Alfa Romeo Tonale review - Practicality & boot space

Undeniably stylish it may be, but to appeal to family buyers the Tonale needs to be practical as well. It’s longer than many of the cars it rivals, but the Alfa isn’t particularly tall by SUV standards, so legroom is decent even if rivals have more headroom.

Alfa Romeo Tonale interior space & storage

The driver and front passenger have plenty of space, with generous levels of knee room and headroom. The centre console isn’t too wide, either, so you get a little more foot space than in some rivals like the Mazda CX-5.

Storage space up front isn’t quite so generous. The cupholders and gear lever take up quite a lot of room, so the hidden armrest cubby is only small. Any valuables will need to be squeezed in here or in the glove compartment, although the tray in front of the gear lever looks to be a useful size. It should accommodate large phones with ease, which is handy given that the wireless phone charging zone is here.

Rear-seat passengers may not enjoy the quality of the materials around them, nor the slightly cramped feeling brought on by the dark headlining. The Tonale is probably best used as a four-seater, as the transmission tunnel means there’s no space for your legs if you’re sat in the middle seat. Either side of this, two six-feet-tall adults can sit comfortably in the back with enough legroom and headroom.

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Boot space

The mild-hybrid Tonale gets a 500-litre boot, which is a useful size and should be plenty for nearly every buyer. It’s much bigger than the luggage space you get in the Cupra Formentor, and is on a par with the BMW X1, Audi Q3 and Mercedes GLA.

Unfortunately, this figure drops to just 385 litres in the plug-in hybrid, due to many of the electrical components being mounted underneath the boot floor. This is still more than you’ll get in a Lexus UX though, and is on par with many petrol family hatchbacks such as the Vauxhall Astra, but the BMW X1 PHEV does better with 476 litres.

Handy features include an adjustable boot floor, so you can get rid of the load lip if you don’t need the full boot capacity. You also get a few hooks and tie-down points, plus a 12V socket.