1984 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce on 2040-cars

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2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale aims to be the enthusiast's small SUV

Alfa Romeo's lineup will expand by 50% next year thanks to the 2023 Tonale, its new small SUV engineered to take on the voluminous and still-expanding utility segment beneath the Stelvio and its ilk. This new baby SUV packs a minimum of 256 horsepower and all-wheel drive with an optional, performance-oriented plug-in model available.  It's difficult to talk about the future of the automotive industry without acknowledging the spread of electrification and the rise in vehicular ride heights, and Alfa's checking both boxes with the Tonale. The small SUV will now be the brand's entry-level model. That's right; while you weren't looking, Alfa's lineup shrank to just two vehicles: Giulia and Stelvio. The company will add more electric variants in the coming years, including a BEV before the middle of the decade, so while the Tonale may be the first, it's not going to be the only, and while Alfa is adamant that there's a future for Giulia, we're now nearly a decade removed from the days of Alfa showrooms being populated by little coupes, convertibles, hatchbacks and sedans.  The Tonale shares its underpinnings with just about every other small SUV in the Stellantis portfolio. Its largest cousin sold here in the U.S. is the Jeep Compass. We don't have all the numbers for Tonale just yet, but we suspect the only thing it'll really have in common with Jeep's economical compact will be the length of its wheelbase, which slots it into the same class as the Audi Q3, BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA/GLB and Lexus NX. And there's certainly nothing Compass-like about its exterior, which looks credibly Alfa-like. LED lighting is standard; the fancy wheels on the models shown in these photos are not; you'll need the Veloce trim for those.  Alfa's punching up a bit in the cabin too. A 10.25-inch Uconnect 5 infotainment system is standard (the Stelvio's base screen is just 8.8 inches) and paired to a 12.3-inch digital cluster display skinned to look like a vintage Alfa Romeo instrument panel. The Uconnect system is integrated with Alfa Connected Services to enable over-the-air updates and other personalized functionality. Each Tonale can store five individual driver profiles accessible via a single touch and is compatible with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. But while Alfa promises the Tonale will feel appropriately luxurious for its price point, this isn't aimed at the crowd that wants a soft, distant experience.

FCA inline-six rumored to be real, headed for Jeep Wagoneer

In September, Allpar reported that that clues being dropped at Fiat- Chrysler headquarters, in the carmaker's factories, and on engineer resumes pointed to the development of an inline six-cylinder engine. The site has just proclaimed the rumor is reality, writing that the straight-six, "turbocharged to meet or beat 5.7 Hemi power ratings, with a smoother torque curve, is on the way." The motor's first outing is expected to be either the next-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee, debuting perhaps next year, or the Jeep Wagoneer, debuting in 2020 or 2021. "Tornado" is the purported codename for the power plant said to be just under three liters in displacement, expanding the family begun with the Global Medium Engine 2.0-liter turbo codenamed Hurricane. Engine bay constraints and a long use horizon mean engineers won't simply add two more cylinders to the GME, however. Allpar says the brief is to keep the Tornado GME-T6 — the alphanumeric for "turbocharged six" — no more than three inches longer than the Tigershark 2.4-liter four-cylinder. That means "major design changes" that could include a space-saving head, more closely spaced cylinders, and no cylinder liners. An FCA division called Comau could be called on for its "SmartSpray" plasma lining technology. Allpar muses that the standard version of the engine for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram could get a single twin-scroll turbocharger. Performance trims for Alfa Romeo and Maserati could get different heads and maybe twin turbos, an SRT version might also get both those tweaks. History shows that the Italian versions would make changes to the block, as well. Even so, the Tornado would be less expensive than any Ferrari-supplied V6. A straight-six would put FCA in company with current adopters BMW and Mercedes-Benz, future users like Jaguar, and perhaps Aston Martin. The engine would span the widest range of use cases in the U.S. carmaker's portfolio, though. Potential applications include being a base engine for Ram trucks, serving double duty as a base engine and 5.7-liter Hemi replacement for the Dodge Charger and Challenger, working in the high-end Jeeps, and as a properly hot trim — with Ferrari-designed heads — in the luxury Italian sports cars. The Alfa Romeo Giulia begs for just such motivation to fill the gap between the 280-hp, $42,695 Ti Sport RWD and the 505-hp, $73,700 Giulia Quadrifoglio RWD. And a twin-turbo inline-six in a Maserati Alfieri would stack up nicely with the Germans.

Leno samples Corvette Z06, steam cars, supercars and the wonders of Pebble Beach

While Jay Leno's Garage was conceived to highlight the wonders of The Big Chin's eponymous storage facility, Leno does occasionally get out an into the larger world. Pebble Beach and the festivities around Monterey recently provided a great excuse for a road trip, and Leno seemingly had a pretty full dance card.
In an episode aptly dubbed The Ultimate Car Week, our host takes us through a pretty representative selection of great things to see in and around Pebble. Starting with a ride-along in a steam car, Jay manages to check in on the latest McLaren supercar and drive the Alfa Romeo 4C along the way. Oh, and he takes a good look at the all-new Corvette Z06 (next to the original Z06) before hitting the Concourse d'Elegance, too.