Alfa’s have always been cars with a heart. They exude a unique aura and panache. How can you translate this into an EV, where you have to miss the characteristic roar of a thoroughbred engine?

Well, the Alfa engineers and designers within the Stellantis family have found a bold answer: the Alfa Junior. The styling of the Junior is appealing, to say the least. Of course, it runs on the Stellantis Electric Common Modular Platform (e-CMP2), which it shares with virtually all the other brands of the group that are present in the B-Segment.

But the Centro Stile Alfa Romeo rolled up its sleeves, and treats your eyes with a new grille, displaying the restyled “Scudetto.” The 20 inch “Venti” alloys are also designed along the DNA of the house, the rear end shines with an aerodynamic “coda tronca”. The well-balanced muscular proportions please the eye.

The same can be said for the cabin: personally I would like to have more “vintage drama” in the instrumentation, with proper dials with “real”arrows, which are now easy to emulate digitally, but the “less is more” philosophy today has its rights these days.

What we liked is overall the dashboard styling and the use of alcantara on some panels. On the central console one now finds the familiar Stellantis selector switches, which Alfisti will find a bit regrettable, and maybe a small tricolore adorned aluminum Alfa lever would have been nice, but there you go.

The central screen is turned well to the driver and not too big and overwhelming, which I liked. Our test car had the beautiful optional “Corsa” bucket seats, made by Sabelt, which are yours when you opt for the Sport Pack. They add not only to the looks and atmosphere in the interior, they also sit wonderfully too…

“Stellar” performance.

Stellantis opted to install in the “Veloce” version of the Junior a 280 HP or 207 kW electric motor, which is also found in the Abarth 600e “Scorpionissma” and in the announced Peugeot e-208 GTI. The performance is nothing short of spectacular: 0 to 100 km/h is absolved in 5,9 seconds, top speed is limited to 200 km/h. The maximum torque is 345 Nm. Of course, in our tested version a limited slip differential allows you to get all this power seamlessly on the road.

Handling is absolutely beyond reproach: it has a widened track and stiffened anti-roll bars…

To enjoy all this, one has to use the “Dynamic” mode on the drive selector, which should be the permanent choice for the Alfa enthusiast.

If you drive with somewhat more restraint using this mode, and adopt an anticipative driving style, the regeneration function when coasting lets you achieve creditable values between 16 and 17 kWh in both city and open road use. Based on WLTP cycle, the consumption is quoted at 17,9 kW.
 

The 54 kW battery (51 kW net available power) gives you an adequate range, the manufacturer quotes – using the WLTP standard – a range between 325 – 315 km. We found a “safe” range of some 260 km more realistic. Hooked on a 100 kW charger, the Veloce will charge up from 20 to 80 % in 27 minutes. The time of a leisurely coffee break.  

The Veloce costs some 10.000 Euros more than the standard Junior Elettrica, and the “sport” version with set you back another 2.000 Euro’s, but then for true Alfa aficionados, love and passion has no price…

Hans Knol ten Bensel

Photographers’ notes: For this test, we used our Sony Alpha 5100 with the newly acquired Zeiss Vario-Tessar T E 16-70 mm f/4 ZA OSS and enjoyed the punch and sharpness of the legendary Zeiss lenses. The photos are also used in the reel on the Alfa Junior Veloce on my Instagram page autoprova.be.