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ALFA’S FIRST EVER SUV is racking up some impressive sales figures across Europe and with the announcement that Irish prices will start at €47,295, perhaps the Stelvio will see healthy numbers here too.
The starting figure for the 180hp 2.2-litre Diesel RWD model makes it cheaper than both the Mercedes-Benz GLC, which starts at €47,830, and the Audi Q5 (€47,500).
For that price, entry level models get 17-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels, LED rear lights and a double lateral chrome exhaust pipe. Features inside include dual-zone climate control, Alfa DNA. rotary driving mode selector, a 3.5-inch TFT colour cluster instrument panel, Alfa Connect 8.8-inch display infotainment system with DAB plus Bluetooth/AUX multimedia connectivity, an eight-speaker audio system and two front and two rear USB ports.
Entry-level models also get Keyless Go, an electric tailgate, cruise control, rear park distance control and automatic rain and light sensors.
The Stelvio will also be available in Super, Speciale and an exclusive 2017 Milano Edizione trim.
The Stelvio is built on the same chassis as the Giulia saloon (read our review here), boasts 50/50 weight distribution and can be had with rear-wheel or four-wheel drive.
The Stevlio is also one of the safest cars in its class and performed very well in the adult occupant protection Euro NCAP tests, with score of 97 per cent. Only a handful of cars have scored 97 per cent or higher for adult protection.
Also during the Euro NCAP test the Stelvio was recognised for two key areas of excellence: the adoption of extensive innovative safety features and the structural efficiency of its rigid and lightweight body shell, which is constructed from high-tech materials such as carbon fibre, aluminium and aluminium composite.
From launch there will be the choice of a 210hp 2.2-litre diesel Q4 AWD and a 280hp 2.0-litre petrol Q4 AWD. In October a 180hp 2.2-litre diesel engine in both Q4 all-wheel- drive or rear-wheel-drive, and a 200hp 2.0-litre petrol engine Q4 AWD will join the line-up.
Alfa claims that the 180hp 2.2-litre diesel RWD model weighs 1,604kg making it the lightest mid-size SUV in the sector thanks to its lightweight body structure and carbon fibre driveshaft.
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Great, now Leo while you have the farmers attention can you please ask them why they are burning gorse illegally during nesting season and polluting our water systems.
@Stoneybroke: try and get an answer for that…
@Stoneybroke: that’s a very lazy generalized comment on farmers.
@Stoneybroke: Would be a stupid question to ask a beef farmer, as cattle don’t graze the gorse land.
@Adrian™: are you a farmer ?
@Do the Bort man: They do where I live in Co. Sligo and nearby Co.Roscommon.
@Stoneybroke:
You have to laugh at that poster in the background, Leo The Lamb.
If he pissses the farmers off the only support he’ll have left is the bankers and insurance cartels.
@Do the Bort man: don’t get me started ranting about the pollution caused by the beef industry.
@Stoneybroke: shooting your mouth off before engaging your brain if you have specific evidence of this you should give details of the person to the local authority in question.
@Liam O Connor: you are very very naive. I have farming background on both my parents side. I know full well what goes on.
@Stoneybroke: what’s ur problem with farmers? From what I see they seem to be the only part of society that will confront govt? I say fair play to them. If they’re getting screwed they take it up with the main man, ie Leo. Well done to the farmers.
@Stoneybroke: which farmers did that?
@Stoneybroke: are u 1 of those bitter sons who didn’t get the land?
@Stoneybroke: iranod Éireann have been cutting hedges the past few weeks too.
@Vote4Pedro: I knew you weren’t just a pretty face Pedro :)
@Stoneybroke: Its the first comment and already you’re off-topic. The whattaboutery is ridiculous.
@Stoneybroke: Hope you reported them!
@Stoneybroke: so you have no evidence but you know what you know!
@Liam O Connor: ah lads it’s time to blow out the torches and put down the pitchforks. Grab yourselves a nice cold beer from the fridge and go out your feet up !
More like leo and the cabinet go down to cork for a photo opp and are greeted by protestors.
@Adrian: what a surprise that they aren’t in hospitals looking for a photo opportunity! https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/it-is-simply-not-acceptable-inmo-have-no-confidence-in-harris-or-hse-as-over-500-on-trolleys-921259.html
Beef farmers have to realise the game is up and need to start planning ways to diversify. Between Brexit, global warming and a trend away from the over consumption of meat, their business model is screwed and there’s no going back. Blaming Leo and everyone else who points out the writing on the wall to them is not going to change that and the taxpayers can’t continue to support a business model that is not sustainable.
@James Wallace: Disregarding the Savage Eye flavour of this protest, you have a point. Mind you, it’s not dissimilar to the miners’ strikes in the UK, though I can’t expand that point too much as it slides dangerously towards supporting Thatcher (the old crone).
Snag is, of the 520,000 or so tonnes of beef we produce , over 90% is destined for export, and beef alone accounts for over a fifth of our food and drinks export total. And given that this figure won’t be dropping anytime soon, we can expect more of these protests. And possibly less extra-curricular activities by the cabinet. Tax supports, meanwhile, will continue…
@James Wallace: Good point, but in Ireland it rains way too much therefore growing foodstuffs is out of the question, although grants for pollytunnels would be very lucrative.
Well, in the west it does and the land is deplorable
Any export business is subject to currency fluctuations. What do the farmers do with the extra money when the exchange rate is in their favour?
@Derek Walsh: in that scenario they shut-up about it
@Derek Walsh:
When the currency fluctuates positively – The fat cat Beef processors and retailers put it in their back pockets and off shore accounts. Farmers on the bread line see none of it sadly !!!Time to look into this MUCH closer !
J.B.G.
so leo think that making the cabinet more ‘mobile’ will stop people thinking “its all about dublin ” well leo – how about shifting some of those big corporations and jobs down outside the pale ? people outside of dublin dont want you or your little band of crooks and gombeens – they want decent, sustainable,well paid jobs without having to commute 2 or 3 hours to get to work … sort that out sock boy !
@Eric Davies: the companies get generous grants for locating outside of Dublin. Yet they still choose to locate in the only “city “ of scale we have. Otherwise they go to Frankfurt , Amsterdam etc. they go to Dublin, IRELAND or they go abroad. Huge amounts are redistributed from Dublin to rural areas …
@Eric Davies: So can Leo now force a private company to set up outside Dublin??
Or you’re mad he doesn’t have that superpower?
@Michael Cunningham: but he / the government could maybe invest in the sort of infrastructure necessary to attract and maintain such companies/ enterprises outside the Pale, or even the sort of infrastructure necessary to maintain rural communities, like hospitals or Garda Stations
@Karen Wellington: The economy of scale or workforce skills simply don’t exist outside of the major cities. Highly mobile graduates with 2 degrees and 3 languages don’t want to live outside of cities. They want the convenience that living in a city brings, including social life, public transport links and the ability to move from job to job. Large multi Nationals are chasing these employees and so must go where the labour force is. You can build as many roads and high speed broadband links as you like, you can’t force people to relocate
@An bhearna: I wasn’t asking for multinationals to set up anywhere, I’m asking the Irish Government to invest in the entirety of Ireland rather than exclusively cultivating a cesspool to the point no one can afford to live there. They’ve created an economic and housing(again) bubble around Dublin ready to pop. I’m personally at the point of hoping for a hard brexit just to get out of here.
Is vegan supposed to be an insult now? How dare he lead a healthy lifestyle!
@Rochelle:
Not even sure is he vegan, either. It’s the kind of insult hurled about by grown men who think their diets are under attack just because they saw a young wan go down the road in a veggie t-shirt with a nose ring.
@Stu Kent: no I don’t think he is vegan. He was eating steak a few weeks ago anyway. He just suggested he might reduce his meat consumption and there was apoplexy in the beef industry.
Now if only he could cut down on, oh, hospital waiting lists?
@Rochelle: *un
Fair play to the farmers…but if the protesters consisted of housing, health , evictions .. the blueshirt trolls and meadia would refer to them as rent a mob. Conflict of interest?.
@Donal Desmond: can you show a media report that refers to housing, health, or eviction protesters as rent a mob?
@Dave O’Keeffe: On numerous occasions. Remember when government ministers referred to the Jobstown protesters as thugs… even after they were found Not guilty by the courts… the undermining of water protesters as left wing thugs , rent a crowd, the protesters who defend families facing evictions. Well done to the farmers, but you won’t see or hear the media or F.F./ F.G. coalition condemning their protest.
@Donal Desmond: so you can’t show me any then? Rent a mob is a specific term and is not the same as thug.
@Dave O’Keeffe: Same thing in the eyes of the F.F./F.G. coalition and mainstream media. When protesters entered Apollo house, they were condemed by politicians and media as thugs, left wing Looney’s. Yet when farmers occupied a government building NO condemnation from same politicians or media. You will recall during water protests photos shown on our national broadcaster and media, water meter installers surround by guards , while a peaceful protest was made look like intimidation. P.S. what ever happened to the promises Simon Coveney made to de escalate the Apollo house protest.
@Donal Desmond: no, rent a mob is very different. It means it’s protesters for hire who don’t necessarily care about the cause they’re protesting. Since you’ve still not shown any proof of it it’s fairly safe to assume there is none.
Beef farming is unethical and unsustainable. It’s not good for us and it’s not good for the environment. Bad luck for the farmers but more and more people are coming to realise this. Vegan is not an insult
People in Dublin dont want his crooks and gombeens either.
Seeing that practically every GP in the land (the ones in the practice I attend anyway) advise less meat and dairy in the diet – it’s a wonder farmers are not out picketing surgeries!
Saw the hilarious video in the indo of the farmers being held back on either side by the guards, whereas if they came from across the road, they would have had easy access to leo.
Yeah Leo, stop brexiting ya muppet!
How was a day out for cabinet ever going to achieve anything with regard to the government only ever focusing on the Pale?
Farmers need to change what they farm for the sake of the climate..also subsidising them is no way Helping..
The REALLY BIG PROBLEM with the beef industry (which gives employment to a huge swath of our citizens ) is that it is entirely controlled by one man who has a complete monopoly (He also controls a huge slice of our private hospitals, media and fuel distribution) but it is his almost complete control of the beef industry that has left him so so wealthy. Of course all this is entirely at the producer’s expense!
If Leo ate beef the vegetable growers would probably be out protesting.
Get them out
@james Wallace. Food must always be in over supply. Otherwise you can’t work if you had to que for supplies all the time. If food is in oversupply then the primary producer(farmer) will struggle to get a decent price. That’s why we have a CAP. But it’s a catch all system which isn’t flexible enough when there are additional pressures put on farmers such as natural or political disasters.
Like every other industry the beef far. Ers of Ireland will have to consider diversifying into other alternative markets. Every business has to adapt as the market changes. People want to eat less meat. We’ll good!!! I’m glad to hear that. And they will have to adapt to other non meat based alternatives… You can’t force Leo or anyone to eat more meat and then ask for subsidies if they don’t..
So much for “free markets” – hands up anyone else whose job gets subsidised by the taxpayer?
Oh…politicians.
Airlines.
Bankers.
Can’t beat steak n chips
Sausage is my favourite, but the brand? Well you need to get to know me better lads
Why should farmers get hand outs will be on many lips?
Oh no, not the beef industry :(
I passed the city hall during the protest amazing the amount of guards on duty, Langer Leo had his eye on the bull .
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