► It’s an Alfa Romeo
► But it’s also a practical crossover
► Read month 3 here
I’m on the M25 in a thunderstorm trying to find out to what extent I can drive the Tonale without using the engine.
At 65mph, with cruise control on, my attention is divided between the road and three key dials: fuel range, combined range, and electric range. Usually the fuel and electric dials add up to the combined range, but things take a turn when the fuel range turns to a ‘-’ – and the combined range does too.
Yet the car still registers 20-ish miles of electric range.
I chicken out and head to the nearest petrol stop, thankfully around five miles away. The last bit of the journey appears to be entirely on electric power; so it’s a huge relief when I finally make it to the familiar pumps.
Logbook: Alfa Romeo Tonale 1.3 PHEV Veloce (Month 4)
Price £48,495 (£51,595 as tested)
Performance 15.5kWh battery plus 1332cc four-cylinder, PHEV, 276bhp, 199lb ft, 6.2sec 0-62mph, 128mph
Efficiency 217mpg (official), 40.9mpg (tested) 29g/km CO2
Energy cost 15.7p per mile
Miles this month 882
Total miles 5471