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 7106 List price £33,295 Best Price £27,499 Price as tested £33,295 Official economy 57.6mpg Test economy 47.0mpg
20 November 2025 – Sipping, not guzzling
Who doesn’t like a good drink at the end of a long day’s work? Any professional photographer’s working day has to be flexible; I can end up waiting around for a gap in the weather, but as the hours trickle past, I’m driven on by the knowledge that there’s a bottle of Wye Valley Butty Bach – or a non-alcoholic alternative – waiting for me at home. My Alfa Romeo Ibrida, though, has impressed me with its relative abstinence from drink, despite how hard I work it.
Not that I’m a slave driver, you understand. Of the three drive modes that make up Alfa Romeo’s “DNA” system, I tend not to use Dynamic – the sportiest setting – day to day. For science, I tried it out at the beginning of my time with the car, and it does sharpen up its responses a bit if I’m in the mood for dancing, but I tend to keep the car in Advanced Efficiency mode most of the time. This is, in theory, the most economical setting, bringing earlier gearshifts to keep engine revs down, and generally promoting efficiency as its name suggests.
I’ve been keeping tabs on my fuel economy, measuring the miles between fill-ups and noting how much petrol was consumed between them. My calculations tell me that the Junior has so far averaged 45.5mpg over my time with it, and my real-world figures tell me that the car’s on-board computer is about 5% optimistic. My figures are also some way short of the 57.6mpg figure that the Junior officially returns.
I doubt, though, that any car manufacturer can accurately simulate the mix of journeys that I tend to take, and I don’t think 45.5mpg is at all bad, given how densely packed the boot always is – it’s not far behind what I achieved in the rather less sporty Skoda Kamiq (46.8mpg) that I ran last year. And I don’t exactly drive like Miss Daisy, nor am I overly aggressive, but I’ve got places to get to and there’s no point in hanging about. Given the Junior’s 44-litre fuel tank, that gives me a potential range of 441 miles between fill-ups – more than enough for a typical day on the road.
The Junior doesn’t make filling up quite as elegant as the Kamiq; the mechanism to hold the filler cap out of the way isn’t quite as well thought out. Other than that, I have no problem at all with my car’s drinking habits. Cheers to that.
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