AVANT TOI FALIERO SARTI R13 LA PRESTIC OUISTON MM6 MARSELL RICK OWENS
OPENING THIS FALL CRYSTAL COVE COMMONS the gas with your right foot, letting the revs build to 3,500 rpm, and neatly step off the brake. Usain Bolt out of his starting blocks doesn’t react this quickly. The spectacular combo of four-wheel drive, rear tires as wide as a Peterbilt’s, and those 505 chomping-at-the-bit horses come together to launch the car off the line. It’ll steal your breath, squeeze your eyeballs back into their sockets, and put a Garfield-wide grin on your face. This is no mere straight-line dragster. Where this vehicle really comes into its own is in the divine way it handles itself. The electric-assist steering doesn’t just communicate what the front wheels are doing, it sends uncensored messages straight to your fingertips. Even as the Stelvio powers hard into a turn, there’s no reduction in information coming through the helm. And it grips the blacktop as if there’s an invisible Dyson vacuum at each corner. Find yourself a twisty backroad and it’s like riding on Space Mountain. Yes, you can get this kind of performance and handling in the Stelvio’s kid brother, the four-door Giulia Quadrifoglio sedan. But the Stelvio gives you all-wheel drive and a better view of the road ahead, as well as greater practicality and versatility. Not everything is perfection, however. While the Stelvio’s humongous brakes are sensational at hauling this 4,300-pound projectile down from triple-digit velocities, at lower speeds they grab and snatch, making stop-start commutes a pain. No prizes either for ride quality; over anything but pool table– smooth asphalt, the fidgety, jerky ride can loosen dental work. And some of the interior trim wouldn’t look out of place in a 10-year-old Fiat, let alone something priced at $81,590. Shortcomings aside, this new Stelvio Quadrifoglio is a vehicle with all the space and practicality of an SUV, but with the joyl FOLLOW HOWARD WALKER’S ful, thrilling character of a true THE WHEEL WORLD BLOG ON PALMsports sedan. In a word, it’s just BEACHILLUSTRATED.COM magnifico. «
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N PALM BEACH
ROYAL PALM PLACE BOCA RATON 561-367-9600 LAS OLAS FT. LAUDERDALE 954-524-2585 DeborahJames.com
RAQUEL ALLEGRA
PALMBEACHILLUSTRATED.COM | OCTOBER 2018
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8/30/18 11:49 AM