Alfa Romeo Junior review

Is the Alfa Romeo Junior a good car?

There’s an impressive degree of flair to the Alfa Romeo Junior that’s lacking from other cars based on Stellantis’ widely used e-CMP2 platform. As a result it’s an engaging small electric crossover, with steering, road-holding and a playful nature that will appeal to Alfa fans, even if the all-electric powertrain isn’t quite on-brand with the marque. There’s a decent driving range, useful practicality inside and some interesting design touches that set the Junior apart from its direct Stellantis siblings, too. It’s a tempting choice in a crowded market.

How much does the Alfa Romeo Junior cost?

What’s in a name? Well, in the case of the Alfa Romeo Junior, quite a lot more than for most new cars. It was originally meant to be called Milano, but the plan was hastily, and slightly awkwardly, changed when the Italian government’s ‘Made in Italy’ rules forced the brand to choose something slightly less patriotic. This was because the newcomer would not be manufactured in its home country, but in the same Polish factory that also produces the Fiat 600 and Jeep Avenger. 

The decision, instead, was to lead with Junior. The name had been previously used on the Alfa GT Junior – the iconic sixties and seventies coupe that was the entry point to the 105 and 115 series models. 

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But the historical links don’t end there. Each of the current model’s powertrains is named after its metric horsepower output, with the lower-powered version badged 156, which coincidentally is the number applied to Alfa Romeo’s eye-catching saloon of the late nineties. 

While the naming harks back to the past, the Junior is Alfa’s first full EV, and it shares its running gear with other Stellantis products such as the Vauxhall Mokka Electric, Fiat 600e, Peugeot E-2008 and Jeep Avenger. With prices starting from around £34,000, it’s at a similar level to those models, so it needs some unique Alfa Romeo character traits to stand out.

Above the base model there are Speciale and Veloce versions that are roughly £2,000 and £8,500 more than the standard car. The Speciale comes with additional kit, while the Veloce also has more power, swapping the 154bhp electric motor for a 276bhp unit. All cars are front-wheel drive.

If those prices are a little off-putting, there will be a Junior Ibrida – hybrid in English – that joins the line-up in 2025. This should help bring the starting price down, and with the hybrid version of the Jeep Avenger starting at £26,000, expect the Alfa version to be in a similar ballpark.

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As standard, the Junior range comes with the familiar Stellantis EV powertrain, which uses a front-mounted motor producing 154bhp and 265Nm of torque. Some modern EVs have caused us to rein in our expectations of performance in this segment. On paper, the nine seconds it takes for the Junior to cover the 0-62mph dash is behind plenty of the competition, but in reality it’s more than enough for the average compact SUV buyer. 

Even if you do yearn for a little more performance, though, Alfa Romeo has you covered. The Veloce model ups the ante with 276bhp on tap, which is enough to slash that 0-62mph benchmark to just 5.9 seconds. That’s a full 0.5 seconds quicker than the MINI Aceman John Cooper Works can achieve.

The Junior isn’t outstanding to drive, but it’s perhaps a reflection of so many mediocre rivals that it still ranks towards the top of the class when it comes to the compromise between ride and handling. When you step inside, one of the first things you notice is the Junior’s small steering wheel. It’s not quite as minuscule as the one used in Peugeot’s i-Cockpit set-up, but it’s an immediate indication of the Junior’s sportier personality. It’s also easy to get comfortable, with a low-slung driving position.

Around town there’s an underlying firmness to the Junior’s ride, but rather than being unnecessarily harsh, as with the MINI Aceman, it’s just enough to feel appropriate for a car built by a sporting brand such as Alfa Romeo. The throttle pedal is fairly smooth and easy to modulate, but we’re not fans of the brakes. The left pedal’s action is soft and spongy; while overall stopping power was fine, it still didn’t leave us with very much confidence.

For the most part, the Junior is a car that can settle into a pleasing flow along a back road, rather than one that you’ll relish taking for a Sunday morning blast. The steering is precise and well weighted, and its response isn’t quite as sharp as its bigger rangemates, the Giulia and the Stelvio; and this seems appropriate for how the chassis responds. 

The Junior is still hefty for a small car, but is lighter than many other of its electric rivals, so although the Alfa Romeo doesn’t feel agile as such, it’s certainly not as flat-footed as some of the competition.

At motorway speeds the ride settles down nicely, and the Junior is a fairly composed and capable car on a long-distance cruise. Overall road noise isn’t much more audible than in the likes of the MINI Aceman, and most of the sound that can be heard seems to be more prominent from the rear axle than the front.

If you want real excitement, the Junior Veloce is the model to go for. It features a 276bhp electric motor and a Torsen mechanical limited-slip differential (inspired by the one on the mid-2000s Alfa Romeo 147 Q2, no less) to help get power to the road. While rivals such as the Smart #3 and MG4 provide some rear-driven fun that feels like a happy accident, the Junior Veloce drives much more in the manner of a serious, traditional front-wheel-drive hot hatch.

Alfa Romeo says there’s perfect weight balance in the Junior Veloce, although during our drive it felt incredibly grippy at the front, with the ability to cock an inside rear wheel at will. The differential is noticeable, too, dragging the Veloce out of tight corners without a hint of understeer. In the twisty stuff, the relatively low kerbweight of 1,560kg means the Junior can be chucked around with rapid steering inputs and still maintain composure. 

The electric motor’s output in the Junior Veloce is pretty substantial, too, producing 276bhp and 345Nm of torque for a 0-62mph time of 5.9 seconds. It feels accessible, though, and the augmented engine sound really helps to enhance the experience; Alfa has done a great job here, making it not too intrusive and familiar enough to keep you engaged.

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While the electric motor and the battery in the Junior Elettrica have been used in other Stellantis products, Alfa Romeo has made its car lighter than its competitors at 1,560kg (1,545kg in Veloce form), to endow it with some impressive efficiency figures. 

We tested a Junior during a cold period that, when combined with plenty of motorway mileage, wasn’t the most beneficial for an electric vehicle’s range. So even with the help of its standard-fit heat pump, we can suggest that the 3.6 miles/kWh we achieved isn’t a particularly flattering reflection of what Alfa Romeo’s first EV can manage. 

We ran a mechanically similar Peugeot E-2008 on our long-term test fleet, and have averaged 4.1mi/kWh in warmer and more urban conditions. Even so, that figure for the Peugeot throws up a real-world range of 209 miles, which still isn’t outstanding and is some way short of the official 255-mile claim. 

For roughly £1,000 less than the base Junior, the Kia EV3 offers a marginally better range, but for the price of this mid-spec Speciale trim, the EV3’s range climbs to 372 miles – a number which, even in poor weather, gets close to 300 miles in the real world.

The Kia is quicker to charge, too. Although its 128kW maximum rate isn’t exactly outstanding, the figure still comfortably beats the Alfa (100kW), which itself is slightly quicker than the MINI Aceman’s (95kW).

As standard, the Junior comes with an 11kW on-board charger, which will top up the car from zero to 100 per cent in just under six hours. A quicker charge is available, with 100kW DC charging able to replenish 20 to 100 per cent of the battery in 30 minutes. The battery is under a separate eight-year/100,000-mile warranty to the rest of the car. Alfa will also throw in a £1,000 wallbox from Ohme with an Octopus smart tariff for those customers who require a charger at home. 

Thanks to its low Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) rating, the Junior would make for an ideal company car. Even higher-rate income tax payers would face deductions of £428 for the 2025/26 financial year and £570 for the following period. Junior models fitted with the 154bhp electric motor sit in group 23 insurance, while the Veloce’s extra 81bhp places it in group 34.

Whichever version of the Junior you choose, it’s expected to maintain just over 52 per cent of its original value after three years or 36,000 miles. While that isn’t quite as strong as the MINI Aceman’s residuals, it’s still significantly better than many of the other small Stellantis electric vehicles that are almost identical to the Alfa Romeo under the skin. For example, the Jeep Avenger holds on to roughly 48 per cent, while the Peugeot E-2008 will retain just 36 or so per cent – an eye-watering loss of value in a relatively short space of time.

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Although the Junior uses a shared platform, Alfa Romeo has ensured its small SUV’s design is distinctive. There’s not much in the way of overhangs at either end, while a floating roof with a blacked-out rear pillar and the distinctive wheelarches help give it a sporty stance. A new form of Alfa’s ‘Scudetto’ shield appears on the Junior grille, and overall the front end looks aggressive, with angular, bold matrix LED headlights. The rear invokes the iconic ‘Kamm tail,’ a reference to the legendary Giulia TZ according to Alfa. Whether or not it’s a successful interpretation is down to personal preference, but it’s certainly eye-catching. 

The Elettrica gets 18-inch wheels as standard and in base ‘Core’ form, ‘Alfa Romeo’ script on the grille. The Veloce adds 20-inch wheels and, like the Elettrica Speciale, a different ‘Scudetto’ grille insert. Red brake calipers, red exterior trim accents and a black roof also feature on the Veloce. The Elettrica gets three metallic paint options and four ‘bi-tone’ paints which include the contrasting black roof. There's one special Brera red and two solid colours – white and black.

A sporty driving environment is exactly what we hoped for from the Junior, and it’s managed to deliver the goods. The red-and-black theme of the Junior’s cabin feels totally on-brand for Alfa Romeo, while the high centre console and driver-angled dashboard add a feeling of sportiness that few of its rivals can match. The steering wheel is as great to hold as it is to look at, and the subtly glowing Alfa Romeo logos in the round air vents are a neat touch. 

It’s just a shame that there are so many parts that have been clearly lifted from other Stellantis products; the starter button, driving modes switch and drive selector are easy to spot from any number of other Peugeots, Vauxhalls and Jeeps. Even the fonts haven’t changed; it’s something of a letdown in a cabin that otherwise feels fairly special.

Hard plastics feature a little more frequently inside the Junior than they do in rivals such as the MINI Aceman, but curved panels and material-trimmed sections mean that anyone coming to the car from a Giulia or Stelvio won’t feel short-changed.

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

The Junior breaks a long-time Alfa Romeo tradition of placing a pair of gorgeous, round analogue dials ahead of the driver by swapping them for a 10.25-inch digital driver’s display. It still sits beneath deep cowlings in the dash, though, and it’s even possible to mimic a classic instrument panel arrangement for a more authentic feel. 

What we don’t like so much is that the levels for the DNA drive modes are brighter than those for the DNR letters which denote Drive, Neutral and Reverse. During our low-speed manoeuvres, we occasionally read the wrong letters, which made us less certain about which gear we were in.

In contrast to the glitz and glamour of the MINI Aceman’s touchscreen, the Junior’s set-up is more understated, but most of the basics are good enough without being outstanding in any one area. 

From a purely ergonomic point of view, the system has one clear advantage over the MINI’s; the climate controls are adjusted by physical buttons below the screen. As in the Aceman, it’s fairly easy to adjust some driver-assist functions, which, by law, are engaged every time you restart the car.

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The Junior isn’t a class-leader when it comes to back-seat space, but the boot volume is above average among its competitors.

The front seats feel supportive and offer a wide range of adjustment, and the telescopic adjustment on the steering wheel lets the wheel come out very far, so it’s not hard to find a comfortable driving position. Over-the-shoulder visibility is a little compromised by the small side rear windows and thick C-pillars, and the high base of the back window line means that there’s not much to see when you look through the rear-view mirror, either.

When it comes to storage, there are some neat modular cup-holders in the large area between the front seats, while the door bins are a decent size. The position of a fuse box means that the glovebox is in effect halved in size with the transition from left to right-hand drive.

By the overall standards of the class, the Junior’s cabin space is a little compact. Kneeroom is reasonable with four adults on board, but headroom is a little tighter than in some rivals. It’s got the beating of the MINI Aceman, but if space for passengers in the back seats is a priority in an EV of this size, then an alternative such as the Smart #1 is a better bet.

A 400-litre boot is a little above the average for cars in this class, and that number expands to 1,265 litres with the rear bench folded down. A false floor allows users to either create one large storage area, or a smaller boot that has a flat loading area to the load bay opening with space underneath to store the car’s charging cables. Unlike some competitors, there’s no additional cable storage under the bonnet. 

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In the past few years, Alfa Romeo has emphatically refuted its stereotype for poor customer satisfaction, with scores in our Driver Power owner satisfaction survey ranking the brand well above the ratings of the German premium makers. 

While finishing 13th overall in the 2024 poll didn’t quite live up to the level of the superb fifth-place result the Italian manufacturer achieved a year before, it still ranked Alfa Romeo comfortably in the top half of the 32 brands surveyed.

As the Junior sits on the same platform as many other four-star Euro NCAP-rated EVs, we expect similar results when the Italian car undergoes its safety test. There’s some reassuring safety kit as standard, too, as you would likely expect for an EV in this area of the market. Adaptive cruise control, active lane assist and automatic emergency braking are all standard, while the Technology Pack – available as an option for all trim levels – adds level-two autonomous driving.

The Junior comes with a three-year warranty from new, plus 12 months of breakdown cover. Alfa’s standard warranty is also backed up by an eight-year package for the electric vehicle’s battery.

EVs have far fewer moving parts that require maintenance than a typical petrol or diesel internal-combustion-engined car, and Alfa Romeo is passing this benefit onto its customers through its current service plan. At around £100 for three years of maintenance, it looks like a bit of a bargain.

Alfa Romeo Junior alternatives

The small electric SUV segment is one that’s getting busier by the week. As well as established Stellantis models such as the Vauxhall Mokka Electric, Fiat 600e, Peugeot E-2008, Jeep Avenger EV and Citroen e-C4, there are rivals such as the Smart #1, BYD Atto 3, Hyundai Kona Electric, Kia Niro EV and MINI Aceman. 

Pricing for the Alfa Romeo base model is cheaper than with some of its Stellantis cousins, which is surprising given the slightly more premium nature of the marque. We think the Junior is one of the best options in the Stellantis stable, as well as the wider EV crossover market.