Should you buy one?

I can’t recommend the Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida in good faith. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased the brand is managing to stay relevant but, after being spoiled by the utterly masterful Giulia saloon, the Junior feels like an enormous disappointment.

Yes, the Junior might be the best-driving small SUV in the Stellantis stable, but that’s hardly a glowing endorsement. It’s nowhere near as joyful as the BMW X1, Ford Puma or MINI Countryman – and it’s certainly not the ‘driver’s car’ Alfa Romeo is marketing it as. It truly saddens me to see Alfa Romeo reduced to such derivative engineering under Stellantis.

I expect my inbox will soon be overwhelmed with hate mail for my meticulous dismantling of the Junior’s driving experience because, let’s face it, the segment isn’t exactly known for producing white-knuckle canyon carvers. But this is an Alfa Romeo. The way it gets down the road means everything. And the brand has missed the mark.

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The Giulia frames my argument perfectly. Alfa Romeo’s biggest rivals in the compact executive class consistently produce cars that are better built, more fuel efficient, more reliable and more practical. But the Giulia leaves them all trailing in its wake when you point its nose at a stretch of twisty Tarmac.

It’d be wrong of me to expect the same sort of world-beating performance from a small SUV cobbled together from a pallet of Peugeot parts, but it would have been nice if Alfa Romeo could have captured the essence of the Giulia. If the Junior was brilliant to drive, I’d have a reason to recommend it over the Ford Puma. But it isn’t – so, I can’t. Especially not when you compound its average dynamics with its cheap plastics and cramped cabin.

Shame. I’m a huge Alfa Romeo fan. I want the brand to succeed more than any other manufacturer, but I’m concerned about the path it’s heading down. If the Junior Ibrida’s job is to simply front the cash required to get the next-generation Giulia into showrooms, I think I can forgive it. But if it’s setting the blueprint for all Alfa’s future models, I’ve got good reason to be scared.

What we like

The Junior Ibrida drives far better than the Jeep Avenger and Fiat 600 – so, if you’re only looking within Stellantis, it’s your best option. It also has plenty of boot space and I love its optional Sabelt seats. Even if you do need to pay £4,000 extra to get them.

What we don’t like

The Junior doesn’t drive anywhere near as well as an Alfa Romeo should. It lacks the joy of the Ford Puma and MINI Countryman – and the experience is worsened by Stellantis’ dim-witted automatic gearbox and doughy accelerator calibration.

I was disappointed by the Junior’s interior, too. This is a supposed to be a premium motor, but the plastics are a bit Fisher Price, and the parts sharing is obvious and ill-fitting. An Alfa Romeo – a brand that trails only Ferrari and Maserati in the Italian automotive pecking order – should not share its gear selector and drive mode switch with a Citroen van.