Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida long-term test: report 4
Our chief photographer wanted an economical car that he'd enjoy racking up miles in, and that won't shirk a bit of hard work...
The car Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida Run by John Bradshaw, chief photographer
Why it’s here To find out if this small SUV is as practical and easy to live with as it is full of Italian brio
Needs to Be comfortable on motorway trips, entertaining on country roads, frugal everywhere and practical all the time
Mileage 5493 List price £33,295 Best Price £27,499 Price as tested £33,295 Official economy 57.6mpg Test economy 57.6mpg
30 October 2025 – Not my bag for practicality
My grandmother’s handbag used to be a source of endless fascination to me. It seemed to be of infinite capacity, containing, as it did, the resources to deal with any eventuality. There’d be tissues for runny noses, sticking plasters for grazed knees, Jelly Babies for when I’d been a good boy, and myriad other ‘just in case’ items. I wish my Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida was a bit more like that magical receptacle.
True, by the standards of the small SUV class, the Junior’s boot is a decent size, at 416 litres, and it will – as our reviews team discovered – swallow three carry-on holiday suitcases easily enough. But when you swap those cases for inconveniently shaped camera gear, I struggle to make things fit.
In its highest position, the adjustable false floor does away with the lip at the boot entrance, as well as levelling the extended load area out when the rear seats are folded down. Alternatively, dropping the floor down liberates a bit of additional luggage space, but since the floor itself accounts for an inch or so of potential extra boot depth, I’ve exiled it to the safety of my garage.
With this done, the boot takes much of the gear I use on a typical day, including my tripods and stands, cleaning stuff and the camera bag itself. That’s good, but the Skoda Kamiq I ran recently – another small SUV – made everything more accessible; I’m more likely to have to disgorge things from the Junior’s boot (not great news when it’s drizzly out) to get to what I need than was the case with the Kamiq.
My stepladder, meanwhile, could just about go in the Kamiq’s boot, on top of everything else. In the Junior, it’s relegated to the back seat, along with my bag of flashgun equipment, ruling out anybody travelling in the back of my car en route to a shoot.
That said, most of the What Car? reviews team are on the tall side, and they wouldn’t want to sit in the back of the Junior for very long anyway; with the driving seat set for me, the seat behind is really best suited to kids. As, in hindsight, were the contents of Granny’s handbag.
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