Alfa Romeo Junior review

Is the Alfa Romeo Junior a good car?

Alfa Romeo has impressively injected a degree of flair into Stellantis’ widely-used e-CMP2 platform, resulting in an engaging small electric crossover. The electric powertrain might not appeal to diehard Alfa fans, but the steering, road-holding and overall playful nature of the Alfa Romeo Junior surely will. Throw in competitive range, useful practicality and an interesting design that sets it apart from its direct Stellantis siblings, and it’s a tempting choice in a crowded market. 

How much does the Alfa Romeo Junior cost?

Alfa Romeo’s first all-electric car, the Junior, marks a significant step for the Italian marque. As a small, crossover-sized EV, the Junior has plenty of rivals – not least from Alfa Romeo’s sister brands under the Stellantis umbrella, including the Vauxhall Mokka Electric, Fiat 600e, Peugeot E-2008 and Jeep Avenger EV.

As the entry-level model in Alfa Romeo’s line-up, the firm claims the Junior should appeal to traditional buyers of the old Giulietta and even the Mito supermini. It cites three pillars that define the Junior’s character – ‘everyday driving’, ‘efficiency’ and ‘fun’.  

The all-electric Junior is available to order now, but there’s a hybrid ‘Ibrida’ version coming in mid-2025 as well, utilising the same 136bhp mild-hybrid set up found in a swathe of Stellantis products. 

Despite the Alfa Romeo badge, the Junior EV is keenly priced. It starts from just under £34,000 in Elettrica form, rising to around £35,700 for the Elettrica Speciale. Beyond this is the sportier, more powerful 280 Veloce from just over £42,000. 

Regardless of powertrain, the Junior is available with a choice of three trim packs. The ‘Technology Pack’ brings matrix-LED headlights, a wireless smartphone charger, and a powered tailgate with gesture control and navigation, while the ‘Premium Pack’ gets an uprated interior finish, and electric adjustment and a massaging function on the driver’s seat. The ‘Sport Pack’, meanwhile, delivers exterior styling tweaks, plus some glorious Sabelt sports seats and Alcantara upholstery.

The Junior Elettrica Speciale is considered to be the ‘launch edition’. It mixes many of the key elements from the three packs, featuring red paint and 18-inch alloy wheels, plus a unique upholstery finish, a leather-covered steering wheel, eight-colour ambient lighting and keyless entry and start.

Every Junior gets the same 10.25-inch central touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, plus another 10.25-inch driver display. There’s also a heat pump, a Mode 3 charging cable and 11kW on-board charger as standard. 

Pricing for the Ibrida hybrid version of the Junior has yet to be announced, but we expect a starting figure roughly equivalent to the similarly powered Jeep Avenger, at around £26,000.

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Alfa Romeo claims the Junior is the best car in its class to drive, although it sits on the same e-CMP2 platform as many other Stellantis EVs. In order to back up those claims, Alfa has been extremely thorough in its development of the Junior’s chassis, reworking the suspension, brakes and overall driving dynamics from its sibling models to ensure it delivers the required amount of fun behind the wheel. 

In the Elettrica, there’s a 154bhp electric motor on the front axle with power supplied by a 54kWh battery, as is the case with the Vauxhall Mokka Electric and Peugeot E-2008. Straight-line performance is almost identical to its rivals, with 0-62mph taking nine seconds, and in this regard the Alfa’s grunt feels perfectly acceptable for a small SUV. The electric motor is responsive, and continues to be so at higher speeds.

When you step inside the Junior, one of the first things you notice is the small steering wheel. It’s not quite as minuscule as 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.

The drive is genuinely engaging. There’s a little harshness in the suspension compared with its siblings, most notably around town, although it manages to skip over larger potholes and bumps at speed. The flipside of this is the surprisingly taut chassis. The steering is quick, and while there’s a slight delay from the front end, the Junior telegraphs its intentions well in advance. Body roll is also very well controlled, and the brakes have a nice enough feel, too. 

If you want real excitement, the Junior Veloce is the model to go for. It features a 276bhp electric motor that is currently unique to the Alfa Romeo, along with a similarly bespoke Torsen mechanical limited slip differential (inspired by the one on the mid-2000s Alfa Romeo 147 Q2, no less). 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. 

The excellent four-piston brakes in the Veloce are also bespoke to the car, and as standard it comes on eye-catching 20-inch four-spoke wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tyres. 

In both guises, it’s clear that Alfa has created something much more sporty than other Stellantis models on this platform (at least until the Abarth 600e arrives). Road noise is a little higher as a result, and there’s a noticeably firmer ride, but given the improvements to the overall driving dynamics, these are minor criticisms, especially given the badge at the front.  

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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 in its competitors at 1,560kg (1,545kg in Veloce form), to endow it with some impressive efficiency figures. 

The Junior Elettrica offers up to 255 miles of range and thanks to its standard-fit heat pump, this figure should be pretty realistic all year round. The Peugeot E-2008 and Jeep Avenger EV use the same battery and are a similar size, yet they return 250 and 248 miles respectively. The Hyundai Kona Electric comes with 234 miles for similar money to the base Junior, although there is a Kona with a larger battery (and higher price) that can return 282 miles. Despite being lighter, the more powerful Veloce comes with a 208-mile range – with a bigger battery and greater range, it would almost certainly be less enjoyable to drive.  

Alfa Romeo expects the Junior’s residual values to be strong, and with tried and tested technology and a premium badge, it should perform just as well as its close rivals in this area. 

As standard, the Junior comes with an 11kW on-board charger, which will top up the car from zero to 100 per cent in five hours, 45 minutes. A quicker charge is available, thankfully, with 100kW 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. 

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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 colour and two ‘solid’ colours – white and black. 

Inside the Junior, you might notice several switchgear items taken from other Stellantis models. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, because we like the physical buttons used for the bank of climate and radio controls beneath the touchscreen, and the buttons on the steering wheel. But the gear selector and drive mode selector for the Junior’s ‘DNA’ system also see service in other Stellantis cars, which dampens the mood slightly. 

Interior quality is pretty good in the Junior. There are a few swathes of scratchy plastic on the doors and dotted around the cabin, but crucially all the frequently used areas feel sturdy and premium enough for the segment. 

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

The two 10.25-inch screens look well-suited to the Junior’s cabin and, more importantly, we found they worked perfectly too. Alfa’s latest infotainment system is fitted, and provides an easy-to-understand layout that also looks classy. The system itself is responsive to inputs and we never found ourselves repeating a command. But the placement of the central touchscreen is a little low in the dash, with Alfa Romeo prioritising a main menu selection of shortcut buttons above it. 

In front of the driver, the other 10.25-inch display has a clear readout, although it’s not particularly configurable.  

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The Alfa Romeo Junior is lower than the Hyundai Kona Electric and Kia EV3, but perhaps surprisingly it’s taller than its Peugeot E-2008 and Jeep Avenger EV siblings – despite its sporty aspirations. You get plenty of headroom in the Alfa as a result, up front and in the back, and legroom is decent, too. Tall adults will be pretty happy in the back of the Junior.

You don’t get a traditional SUV-style driving position either, which is definitely a bonus in something meant to provide some driving fun. We’d like a little more adjustment in the telescopic steering column, but most will be able to get perfectly comfortable in the Junior. That’s with the standard car’s seats, too, although the wonderful Sabelt seats of the Veloce both look the part and do a great job of holding you in. We wouldn’t be surprised to see a few Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio owners researching the possibility of a retro-fit. 

Overall visibility is pretty good, with a low-rise bonnet and low window line. The A-pillars are a little thick, though, especially with the in-built speaker sticking out. A wide rear pillar isn’t too helpful either.

With a boot space of 400 litres, the Alfa Romeo Junior is about average for its class. The Peugeot E-2008 offers 434 litres, while the Jeep Avenger EV can only muster 355 litres. The Hyundai Kona Electric and the upcoming Kia EV3 are a bit more spacious at 466 and 460 litres respectively. The capacity can rise to 1,265 litres with the rear bench folded, which can do so only in 40:60 configuration. There’s a bit of a load lip to the boot and while the opening is nice and square, it’s not the widest. An automated electric bootlid is standard on the Speciale version. 

Cabin storage isn’t especially generous in the Junior, with a very small opening under the centre console and some shallow door bins.

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As it sits on the same platform as many other five-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 on the Alfa Romeo Junior, as expected 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’ adds level two autonomous driving.

The Junior is too new to feature in our Driver Power ownership survey, although Alfa Romeo itself did score well in the ranking of manufacturers. The Italian brand came 13th out of 32, with ‘Acceleration, steering and road handling’ unsurprisingly one of its top-performing sectors. Reliability didn’t fare too well, though, with Alfa dead last in 32nd in this area.

During our time with the Junior, we found the interior to be well screwed together and the usage of proven technology from the wider Stellantis group should help reliability..

Alfa Romeo Junior alternatives

There are lots of rivals to the Alfa Romeo Junior, as more and more manufacturers look to gain a slice of the all-electric crossover segment. The Vauxhall Mokka Electric, Fiat 600e, Peugeot E-2008, Jeep Avenger EV and Citroen e-C4 are all close alternatives from parent company Stellantis, while further afield there’s the Smart #1, BYD Atto 3, Hyundai Kona Electric, Kia Niro EV and upcoming 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.