Alfa Romeo Junior (2024 - ) review

All but the top Veloce model duck the £40,000 cut-off for the punitive ‘expensive car’ tax rates, which is a big saving for the first five years of ownership. Given Alfa Romeo presents like a premium brand this feels like a bit of a win, even if it’s priced equivalently to the many other models within the wider Stellantis family built on the same bits. Against them the Junior definitely looks cooler than a Mokka and sportier than a Citroen e-C3 or Peugeot e-2008, the Jeep Avenger putting its own spin on the shared tech with its more off-roader vibe. A relatively small battery meanwhile has advantages in terms of the overall weight, which in turn reduces charging times and costs. In warm spring weather we also scored some impressive efficiency figures, suggesting however you pay for your charging the Junior will make the most of its battery.

At the risk of banging on about this, the Junior shares the same chassis, battery, running gear and basic electrics with plenty of Stellantis electric cars. They’re all proving broadly reliable. So, unless Alfa Romeo has made the Junior’s specific parts – the electric motor, suspension, steering system and interior trim – out of cheese, reliability shouldn’t be an issue. We can confirm that no cheese was used in the making of the Alfa Romeo Junior. Apart from the bit in the press pack that says the car “redefines the canons of beauty.” In fact, the Alfa Romeo brand took top spot in the JD Power reliability survey in 2023. Times really have changed. In fact, the Alfa Romeo brand took top spot in the JD Power reliability survey in 2023. Times really have changed.

The Junior comes with adaptive cruise control, emergency automatic braking, multiple airbags, and lane-keeping assistant – a positively lazy lane-keeping assistant, at that. Which is good, because while it will alert you if you’re drifting out of lane, it will not bounce the between lane markings like some of these things do. It's worth pointing out that the Junior has one of the less intuitive infotainment screens on the market, though – the sort of setup that has you taking your eyes off the road a little too long to do something simple. Something like finding the home menu, to find the radio menu, to find the radio station you’re looking for.

While standing tall with its crossover stance the Junior feels like a relatively small car, which for the avoidance of doubt is intended as a compliment given how bloated many rivals have become. Driver and front-seat passenger have plenty of room, the rear a little more cramped and claustrophobic but OK for a couple of kids. A relatively small boot may limit things if you need to carry pushchairs and other baby clobber but if your kids have moved on from that stage the Junior is a viable compact family car. Meanwhile, we’ve now driven the standard Elettrica on UK roads and the faster, more focused Veloce on an Italian test track and the difference in character is significant. The regular models have smaller wheels, slightly chattery suspension and steering that feels a little slower to react than you might expect of a sporty looking Alfa Romeo. The Veloce is a much more serious car, with seats huggier than a long-lost relative, stiffer and lower sports suspension and faster steering, all of which adds up to a genuinely hot-hatch challenging spirit more aligned with the brand’s sporting traditions. Alfa says that the lesser models are more comfort-biased, which means they’ll have a little more give in the suspension, smaller wheels, lighter steering and flatter seats. Regardless of spec, though, rear space is decent – good for two adults, although the middle rear chair is tight – and the 400-litre boot is generous. While feeling quite compact on the road, as we've said you could use a Junior as your main family wheels.

The basic Junior is just that – basic. So basic it only gets a four-speaker stereo system and no central headrest in the back, and though you get the same pair of 10.25-inch screens as all Juniors the main one doesn’t have its own nav so you’ll have to use your phone apps. You can at least pair your device wirelessly to those ends but you’ll need a fancier trim (or the Technology Pack) to ditch the cables and charge the same way. As such we’d probably go up at least one grade to Speciale for the more sophisticated lane-centring/stop and go cruise control, a better stereo, power adjustment for the driver’s seat and that built-in nav option. Just like the driving style if you want the Very Most Alfa Romeo Style experience you need the Veloce which, like the Intensa, gets lashings of tactile Alcantara trim materials to distract from the otherwise quite cheap-feeling plastics used throughout the cabin. While we liked the trad twin-cowl instrument binnacle replicating that over the analogue speedo and rev counter of old-school Alfa Romeos the rectangular screen within jars somewhat and looks a little aftermarket. Top marks for effort, though. And it at least offers a flavour of those ‘proper’ Alfa Romeos of days gone by.

We’ve not driven the Ibrida yet (just say ‘hybrid’ in your worst impression of an Italian waiter … just in your head, not out loud) but, interestingly, the on-paper performance looks near-identical to the standard Elettrica tested here. Like other cars built on this tech the three power modes selected via the switch beside the gear selector have a tangible impact on performance, so you only get the full 156 horsepower in the Dynamic setting. Acceleration off the line is sprightly and silent in the electric car style but tails off significantly towards 60mph, which is a little disappointing for an Alfa Romeo. Fear not, though, because the Veloce more than compensates and has nearly double the power. Steering, suspension and brakes are all upgraded to cope and there’s even a mechanical limited-slip diff to help put the power down. One for the petrolheads, there. Anyway, you don’t need to know what that is to appreciate how it transforms the driving experience into something properly inspirational and fun. It’s almost certainly the most entertaining fat hatchback to drive this side of a Porsche Macan, which is praise indeed. This does come at some cost to range, which drops from around 250 miles in the regular Elettrica to more like 200 miles in the Veloce. After some big motorway miles in the standard car we’d say good luck with that, the real-world range falling some way short of the projections and necessitating a couple of unexpected charging stops along the way to get to where wanted to be.