Alfa Romeo Tonale vs BMW X2

What's the difference?

Stuck between efficiency and performance, the Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce Ibrida can’t really decide what kind of car it wants to be.

Fun, but not fun enough. Efficient, but not truly frugal. Pragmatically sized, but not super practical. Improved on inclusions, but not on price point.

The one area this car truly excels at is looking really good no matter what it’s doing. I’m not sure that’s enough to increase its appeal in what has become the most competitive new car market in the world.

There is little doubt the new X2 represents a vast improvement over the original model. The design alone gives it a lot more presence. 

More interior and boot space also helps widen the SUV’s appeal and the significant tech updates are welcome.

It is on the pricey side and there are a few too many options that should be standard. 

However, the M35i is hard to ignore as a sporty premium crossover, and the iX2 xDrive30 is the sort of electric SUV that should worry Volvo.

They both have their own distinct flavours, so there’s no dud in this line-up. Of course, we will hold final thoughts for the local launch when we can drive all four grades. But until then, it’s a welcome return to form for the X2.

As per the Alfa Romeo brand promise, the Tonale is, as far as small SUVs go, beautiful.

The update refines what was already a good looking car further, with a re-designed front grille and air intakes and a lower front area to make the car look wider, more muscular and sophisticated.

The design enhancements take inspiration from other famous Alfas of recent memory, from the Giulia sedan to the 33 Stradale sports machine, as well as other tweaks which make it more familiar to the more recently launched Junior small SUV.

The new Tonale’s footprint is actually physically wider, too, with a revised track width to go with the aesthetic.

The brand also offers an appealing array of colours, as usual, with a new red and green shade available for this update, as well as an Ocra shade for the Sport Speciale limited edition trim.

Inside, it’s typical Alfa, and in a great way, too. Unlike so many of its rivals which are chasing the new Chinese brands into cabin tech overload, the Tonale looks and feels understated and restrained, with more of a focus on physical controls than screen real estate.

It’s surprising how much this dates a cabin, with the Tonale in some ways feeling a generation old, but then the abundance of physical switchgear and a tight, refined and driver-centric cockpit are increasingly rare, even amongst traditional brands.

The three-spoke wheel is full of physical controls, every grade gets big metal gear shift paddles and the digital instrument cluster has nice-looking classic dial-style themes to go with the overall aesthetic of the car.

All of this is certainly a choice, but I think the niche customer willing to take a chance on an Alfa will like what’s on offer from its sculpted frame and restrained interior.

The second-gen X2 looks very different to the original from 2018. That first X2 had a squat stance, looked more like a hatchback than an SUV, and the glasshouse appeared as though it had been squished into the body of the car.

The 2024 X2 adopts a similar design philosophy to the X4 and X6 - swoopy, coupe-like roofline and liftback, and bold styling elements at the front and rear.

It has a much more upright, flush front end, freshly designed large kidney grille and an edgy headlight design. There’s flared wheel arches and broad shoulders at the rear, as well as a cool new horizontal tail-light signature.

The X2 has grown in size in a big way. It’s 194mm longer, 21mm wider, and 64mm taller than the outgoing model. That naturally means more space inside, too.

Inside there are big changes. The X2 adopts elements introduced by the excellent iX SUV a couple of years ago. They include the curved display, and a floating arm rest with a control panel. Some of this is also familiar from the X1.

The materials mostly look and feel like they are high quality, and there is an appealing minimalism to the overall design and layout. The chunky sports steering wheel is visually appealing, but it’s a bit too thick in my hand.

Unfortunately, and also like a lot of Italian cars, this commitment to aesthetics makes the interior less than stellar on the practicality front.

Hopping into the driver’s seat, things feel small immediately, as you’re surrounded by dark trim and bolstered seats which hug you tightly, and I like to think I’m not even that wide.

Several adjustments later, and I find my left knee pushed up against the (mercifully, synthetic leather trimmed) centre console.

Not only does it feel physically tight, but there are also some practicality oversights. The revised gear shifter and array of buttons on the centre console takes up a lot of space, and isn’t even very nice to use, with the rotary dial simply turning on the spot rather than tilting on a spring, which makes it difficult to tell which gear you’ve selected.

On top of that, the wireless phone charger nestled beneath the climate controls is only good for one phone and takes up the entire area which could have been a more useful storage tray.

The bottle holders are located further back and deep-set, they have spring-loaded ridges to fit a few different bottle sizes, but you can lose a small coffee in them. The centre console box is also tiny, but it’s nice it has something for your elbow to rest on.

As with the restrained approach to screens, one of the biggest benefits of the Tonale’s interior is its commitment to physical buttons and toggles. There’s an entire set across the centre for your climate functions, a physical drive mode selector and a button for the suspension adjustment, a steering wheel adorned with buttons and dials, which have been re-thought to work a bit better, too.

This makes the Tonale easy to use, although while the digital dash is straightforward, the Stellantis multimedia suite is a little busy, with a few too many fiddly sub-menus.

The back seat offers just enough space for me behind my own driving position (at 182cm tall) with a little airspace for my knees. Soft trims largely continue, and the seats are nice. There’s a decent-sized bottle holder in each door, a drop-down armrest with two more, which even hides a ski port behind.

Boot space measures a decent but not stellar 385 litres. It was able to consume the whole CarsGuide three-piece luggage set, but only with the cover removed.

I can’t help but feel like this car has aesthetics and hopefully driving dynamics in mind above other considerations, as its German rivals have more to offer in terms of space and practicality.

Where the previous X2 was a very small crossover with niche appeal, the increase in size for the new model means more people will be interested in it. Possibly even people with a small family.

Those increased dimensions pay dividends inside, with ample headroom up front and more than enough space across the front row, although the raised armrest console is somewhat narrow. 

The seats in both the iX2 xDrive30 and the M35i xDrive are very supportive thanks to ample bolstering, but both were also on the firm side. The iX2’s synthetic leather was slightly more comfortable than the M35i’s sports-focused front seats.

The power-adjustable seats and height- and reach-adjustable steering wheel means it’s not hard to find a decent driving position, but forward vision is impeded by a very thick A-pillar, and the letterbox-like rear windscreen in the X2 means rearward vision is limited. Good thing it has excellent parking cameras and sensors. 

Storage is decent in the X2, with room for big bottles in the door cavity, and a few nooks and large open spaces in the console. Although secure storage is limited with the armrest housing a very shallow space. I do like BMW’s phone charger setup. Rather than lying on a pad, it slots into a vertical holder that has a latch to keep it in place when cornering. The only drawback is that you can see the screen which could potentially distract some drivers.

The X2 introduces operating system nine to iDrive, which is housed in the central part of the curved display and operated by touchscreen or the controller on the floating central console. After some familiarisation, the functionality isn’t that much different to the previous version of the operating system. The main menu looks cool and is mostly easy to navigate. The sub-menu icons - of which there are heaps - look a little Microsoft Windows.

The X2 has drive modes that also interact with the interior of the car and change lighting, EV noise and more. They include Personal Mode, Sport Mode and Efficient Mode as standard, but if you opt for (and pay extra for) BMW Digital Premium, the modes extend to Expressive Mode, Relax Mode and Digital Art Mode. Some of these are quite cool, especially some of the EV sounds, but would I use them everyday? Probably not.

The clearest indication of increased space is in the second row. There’s much more legroom than the old X2, and behind my six-foot frame I had enough space with a couple of centimetres between my knees and the front seat backs. Toe room was very limited, however. 

The roof has been scalloped out to ensure more headroom, which is welcome given the extra sloping roofline.

There are a pair of USB-C ports back there, lower air vents, map pockets, decent door storage, and a centre armrest with cup holders.

The boot is sizeable, in both engine grades but you only get a tyre repair kit. There is underfloor storage for the charging cables in the iX2.

At 560 litres with all seats in place and 1470L with the second row stowed, the petrol grades have a bit more space than the iX2 at 525L (all seats in place) and 1400L (second row lowered).

In Australia, there will be four X2 grades in total - the xDrive20i and M35i xDrive petrol models, and the iX2 eDrive20 and xDrive30 all-electric models.

The iX2 xDrive 30 and the two X2 petrol grades are expected late in quarter one, or early in quarter two. The iX2 eDrive20 will follow shortly after in the third quarter.

The model grades largely mirror that of the X2’s mechanical twin, the X1, although the X1 is also offered in base front-wheel-drive sDrive18i guise as a range-opener.

At the international launch event, the two grades available to drive were the iX2 xDrive30 and the X2 M35i, so I will focus on those two models when it comes to the driving and practicality sections of this review. But I will detail elements of the whole range in other sections.

That X2 xDrive20i kicks off the range from $75,900 before on-road costs. For that you get features like a leather sports steering wheel, dual-zone automatic climate control, satellite navigation, an automatic tailgate, 19-inch alloy wheels, four USB-C ports and more driver-assistance systems and digital services compared with the previous model.

The $92,900 X2 M35i xDrive adds an extra dollop of performance but also includes 20-inch alloy wheels, a 12-speaker Harman/Kardon sound system, leather upholstery, a panoramic glass roof, a BMW M body kit and more.

The most affordable iX2 is the eDrive20 that kicks off at $82,900, while the iX2 xDrive30 dual-motor all-wheel-drive is $85,700. Both of these currently fall under the luxury car tax threshold at the time of writing.

There are several individual options and options packages across the range that can quickly push these prices up. 

The X2 is a bit more expensive than the equivalent grades of the X1. The X2 xDrive20i costs $5500 more than the same X1 grade, while the M35i is only $2000 dearer than the equivalent X1. 

For the EV, the X2 price premium is $4000 for the eDrive20 and just $800 for the xDrive30.

When it comes to rivals, pricing is a little higher than similar swoopy small SUVs like the Audi Q3 Sportback when it comes to the petrol models.

For the EV, competitors include the Lexus UX300e ($79,990-$87,665), Mercedes-Benz EQA (from $82,300-$102,579), and the Volvo C40 Recharge ($78,990-$87,990).

The Veloce Ibrida we tested is equipped with the lesser of two powertrain options in the Tonale range, although the hybrid set-up here is curious.

It pairs a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine with a small electric motor inside the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic to send a combined 128kW/240Nm to the front wheels.

While it only rates as a 48-volt mild-hybrid system, the motor is powerful enough to motivate the car without the assistance of the engine at low speeds, making it closer to a real plugless hybrid than the usual enhanced start/stop system the ‘MHEV’ moniker usually indicates. In this sense it is similar to Audi’s MHEV+ system.

While the previous Tonale was criticised for a clunky transition between motor and engine power, the brand promises it has refined the switch for this update (see Driving).

If you want all-wheel drive though, you’ll have to opt for the significantly pricier plug-in hybrid version.

On top of that, the Tonale is said to have some of the ‘most direct steering in its segment’ on top of the standard sporty suspension and brake package.

Each of the four grades come with a different powertrain, and the xDrive20i kicks it all off with its 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol unit, making 150kW of power and 300Nm of torque. It drives all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and can hit 100km/h in 7.4 seconds.

The xDrive M35i ups the fun factor with a gruntier 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol unit, driving all four wheels via the same transmission as the 20i, all while delivering power and torque of 233kW/400Nm This ensures a 0-100km/h dash of 5.4 seconds.

The iX2 eDrive20 is powered by a 150kW/247Nm electric motor on its front axle, and the iX2 xDrive 30 uses two motors - one on the front and one on the rear axle for all-wheel-drive traction. The total system output is 230kW and 494Nm and the xDrive30 gets to 100km/h in just 5.6 seconds.

The fiddly hybrid dual-clutch and compact engine combine to give the Tonale Veloce Ibrida a combined cycle (urban/extra-urban) fuel consumption figure of 5.4L/100km. It requires mid-shelf 95RON unleaded, and has a decent fuel tank size of 55 litres suggesting a driving range of around 1000km on a full tank.

After some enthusiastic testing my car was producing a dash-indicated 6.8L/100km but I think you could get lower if you were asking less of it.

CO2 emissions are good for a combustion car in this segment, at 123g/km.

A fuel-use figure for the xDrive20i is yet to be confirmed, but the front-wheel-drive sDrive20i offered in Europe with a three-cylinder engine sips as little as six litres per 100 kilometres on the combined cycle. Expect the Australian version to be a little higher than that given it’s AWD and has a more potent engine.

The M35i consumes 7.7L/100km. 

The high-voltage 64.8kWh lithium-ion battery in the iX2 ensures a driving range on the WLTP cycle of between up to 477 kilometres in the eDrive20 and between 417 and 449km for the xDrive30. 

The latter has an energy efficiency range of 16.3 to 17.7kWh/100km, and BMW says you should be able to top up the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in 29 minutes at a fast charging station.

That driving range is not bad compared with the Lexus UX300e and Peugeot e-2008, but not quite as impressive as the Volvo C40 twin-motor. 

I missed out on checking the energy efficiency figure of the iX2 xDrive30 following our drive, but after an 88km drive loop, the iX2’s range had dropped by 91km, which is just a 3km difference.

The Alfa Romeo Tonale should be about the driver, and it at least tries to make this smallish SUV segment a bit more exciting with its standard performance features.

Things feel good immediately, with the tight cockpit, sporty bolstered seats and big chunky metal paddle shifters.

The ergonomics are familiar to other sporty Alfas, although you are sitting noticeably high off the ground.

Pressing the start button on the steering wheel (satisfying) reveals a surprising bark from the exhaust, whetting the appetite for what should be a fun drive.

From there things devolve into a puzzlingly mixed experience, revealing a car which can’t really decide what it wants to be.

The steering is excellent, as the brand suggests, but the pedals have a strange wooden feel to them, I assume because the car is using software to determine how much power is deployed or regenerated electrically and how much requires the engine and brakes.

I only drove the plug-in version of the previous car, so it’s hard to tell how much the transmission has improved. It’s still not the most slick shifting unit, although the low-speed performance is pretty good. It tends to hiccup not from a start, but when you ask it to suddenly give you power when you’re already moving, where a moment of hesitation still seems to exist.

On this topic, even in Sport mode with things dialed up, the manual shifts have enough of a delay when you pull the paddle shifters to take you out of the action. Something not the case in this car’s very good Giulia sedan sibling and its much sharper attitude.

The exhaust, despite its keen start-up attitude, is only okay when you’re riding it up the rev-range.

The Tonale is pretty good on the curvy stuff, although I was expecting more. The aforementioned sharp steering combines nicely with the more aggressive wider track and sporty stiff suspension to make for a halfway decent corner-carving experience, but if you were expecting a lifted hot hatch, it falls short.

The power from the turbo engine and hybrid system simply isn’t punchy or responsive enough to make it thrilling. On top of that, you can feel the height from its SUV body, which makes it a bit uncouth when pushed. Suffice it to say, despite the upmarket Bridgestone Turanza tyre package fitted to our car, there’s a lot of tyre torture when cornering enthusiastically.

It’s actually annoying how much this car teases you with a good time, only to never quite get there.

The more performance-oriented set-up comes with drawbacks, too. This car is a bit noisy at freeway speeds and can have harsh crashy suspension moments on sub-par city roads.

It also has some signature Alfa personality quirks. Somewhere under or next to my seat near the driver’s door had a persistent squeak, for example. Despite my attempts to find it by pushing on every panel or piece of the door and seat to try and find it, it would only make the sound when I was sitting down. 

It’s just like the last Giulia I drove which had a rattle behind the instrument cluster. It wouldn’t be an Alfa Romeo otherwise, I suppose.

The M135i xDriveis undeniably quick off the mark. The lovely 2.0L turbo engine is well matched to the seven-speed dual-clutch and it’s responsive and willing from a standing start and when overtaking.

The engine sounds lovely too, although we suspect it’s amplified in the cabin, and steering is as sharp as it should be in a warmed-up performance SUV. We darted through some very twisty roads outside Lisbon and had quite a lot of fun in the process, so the M Performance badge is justified. 

I drove the previous-generation X2 M35i a few years back and was disappointed with the ride quality. It was quite jiggly on uneven road surfaces and way too firm.

While the new version still has a firm tune to aid dynamic driving, it is much more compliant than the old car and overall ride comfort has improved.

The iX2 is also quick off the mark and in xDrive30 guise is only 0.2sec slower to 100km/h than the M35i. 

That lively, smooth EV acceleration is present here, adding a sense of fun to the iX2.

It too has sharp steering, and the cabin is hushed. Not just because it’s an EV either. We were on coastal roads on a windy day and there was only a hint of wind noise in the cabin.

In some instances taking corners that had typical European walls or houses right up against the road, the iX2 would slow before I had a chance to tap the brakes. But it was hard to tell if that was a vehicle safety function, or the regenerative braking.

The ride in the iX2 was a bit of a mixed bag. It coped with some of the pockmarked roads exceptionally well, soaking up the imperfections. But then on other roads it was a little choppy.

It also bounces a little when you go over speed bumps, but that’s not exclusively an iX2 trait. I’ve felt it on many an EV, given the placement of the very heavy battery packs under the floor.

On the driving tech front, the X2 has a well executed head-up display projected directly onto the windscreen. It includes the speedo of course, nav guidance, a crystal clear display and more info. 

The X2 and iX2 are yet to be crash tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP for that matter.

As mentioned, it gets a more generous list of standard safety features than its predecessor. Features include the latest version of BMW’s front collision warning system, auto emergency braking, speed limit detection, active pedestrian protection and a front centre airbag.

All X2s come standard with BMW’s Driving Assistant Professional which features ‘Steering and Lane Control System’, adaptive cruise control with stop and go braking function, and a blind-spot monitor, as well as Parking Assistant Plus with a surround-view camera, reversing assistant and ‘Drive Recorder’.

The Tonale range gets a five-year and unlimited kilometre warranty with a matching five years of roadside assist.

Indicative service pricing, available via the online calculator, extends out to 10 years, and for the life of the warranty costs an average of $666.10 per year or 15,000km visit. That’s a little pricey, with a particular sting at the 48 month mark costing $1421.44 in one visit.

Somewhat shocking residuals for Alfa Romeos are worth factoring in even if you’re purchasing one as part of a novated lease as the value of the car can be much lower than expected by the time your lease expires.

And it’s worth noting there are only eight primary Alfa dealerships and 18 service centres across Australia.

The X2 range is covered by BMW’s five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty - something the German giant only increased from three years back in 2022. This is now the minimum standard.

The battery warranty for the iX2 is eight years or 160,000 kilometres. 

BMW does not have scheduled servicing terms, instead, servicing is condition-based and the car’s computer will alert the driver when to book in for a service.

A five-year servicing package will cost you $3171 for the petrol X2s, while the iX2 is $2186 for six years.