in the market. While it may not be perfect - there's still some work to be done on the ride quality, for example - it's clear that this car has been designed with driving enthusiasts in mind.

Whether or not you choose the saloon version over this SUV depends on your personal preferences, but I firmly believe that this car is worth considering if you're looking for a high-performance SUV that can handle everything life throws at it.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enlooking at the recent evidence you'd have to say Alfa Romeos wilderness years might be over the Alfred Giulia Quadrifoglio was genuinely one of the best small sports saloons of all time I really mean that of all time it's fantastic in 2018 Alfa Romeo returns to Formula One this is really significant stuff for an iconic company that for a long time has just been in the doldrums and so we approached this car the stell vo Quadrifoglio full of optimism and hope don't we however let me just temper that a little bit let me just remind you that it was only a couple of years ago the Alfa built the 4c the less than brilliant for C so let's approach this car the stereo Quadrifoglio with a balance between caution and optimism Alfa makes some big claims for this car they say it's the world's fastest production SUV so they're talking 176 miles an hour flat-out naught to 62 in 3.8 seconds that's passively quick for an SUV and around the ring it's done a seven-minute 52 so we know it's fast but what I want to know is can this an SUV actually be fun to drive and I don't just mean quick and a bit grippy around the corners I mean can it be really fun and exciting to drive hopefully we are right next to what might well be one of the best roads in the world where in the United Arab Emirates were a couple of hours outside of Dubai this is the Jeb LJ's highway it looks like an Alpine Road doesn't it it's almost the Arabian spell vo anyway let's have a think about this del vo Quadrifoglio it follows a year or so after the Juliet Quadrifoglio was launched and it uses the same engine in gearbox as that car so it's a 2.9 liter twin-turbo v6 just over 500 horsepower 443 pound-feet of torque and an 8-speed automatic gearbox loads of power its responsive it revs out really well all the way to just under 7,000 rpm so it's got proper energy at the top end there it just keeps pulling the 8-speed automatic gearbox it doesn't have the intensity of a DSG but I just don't think you miss it yeah really really cool drivetrain this we've got a good sound track and we've got tons of performance it's a heavy car but it's really really quick and of course before wheel drive you've got loads of traction as well so how does that four-wheel drive system work so they say it's a hundred percent rear wheel drive until those wheels start to slip in which case it can send up to 50 percent of the drive forwards so how does it feel if you put your foot down mid-corner or coming out of the corner you can just feel it rotating slightly you can feel the rear-end wanting to come around ever so slightly but then very quickly it drags itself straight again so you can make it do very tiny little baby drifts but it won't slide like a julia Quadrifoglio which is rear-wheel drive of course but what it does mean this foil drive system is that you've got loads of traction so you just stand on the throttle as soon as you're past the apex and ping off you go up the next straight towards the next corner much like the julia Quadrifoglio in the rear differential there are a couple of clutch packs and that means this cars got active torque vectoring across the rear axles so it can send drive exactly where it's needed to make this thing handle and behave like a much more nimble more athletic kind of car and there's more as well if he lifts up the bonnet you can have a look now the engine is way back in the chassis that helps the weight distribution stops it being really knows heavy it may be a tool high riding car but they've really worked hard to overcome those fundamental issues yeah as far as high performance SUV drive trains go this is pretty faultless I have to say this DNA dial here gives us lots of different drive modes so a is effectively the Eco mode and is normal D is dynamic and then we've got race mode as well and within race mode I can switch back to the softer damper setting that in the Giulia is a brilliant brilliant feature it means you can use race mode on a bumpy road and it works beautifully as it happens this road is beautifully smooth it's so smooth you want to lick it so I'm gonna leave the dampers in the firm mode and that's where you get the most body control steering it's really direct so it's a ratio of 12 to 1 and that for an SUV is really really quick it feels a lot like the Giulia which also had super sharp very direct steering it actually makes it feel like a much lower car like a hot hatch or an or a saloon or something and it's super precise you can place the car exactly where you want it again as far as SUV steering goes you can't really fault it really nice wait just slides a tiny bit but not properly we can forgive it that I think frontend we're on pretty p0 tires here they're not super grippy tires at all and we've got good turning grip good turning grip it's a sharp front end but ultimately the cars balance is understeer that's what it does when it runs out of grip the front end will just wash wide it just means that on a road like this corner after corner you place it right on the limit front end grip and just drive through every corner in gentle understeer the front tires just washing slightly that might sound frustrating but actually it's not it just means that you feel all the time every corner like you're getting everything out of the car and that's really satisfying it's really good fun I'm super impressed this year how well controlled and how precise the car feels how sharp it feels giving its weight given the height of it it really should be rolling around like a whale it's really really sharp for this sort of car what else gets this close Porsche Macan GTS Macan turbo maybe for the most part these cast-iron brakes have held up really well today but we've had a quick blast from top to bottom and I can start to smell them now and I can start to feel the pedal going a little bit longer we're losing a little bit of braking performance that's to be expected really isn't there it's a bloody fast car it's heavy and this is a quick road with lots of big braking zones so inevitably they're going to get hot they haven't mentioned a price yet apparently there won't be a price for this car until July 2018 so I'm gonna have to record two pieces to camera now and at 50,000 pounds I think this car represents really good value for money but at a hundred thousand pounds I just think this cars too expensive this cars cabin is sort of passable really it's unremarkable I think if you stepped out of a Porsche Macan and got into one of these you'd think it was just a little bit low-rent this was true of the Giulia it's not a big problem though and I've got these panels of carbon-fiber red stitching so it looks pretty cool and have a look at the back of these Sparco sports these carbon shells carbon shell seats in an SUV that's a statement of intent the seating position is really good okay it's high because we're in a high riding car but I actually feel like I'm sat quite low in the body steering wheels right where I want it good view out it's a pretty good seating position this so this test will be a little bit inconclusive because they've clearly had to clamp this car down with chunky anti-roll bars and I haven't been able today to work out whether or not that's ruined the ride quality it might well be that when you get on a really wavy lumpy bumpy tricky British B Road the ride quality is all over the place we'll have to wait until we get one in the UK to say for sure that is my only real reservation otherwise I think this car is fantastic to drive for an SUV yes I would take the saloon I also think the saloon looks a lot better than this thing but if a really quick really entertaining SUV is what you're looking for this is the one this is the one welcome back out for Amerlooking at the recent evidence you'd have to say Alfa Romeos wilderness years might be over the Alfred Giulia Quadrifoglio was genuinely one of the best small sports saloons of all time I really mean that of all time it's fantastic in 2018 Alfa Romeo returns to Formula One this is really significant stuff for an iconic company that for a long time has just been in the doldrums and so we approached this car the stell vo Quadrifoglio full of optimism and hope don't we however let me just temper that a little bit let me just remind you that it was only a couple of years ago the Alfa built the 4c the less than brilliant for C so let's approach this car the stereo Quadrifoglio with a balance between caution and optimism Alfa makes some big claims for this car they say it's the world's fastest production SUV so they're talking 176 miles an hour flat-out naught to 62 in 3.8 seconds that's passively quick for an SUV and around the ring it's done a seven-minute 52 so we know it's fast but what I want to know is can this an SUV actually be fun to drive and I don't just mean quick and a bit grippy around the corners I mean can it be really fun and exciting to drive hopefully we are right next to what might well be one of the best roads in the world where in the United Arab Emirates were a couple of hours outside of Dubai this is the Jeb LJ's highway it looks like an Alpine Road doesn't it it's almost the Arabian spell vo anyway let's have a think about this del vo Quadrifoglio it follows a year or so after the Juliet Quadrifoglio was launched and it uses the same engine in gearbox as that car so it's a 2.9 liter twin-turbo v6 just over 500 horsepower 443 pound-feet of torque and an 8-speed automatic gearbox loads of power its responsive it revs out really well all the way to just under 7,000 rpm so it's got proper energy at the top end there it just keeps pulling the 8-speed automatic gearbox it doesn't have the intensity of a DSG but I just don't think you miss it yeah really really cool drivetrain this we've got a good sound track and we've got tons of performance it's a heavy car but it's really really quick and of course before wheel drive you've got loads of traction as well so how does that four-wheel drive system work so they say it's a hundred percent rear wheel drive until those wheels start to slip in which case it can send up to 50 percent of the drive forwards so how does it feel if you put your foot down mid-corner or coming out of the corner you can just feel it rotating slightly you can feel the rear-end wanting to come around ever so slightly but then very quickly it drags itself straight again so you can make it do very tiny little baby drifts but it won't slide like a julia Quadrifoglio which is rear-wheel drive of course but what it does mean this foil drive system is that you've got loads of traction so you just stand on the throttle as soon as you're past the apex and ping off you go up the next straight towards the next corner much like the julia Quadrifoglio in the rear differential there are a couple of clutch packs and that means this cars got active torque vectoring across the rear axles so it can send drive exactly where it's needed to make this thing handle and behave like a much more nimble more athletic kind of car and there's more as well if he lifts up the bonnet you can have a look now the engine is way back in the chassis that helps the weight distribution stops it being really knows heavy it may be a tool high riding car but they've really worked hard to overcome those fundamental issues yeah as far as high performance SUV drive trains go this is pretty faultless I have to say this DNA dial here gives us lots of different drive modes so a is effectively the Eco mode and is normal D is dynamic and then we've got race mode as well and within race mode I can switch back to the softer damper setting that in the Giulia is a brilliant brilliant feature it means you can use race mode on a bumpy road and it works beautifully as it happens this road is beautifully smooth it's so smooth you want to lick it so I'm gonna leave the dampers in the firm mode and that's where you get the most body control steering it's really direct so it's a ratio of 12 to 1 and that for an SUV is really really quick it feels a lot like the Giulia which also had super sharp very direct steering it actually makes it feel like a much lower car like a hot hatch or an or a saloon or something and it's super precise you can place the car exactly where you want it again as far as SUV steering goes you can't really fault it really nice wait just slides a tiny bit but not properly we can forgive it that I think frontend we're on pretty p0 tires here they're not super grippy tires at all and we've got good turning grip good turning grip it's a sharp front end but ultimately the cars balance is understeer that's what it does when it runs out of grip the front end will just wash wide it just means that on a road like this corner after corner you place it right on the limit front end grip and just drive through every corner in gentle understeer the front tires just washing slightly that might sound frustrating but actually it's not it just means that you feel all the time every corner like you're getting everything out of the car and that's really satisfying it's really good fun I'm super impressed this year how well controlled and how precise the car feels how sharp it feels giving its weight given the height of it it really should be rolling around like a whale it's really really sharp for this sort of car what else gets this close Porsche Macan GTS Macan turbo maybe for the most part these cast-iron brakes have held up really well today but we've had a quick blast from top to bottom and I can start to smell them now and I can start to feel the pedal going a little bit longer we're losing a little bit of braking performance that's to be expected really isn't there it's a bloody fast car it's heavy and this is a quick road with lots of big braking zones so inevitably they're going to get hot they haven't mentioned a price yet apparently there won't be a price for this car until July 2018 so I'm gonna have to record two pieces to camera now and at 50,000 pounds I think this car represents really good value for money but at a hundred thousand pounds I just think this cars too expensive this cars cabin is sort of passable really it's unremarkable I think if you stepped out of a Porsche Macan and got into one of these you'd think it was just a little bit low-rent this was true of the Giulia it's not a big problem though and I've got these panels of carbon-fiber red stitching so it looks pretty cool and have a look at the back of these Sparco sports these carbon shells carbon shell seats in an SUV that's a statement of intent the seating position is really good okay it's high because we're in a high riding car but I actually feel like I'm sat quite low in the body steering wheels right where I want it good view out it's a pretty good seating position this so this test will be a little bit inconclusive because they've clearly had to clamp this car down with chunky anti-roll bars and I haven't been able today to work out whether or not that's ruined the ride quality it might well be that when you get on a really wavy lumpy bumpy tricky British B Road the ride quality is all over the place we'll have to wait until we get one in the UK to say for sure that is my only real reservation otherwise I think this car is fantastic to drive for an SUV yes I would take the saloon I also think the saloon looks a lot better than this thing but if a really quick really entertaining SUV is what you're looking for this is the one this is the one welcome back out for Amer\n"