Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida - long-term review

It’s always a good day when a new Alfa Romeo arrives at TG Towers, but does the old Clarkson claim that you can’t be a true petrolhead until you’ve owned one still ring true when said Alfa is a dinky little crossover? Or had that ship already sailed with the slightly dubious Giulietta and MiTo?

Of course, we don’t blame Alfa for going down the hatch on stilts route with its smallest offering. In 2025, eight out of the top 10 best-selling cars in the UK were crossovers, and two of those – the Nissan Juke and the top dog Ford Puma – could be considered direct rivals to the little Junior, even if the Alfa wants to be seen as a little bit posher than both.

Under the skin, the artist formerly known as the Milano is made from familiar bones, because it’s built on the same platform as all the other small Stellantis crossovers. Deep breath, that’s the Peugeot 2008, Vauxhall Mokka, Citroen C4, Jeep Avenger, Fiat 600 and DS 3. Yikes.

Like with all those close relatives, you can have an all-electric version of the Junior, but it’s the hybrid (sorry, Ibrida) that we have here. Just as fuel prices go completely bonkers once again. D’oh! Anyway, that means this thing is powered by a peppy 1.2-litre turbo three-cylinder, while a 48-volt system and a very small electric motor provide a token helping hand. Total output is 143bhp, and that’s sent through a six-speed DCT auto to the front wheels. Hardly a spiritual successor to the Busso-hearted 147 GTA, then.

Having had a quick glance at the configurator, I had hoped that ‘our’ Junior would be finished in Scala Ivory paint (essentially a fancy beige), because not only would that help to set it apart from the thousands of other crossovers on UK roads, but I also thought it would lean into the posh, slightly embiggened hatchback vibe. But actually, this supremely metallic Brera Red with its contrasting black roof looks wonderful. Especially when clean… which it remained for all of five minutes.

That exterior colour combo (at a punchy £1,500 extra) is the only option on this car, which is rather welcome because this top spec Sport Speciale trim starts at £34,200. Certainly not cheap. You could have an Audi Q2 or a Lexus LBX for less, while Peugeot’s top spec 2008 GT Premium (using exactly the same hybrid bits) is just over £33k.

The Sport Speciale trim does bring with it plenty of kit, though. It adds heated, Alcantara-trimmed seats inside, and there’s more of the soft stuff on the dashboard, centre console, door panels and steering wheel. There are also aluminium pedals and fancy ambient lighting, while all Juniors get twin 10.25in screens for infotainment and the dial display. On the outside you’re looking at a gloss black body kit, 18in diamond cut wheels and a traditional mesh grille with pre-war Alfa script. Nice.

Clearly the Junior’s styling – and its crossover shape – has been a bit of a hit with buyers, because since its launch in 2024 Alfa has taken over 60,000 orders in over 40 different markets. And yep, it arrived at a time when Alfa really needed a hit. In 2025, the Junior was the brand’s best-selling model and helped the company grow its worldwide registrations by more than 20 per cent when compared with the year before. In the UK that growth was a massive 80.1 per cent year-on-year.

Perhaps proper petrolheads are still feeling the need to buy an Alfa then, even if it is a small, sensible crossover. But is this one any good? We’ll aim to find out over the next six months…