Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida long-term test
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 10,300 List price £33,295 Target Price £27,499 Price as tested £33,295 Dealer price now £28,768 Private price now £21,870 Official fuel consumption 57.6.mpg Test fuel consumption 47.1mpg Running costs (excluding depreciation) Petrol £1262
11 February 2026 – Arrivederci amico mio
Your fridge, your boiler, your internet router; they all live in the background, quietly doing their duty. With any luck, you can basically ignore them as long as they don’t start playing up. And if celebrating the same thing about my Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida sounds like I’m damning it with faint praise, it really isn’t.
During the closing months of every year, the focus of my work is our annual Car of the Year Awards. While my photographic duties elsewhere don’t dry up, I have to fit them around special, themed shoots for our dozens of award winners, with location and timing often not known until the last minute. The Junior never failed me; without a second thought, I could load it up and get to where I needed quickly, comfortably and efficiently. So, in keeping with this year’s theme, I thought the Junior deserved a light show of its own for its departing picture.
I’m going to miss the Junior. I started out by wondering whether it might have been a bit more about style than substance. I mean, it has quite a lot of the former, to the extent that I often felt rather too dowdy to be seen in it. And, of course, there was the question of whether it’s a real Alfa Romeo; it shares oily bits with the Vauxhall Mokka, and the British brand has very different associations from its Italian cousin within the Stellantis family. However, it works the other way, too; a Vauxhall has to appeal when it comes to everyday usability, and the Mokka passed that desirable trait to the Junior, which has been very easy to live with as well as great fun to drive.
For one thing, I enjoyed its compact dimensions. Combined with the excellent forwards visibility (thanks to a deep windscreen with narrow pillars), I can always judge where the Junior’s front corners are, and that makes tight urban channels a breeze to navigate. And while the view over my shoulder isn’t quite as hot due to the broad rear pillars, that’s overcome by the rear parking camera when I find myself in a tight spot.
The poor old Junior hasn’t exactly lived a life of glamour. In fact, such has been the cargo it’s typically carried, it served as more of a van than a car. My more valuable, fragile apparatus (cameras and lenses in their bags) always went in the boot, while my bulky tripods, reflectors and other awkwardly spindly bits and bobs typically went across the back seat. That, of course, turned it into a two-seater, but splitting the load like this made everything easily accessible.
In fact, though, I could see the Junior slotting into family life pretty easily; the boot is actually a good size (at 415 litres, it’s slightly bigger than that of the related Jeep Avenger, and a lot bigger than the Mokka’s). And while basketball players won’t be falling over themselves for a seat in the back, the Junior would be fine for a pair of children to travel until they’re deep into their teens.
And when I turn in my fuel expenses for every month’s photographic journeying, I’ve been struck by how sensible the numbers have been, and it all comes down to the Junior’s mild hybrid system, which helps the 1.2-litre petrol engine with some of the heavy lifting. In fact, it’s a win-win; not only has the Junior reliably returned 47mpg overall during my time with it, but the electric boost when pulling away makes it feel much more nippy than you might expect for such an economical car. In fact, not so long ago, its 8.9sec 0-62mph time wouldn’t have disgraced a hot hatch.
So what about costs, then? Well, my eyes watered a little when I found out how much a dealer would give me for my six month-old, 10,000-mile Junior – a little less than £20k. More than anything, though, this reminded me of the importance of haggling. Bear in mind that a big chunk of the price of my car was made up of options packs that I have no regrets at all in choosing – be sure that your trade-in offer reflects expensive and desirable options fitted. On visiting a dealership and looking at used Juniors to a similar spec as my own, I found that they’re marketed at closer to £29k.
Of course, that’s a decent saving over new, but you miss out on the chance of speccing to your own taste, and If I did that again with a Junior, I’d not make a single change. It's definitely not style over substance, then, more wholesome ingredients presented with panache.
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