Alfa Romeo Junior: Shame about the name

What is it?

Junior is a replacement for the Mito and Giulietta hatches.

And while the small crossover adds an interesting dimension to Alfa’s growing SUV lineup, they can keep the name.

Initially called Milano, parent company Stellantis opted to change the name after the Italian Government objected.

It argued that it was illegal to sell “Italian-sounding” products that were not produced in Italy and sure enough Junior is built in Tychy, Poland.

Don’t know how they came up with Junior, but it just sounds so American and right now that’s probably not a good thing in the current political climate.

A replacement for Mito and Giulietta, the crossover is available in hybrid and fully electric form — Ibrida and Electtrica — and shares a platform with the Fiat 600 and Jeep Avenger, as well as the Peugeot 2008.

What’s it cost?

Junior comes in two flavours: hybrid Ibrida and fully-electric Electtrica, priced from $45,900 and $57,900 respectively — plus on-road costs.

All colours except white add $1990, with the only option a sunroof at $1990.

From the stitching on the seats to the placement of controls, every detail reflects Alfa’s dedication to creating a vehicle that is not only beautiful, but also a joy to drive.

Standard features include 18-inch alloys, two-tone paint, gloss black body kit, “Spiga” seats trimmed in a combination of cloth and artificial leather with red finishes, single-zone climate air (no rear vents), heated front seats, with massage and power adjustment for the driver, leather steering wheel, aluminium pedals and door sills plus eight-colour ambient interior lighting.

Other features include LED matrix headlights, LED tail lights, active park assist, adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, auto high beam, auto lights and wipers, frame-less auto-dimming rear view mirror, front, side and rear parking sensors, plus a hands-free power tailgate.

Infotainment consists of a 10.25-inch inset touchscreen, with another 10.25-inch screen for the stylised “cannocchiale” instrument cluster.

There’s also Bluetooth, voice control, AM/FM and DAB + digital radio, wireless CarPlay and Android Auto and six-speaker sound.

Though not branded, the latter is actually quite good.

A wireless charge pad carries the “Biscione” logo, with front USB A and C Ports and another rear USB-C port plus Alfa Connected Services.

Junior has not been rated for crash safety yet by the ANCAP organisation.

However it offers an array of driving assistance features, including six airbags, automatic emergency braking and Level 2 autonomous driving.

Autonomous Emergency Brake Control with Vulnerable Road User Detection (Pedestrian & Cyclist Detection).

There’s also blind Spot Monitoring, Intelligent Speed Control with Traffic Sign Recognition, Drowsy Driver Alert,  Lane Keeping Assist, Traffic Jam Assist, 360-degree parking sensors with Active Park Assist and 180-degree rear camera.

We’ll update our safety rating after the car has been tested.

The Alfa Romeo Junior is backed by a 5-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, with 5-year roadside assistance.

What’s it go like?

At a compact 4.17m in length, it includes several links to Alfa Romeo heritage.

An updated version of the triangular grille is accentuated by a black grille with Alfa Romeo signature in acrylic, paying homage to the Alfa Romeo sports cars of the 1920s and ’30s.

The protruding front number plate mount attracts plenty of comment and is obviously an add-on for countries like ours that require a front plate to be displayed.

Inside the driver-centric design delivers a unique and sporty driving experience. 

However, there’s plenty of cheap plastic to be found in the cabin if you go looking and the cupholders in the doors will not accommodate sports bottles, but the centre console with sliding lid hides a surprising amount of storage.

There’s no door pockets at all in the back, rear legroom is severely limited depending on placement of the front seats and the cheap plastic hinge used for the parcel shelf over the luggage pulled free, suggesting a limited service life.

We also cut the back of our hand on the driver seat mount while trying to remove the front mat from the foot well.

The 10.25-inch instrument cluster and its historical “cannocchiale” (telescope) design adds to the drama of the drive experience.

But we found it difficult to find a happy balance between front legroom and distance to the steering wheel — it’s one of the other.

Inset in the dashboard and tilted towards the driver, a slick 10.25-inch infotainment display can be customised via quick and easy drag and drop, but was difficult to back out of some menus.

The team that worked on the ride and handling was the same as the one that developed the Giulia GTA.

The target was best-in-class road holding, with direct steering calibrated to be extremely precise, to enhance road holding.

How’d they do?

Evaluating the performance of a car without first checking out the specs is an interesting proposition, a bit like tasting wines blindfolded.

Without knowing what’s lurking under the bonnet, you tend to avoid bias and expectations of any kind.

For instance, if you know it’s a V8, you tend to expect big things.

On the other hand, a small three-pot is liable to be greeted with derision by a driver, resigned to the fact the drive experience isn’t going to be much fun.

As it turned out the Ibrida happens to be plenty fun, despite its diminutive 1.2-litre three cylinder engine — or 1200cc in motorcycle speak.

Helping to turn things around is a variable turbocharger plus further assistance from a battery and small electric motor.

The self-charging mild hybrid features a 1.2-litre three-cylinder Miller cycle engine with variable-geometry turbo and distribution chain for maximum reliability, together with a 48-volt lithium-ion battery and 21kW electric motor.

Producing 107kW of power and 230Nm of torque, drive is to the front wheels through a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

The dash from 0-100km/h takes some 8.9 seconds and it has a top speed of 206km/h — around the same figures as our first generation Swift GTI (it too was fun).

It’s also a tenth quicker than the Elettrica version.

With a 44-litre tank, fuel consumption is a claimed 4.1L/100km (WLTP) and it takes 95 premium unleaded.

Under hard acceleration the raspy note from the petrol engine quickly confirms its three cylinder status.

While powering into our first corner under brakes was also enlightening.

They’ve taken the time to set it up right because the Junior is clearly no run of the mill shopping trolley.

At the same time compact dimensions and basic torsion beam rear suspension see the car become unsettled on secondary roads, with some skipping evident in corners.

In stark contrast Ibrida offers a smooth driving experience around town, with the option of pure electric mode if required.

This is possible not only during parking manoeuvres or at low speeds in urban areas, but also out of town with a limited load at highway speeds.

The electric motor provides additional power when needed and regenerates energy during braking phases.

As with most twin-clutch transmissions, it occasionally becomes confused, especially in stop-and-go city traffic.

DNA drive mode provides Dynamic, Natural and Advanced Efficiency options with specific steering and accelerator calibration for different scenarios — in other words Sport, Normal and Eco.

Advanced Efficiency is calibrated for maximum energy efficiency by reducing consumption without affecting driving pleasure, but unfortunately the system defaults to Natural.

We were getting 5.5L/100km after just over 670km of mixed driving at an average 62km/h, including a return trip down the coast — highway driving does not generally favour hybrids.

Interestingly, however, the long-term average at a much slower 39km/h was 6.7L/100km, even though it must have included more city driving.

Luggage space is a generous 415 litres with both seat backs raised.

A tyre repair kit is standard.

What we like?

• Heritage
• Eye-catching
• Perky performance
• Low fuel consumption

What we don’t like?

• Driver side blindspot
• Auto handbrake hit and miss
• Usual dual clutch irregularities
• Hard to back out of touchscreen menus

The bottom line?

Much better than Mito, the Junior is a little trier.

It goes hard, doesn’t use much fuel and is relatively cheap to buy.

As such it is likely to hip, young up and coming professionals with money on their hands and an apartment in the city.

Old folks could well find the Junior an appealing runaround too and for all the same reasons — shame about the name.

You’d think “Minore” or “Giovane” which basically mean the same thing might have been a better option. Si?

 

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