Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida Review: Does What It Needs To, But Not Much More

When we drove the 276bhp electric Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce last year, we came away impressed. It was clear, though, that it was always going to be a niche prospect, not destined to claim some of the sales volume that Alfa’s been chasing for so long.

To try and do that, there’s a less powerful electric Junior available, but after umming and ahhing for a while about whether it would be sold with right-hand drive, Alfa’s done the sensible thing and brought the Junior Hybrid to the UK too. Sorry, the Junior Ibrida – that’s what Alfa officially calls it, a pronunciation that we’re sure British tongues won’t butcher.

As much as we love to bang on about stuff like the phenomenal Giulia Quadrifoglio, this is probably the most important car Alfa’s launched in Britain in years. Starting at £28,400, it’s the cheapest car in the brand’s range, and it’s a small hybrid crossover to boot, which should be a licence to print money.

That hybrid system is a very familiar one. Stellantis slots this combo of 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol three-cylinder, 48v battery and small gearbox-mounted electric motor into pretty much anything it’ll go in, and we’ve already tried it in the two cars the Junior shares the most with: the Fiat 600 and Jeep Avenger.

Like its siblings, the Junior gets the gutsiest version of the powertrain, producing peaks of 134bhp and 170lb ft, all sent to the front wheels via a six-speed dual-clutch auto. The official figures put the 0-62mph time at 8.9 seconds and top speed at 128mph.

To Alfa’s credit, though, it’s put decent effort into making the Junior feel different from its platform mates. You’ll have your own thoughts on the exterior styling. I wasn’t sold at first, but in person, its stubby ‘codatronca’ tail – an extremely tenuous link to the gorgeous Giulia TZ racer from the 1960s – and angry front end work nicely. We’d steer clear of the combo of beige-ish paint and black three-hole teledial wheels our test car came in, though.

The interior is a clear step up from other cars on this platform, though. Gone are the horrible and unresponsive gear selection buttons in favour of a much nicer switch in the centre console. The infotainment screen has been canted over in favour of the driver in a sweet if inconsequential nod to Alfas of yore. The materials are a marked improvement, too, although you can still find cheap, tinny plastics without looking too hard. Rivals like the Lexus LBX will comfortably show it up inside.

There are changes under the skin, too – nothing radical, but the suspension has been fettled and the throttle, brake and steering software recalibrated to try and inject the Junior Ibrida with some of the chassis excellence that can be found in cars like the Giulia.

Successful? Erm, sort of. It’s decent as cars like this go, and certainly more entertaining than its platform-mates. The damping is reasonably good at soaking up lumpy roads, the front end feels tight and eager, and those steering tweaks have given it a similar hyper-quick rack to bigger Alfas, which makes it feel impressively lithe and chuckable along a backroad.

It feels quicker than its figures suggest, too, as little hybrids like this often do – the extra assistance of the e-motor means there’s always a little more acceleration in reserve than you expect.

However, the Junior can’t hide its bones entirely. It leans quite a bit during committed cornering, there isn’t much steering feel and the braking can be tricky to modulate as it tries, often unsuccessfully, to manage a smooth handover between discs and regen.

The gearbox is often a weak link of this powertrain, and that’s no different here. Despite being a theoretically quicker-shifting dual-clutch, it’s often laggy in its responses, even if you take over matters yourself using the little plasticky paddles behind the steering wheel (they’re a small disappointment in themselves given the wonderful aluminium paddles you get in the Giulia, Stelvio and even the Tonale).

It’s certainly the best-driving combustion-engined car I’ve experienced on this platform, but it’s some way behind the electric Veloce. Among its combustion rivals, a Ford Puma is still going to be a more satisfying thing to drive.

It’s much the same story if you’re just trundling about sensibly – better than cars it shares a lot with, but still not class-leading. The ride is less liable to get jiggly than it is in the 600 or Avenger, and the engine’s less grumbly and coarse and the electric motor less droney than those cars. It’s as parsimonious as you’d expect a little hybrid to be, too, with 50mpg quite easily doable against the claimed 57.6 to 58.9.

But Alfa’s attempts to make the Junior Ibrida sweeter to drive when you’re pushing on can be an issue when you’re not. The quick steering and sensitive throttle pedal mean you’ll often find yourself lurching away from the lights or out of a parking space, turning your passengers into human versions of that dog from the Churchill ads. The steering does mean it’s nice and easy to thread around town, though.

It’s an adept enough motorway cruiser – reasonably quiet and with ample space and comfort up front, plus a good adaptive cruise control system. Anyone in the back for extended periods of time might have more to complain about, though – there’s not a huge amount of space back there, and the upswept rear window further contributes to an air of claustrophobia.

In many ways, then, the Junior Ibrida is the Alfa philosophy distilled: you get a slightly better drive than most rivals, but sacrifice some interior quality and practicality. If driving fun is your number one priority, though, you’re better off with the Veloce EV (which still feels like an odd sentence to type).

Ultimately, the Junior Ibrida isn’t going to go down in history as an all-time great Alfa. However, it’s decently equipped, stylish, and does a reasonable job of handling well on underpinnings that can often result in mediocrity. Well-priced, too – its £28,400 starting point lands it right around the same price as a mid-range mild hybrid Ford Puma, and that’s commendable for something with a lot more kerb appeal.

(That said, you can quickly start getting silly with options packs, including the £4100 Sport Pack that adds an excellent if wholly unnecessary pair of Sabelt bucket seats.)

Its biggest problem is that it arguably doesn’t do the everyday stuff exceptionally enough to recommend over most rivals, and doesn’t feel special enough to convince the Alfisti. But while we wouldn’t go out of our way to recommend it, we wouldn’t sigh at anyone who bought one either – it’s just sort of… fine.

While it might not be the car we want from Alfa, then, it could be the car the company needs if it’s to deliver equally stonking follow-ups to its Quadrifoglio models. It’s just a shame it doesn’t do a little more to stand out in a crowded category.