Alfa Romeo Junior review

If you’ve experienced any of the Junior’s Stellantis siblings you’ll feel right at home in here, and that’s probably not a compliment for Alfa Romeo. This is a company with foundations built on style and design, so reheated Peugeot bits don’t really cut it. Even using one of the old Alfa DNA switches for the drive modes would have given the interior a bit more character.

As it is, the base model Junior is dominated by hard scratchy plastics and a dual screen setup with a 10.25-inch TFT dial display and another 10.25-inch touchscreen for all of your infotainment needs. The driver's display is reconfigurable, set within a pair of Alfa-traditional arched shrouds to keep the sun off.

The centre screen isn't all that remarkable in its size and graphics, but it can be set with various layouts. It's a little slow to react to your inputs though, and it’s a shame the home button is in such an unnatural spot. Plus, we wouldn’t mind a helpful little ‘back’ button somewhere just in the corner of the screen.

Hard-key shortcuts do take you to the driver-assist screen (which itself can include more shortcuts) and we’re pleased to see that the climate functions you'll use most often still get proper buttons underneath the screen. Again, nothing that noteworthy though, and you’ll recognise all the bits from elsewhere in the megacorp. Meh.

What about interior space?

Because the Junior's floor is shaped to accommodate an exhaust pipe underneath, even this electric version isn't over-endowed with storage space between the front seats.

The boot's not a bad size at 400 litres, and you can use all of that if you pay £325 for the supremely handy charging cable storage solution that gives you a little nest to tuck your cable away under the bonnet. It’s no frunk, but that’s definitely a box we would be ticking.

Space in the rear isn’t fantastic. There’s plenty of headroom but in the standard car we struggled for legroom (sat behind a 6ft1 driver). The Veloce improves this though because its front seats are magnificently over-specified semi-race buckets. They adjust electrically, and ventilate the small of your back with two biggish holes right through the structure. Which means the kids behind can tickle you right in the kidneys.

Sensibly though, they aren't too bulky at the hinge point, so people in the back can tuck their feet and ankles underneath. This means it's still habitable for adults in the back, even though the Junior has the platform's shorter wheelbase (as per the Mokka) not the longer one (as per the e-2008).

Tell me more about the Veloce…

On the Veloce, a band of Alcantara runs across the dash, another on the doors and more on the centre console and steering wheel. It clads the seats too. But pretty well everywhere else is textured hard plastic. There's lots of red stitching, which we all know is worth a second per lap.

We like the ‘engine noise’ that Alfa has come up with to pump through the speakers: it’s the same in every mode and isn’t so loud that it’s off-putting. It’s one of the few we’d keep on if running a Junior long-term.