Inside the 2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale: Style, Space, and a Surprise Snake

Alfa Romeos are known to be attractive cars, but that's not what matters most, is it? If you're daily-driving one, you also need a good interior. And as it turns out, Alfa has been busy. The 2026 Tonale we just drove in Italy arrives with a sprinkling of updates that promise a more rewarding experience overall. After driving the luxury SUV and poking around, here are the highlights.

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Interior Colors and Options

Alfa now offers four different interiors on the 2026 Tonale, more than the pre-update SUV. Black cloth seats are standard and we balk at the idea of a cloth-seated luxury SUV. However, we do like the way the seatbacks incorporate part of the brand's inimitable badge (the snake) in an unavoidably prominent way. Other colors include black leather, bright red leather, and a primarily black seat option that has white accents. This one looks good in person, and comes with Alcantara trim with contrasting stitching on the dash.

The European-Spec Details We Don’t Get

European-spec cars get a flat, rotating gear-shift disc instead of a more traditional tall shifter like the American cars. We've seen all kinds of gear-changing mechanisms over the years; what the American Tonale's gear selector lacks in "gee whiz!" appeal, it makes up for by giving your hand a place to rest at a long red light.

The European-spec cars also still offer the plug-in hybrid option, which is gone from the U.S. Alternately, they don't get our 268-hp 2.0-liter turbo-four.

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But How Will I Know It's Italian?

Oh, trust us, the 2026 Tonale makes sure you get the picture. Enormous steering-column-mounted paddle shifters look sporty and feel great, although they do force you to stretch your hand to reach the turn signals. There's also the Sport Speciale trim that adds the Italian flag's red, white, and green to the side-view mirrors and to a spot near the gear shift stalk (pictured).

Our favorite accent is the Alfa badge snake hiding in the newly ventilated wireless phone charger at the base of the dash.

Spaciousness

Many sub-$50,000 luxury SUVs have rear-seat compromises, but here the Alfa is quite decent. Maybe we were still thinking about the classic Alfa Romeo coupes from the official brand museum we'd visited the day before, but the 2026 Tonale's rear seat was a pleasant surprise.

I'm six feet, four inches and didn't have enough headroom, but most others will be just fine. What the rear-seat legroom numbers hide is how the soft front seatbacks allow you to gently press your knees into the seat ahead, increasing the feeling of space. It's still a bit cozy, but not as bad as you might think.

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Cargo Space

Alfa Romeo says the 2026 Tonale has 27 cubic feet of cargo space, which is pretty good for the segment. The load floor can be lowered for a bit more space, and we appreciate that the cargo cover lifts when the power liftgate lifts. Where we see room for improvement is a need for carve-outs on the outer edges for things you don't want rolling around, like milk or soda.

Infotainment Technology

Infotainment is handled by a 10.3-inch touchscreen tilted slightly toward the driver, just like all the heating/AC control switches below. We like that attention to detail. We'd just driven a Stelvio the day before—the Stelvio is the larger Alfa Romeo SUV—and can confidently confirm the 2026 Tonale's system is far quicker to use.

What's disappointing here is the way Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are displayed, with a thick vertical nav bar on the left side of the screen as well as a few Alfa controls at the top. We want an option to maximize the phone-mirroring control on the entire screen instead of having it look digitally scrunched up. This ability is something we've seen on other automaker systems.

360-Degree Camera

Even on a small SUV like the 178-inch-long 2026 Tonale, the available 360-degree camera system can come in handy. Tech like this allows you to maximize the value of a particularly small parking spot, and we like that this one can be made a shortcut on the infotainment screen.

A view mode that clearly shows the front wheels as you're parking would make it better; it's a feature some similar systems have.

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Materials and Ambient Lighting

No small luxury SUV in the $40,000 range has awesome interior materials from top to bottom. In the Alfa's case, we accept the mix of hard and soft touchpoints around the cabin.

Contrast stitching on certain interior color combos is new this year, while ambient lighting is available in a few colors. The effect is best seen in a somewhat ordinary-looking dash trim piece that comes alive with colored lighting at night.

Is the 2026 Tonale's Interior Good?

Yes, the 2026 Tonale has a good, though not great interior. The cabin is more spacious than you might think an Alfa Romeo's would be, and the materials are class-appropriate. There's nothing inside that elevates the 2026 Tonale above its many competitors aside from maybe the cool black-and-white Alcantara interior option. That's not something you see every day and it works.

The 2026 Tonale's interior isn't a huge highlight but, if you can get over how similar it is to the mechanically related Dodge Hornet, the Alfa is a good choice. A short driving range and poor resale value are drawbacks, but when you've gotta go Italian, we get why someone would pick the 2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale.