Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce: long-term test
Final report: As our time with sleek EV ends, we find surprising common ground with an Italian icon
Verdict
Buying an Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce is definitely a case of the heart ruling the head, and the main sticking point is the top-spec Veloce’s high price. However, if you can overlook that and don’t need something with a long range, this stylish electric car is genuinely enjoyable to drive and offers a compelling package, especially for those prioritising personality and engagement over practicality.
- Mileage: 5,383 miles
- Efficiency: 3.3mi/kWh
It’s time to say goodbye to our Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce – and during our six months with the car, we couldn’t help but draw some parallels with my husband Dave’s Vespa. Both vehicles ooze Italian charm and although the Junior’s design isn’t as iconic as the Vespa’s, which has barely changed in 60 years, it certainly draws on Alfa’s heritage.
The rear end reminds Dave of an Alfasud his Dad owned in the late seventies, while the headlamps and Scudetto shield both reimagine past designs, as do the striking diamond-cut 20-inch alloy wheels, which incorporate the famous circular motif. More than a few times over the past months we’ve been parked up, and when other EVs have driven past, they’ve only highlighted the looks and presence of the Alfa, which stands out from the crowd without trying too hard.
I tend to go for a run to clear my head, but Dave’s first choice is to jump on his Vespa to blow the cobwebs away and bring a smile to his face. He hasn’t been able to take it out much this year, given the incessant rain, but fortunately the Junior is also designed to be fun to drive – and although it can’t give the same sense of freedom on open roads as a scooter, it can bring a smile to your face.
The steering is light and precise, the car feels agile and stable in corners, and when you put your foot down, the response is immediate and it genuinely does feel like a hot hatch. When you can drive the car the way it’s designed for, the ride is easy to forgive – it’s definitely on the firm side and you can feel the bumps on uneven road surfaces.
If you do take the car out for fun, you can virtually guarantee it’ll need charging when you’ve finished. Even with us driving more conservatively, our average has dropped from 3.6 to 3.3mi/kWh, although to be fair, a lower figure is inevitable over the winter months.
Our longest regular journey is the 100-mile trip between the south coast and London, which should be easy even starting with 80 per cent charge – and usually is. But on one trip when the weather was particularly bad, we needed a short stop to top up the battery en route to be sure of getting home, despite the car’s official range of 208 miles. Less powerful models have an official 255 miles.
To maximise range, we try not to use the heating too much; it mainly gets switched on to clear the windscreen or if our feet are just too cold. The heated seats are a great option and while there are no physical buttons for them, they are easy enough to turn on. A shortcut button below the touchscreen takes you directly to the climate controls, meaning you don’t have to delve through sub-menus.
The elephant in the room is the car’s cost. Alfa is a premium brand, so its models are priced accordingly. Although the Junior kicks off from £34,000, the top-spec Veloce with 276bhp versus 154bhp in the regular models, costs £42,305 and ours added £6,300 of extras. The Sport Pack is excellent, and the Sablet seats almost justify the cost on their own; as well as elevating the feel of the cabin, they have proven extremely comfortable.
The Technology Pack is also full of things I would probably miss if they weren’t there, but one thing I would forego is the sunroof. When the car arrived in August last year, I was excited to use it, but I’ve probably only had it open two or three times since, the main drawback being the noise it causes.
Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce: final report
The Junior’s boot has been able to manage the luggage for most of our trips, but adding an extra family member throws a spanner in the works
For the majority of the time, it’s just my husband and I that travel in our Junior, and the boot swallows our bags easily enough when we’ve been on trips. But we had our granddaughter to stay for a few days and with the boot full of everyone’s luggage, we had to load the back seats up with her car seat, small fold-out bed and buggy. It all fitted in well enough, and although I had to move my seat forward a bit, it was still comfortable for the 100-mile trip.
Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce: second fleetwatch
Without a home wallbox, we’re thankful at just how far the public charging network has come
Without home charging, we are dependent on the public network, which is so much better locally than it used to be. Most are fast chargers and we tend to top up before and after a long trip, but we were going out for the day and knew the car would be parked up for a couple of hours so we opted for the slow charger so as not to hog a fast one. We didn’t get near to 80 per cent, but we got from seven per cent to 58 per cent, giving us 121 miles of range for £11.66, reminding us it’s a good option when we have time.
Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce: second report
A long weekend away laid bare the Alfa Romeo Junior’s good bits and not-so-good bits
- Mileage: 3,159 miles
- Efficiency: 3.6mi/kWh
My husband and I recently booked a weekend break in Bristol and of course, using the pure-electric Alfa Romeo Junior meant slightly different preparations than if I’d been running a petrol or diesel car. That difference is exacerbated because we can’t charge the car at home, and therefore spend quite a bit of time at public charge points. Luckily, there are a few different options near our flat, and there is normally at least one charger available of the four MFG units at the local garage.
The fact we were using the Alfa also influenced our choice of route. We had two options: one cross country and the other via the A34 and M4. Both took around the same time but the first was approximately 76 miles while the second was around 130. For us, in an electric car with a range of around 200 miles, the shorter option was better.
We set off with the instrument cluster showing a range of 133 miles, so range anxiety wasn’t too bad, but we haven’t had the Alfa that long, so are yet to trust its predictions fully. My husband tends to do the driving on long journeys and is a fan of the efficiency driving mode. This adds a few miles to the range, and he says it isn’t at the expense of the driving experience.
The weather certainly wasn’t on our side, with the heavy rain meaning the wipers were in fairly constant use. We also opened the windows slightly to clear misting, in a bid to avoid using the heating or air-conditioning system.
Something else that felt like it was intended to stymie our journey was a road closure, and subsequent seven-mile detour. We blamed Google Maps, which we tend to use through Apple CarPlay, because not only did it fail to mention the closure in the first place, but it also kept trying to reroute us back there as we followed the diversion. Not ideal.
Nevertheless, we made it to our destination with 18 miles of range left. That was around 30 miles short of the car’s initial estimate, but not overly stressful. After a few lovely days, it was time to head home all too soon.
On the way back we visited the Clifton Suspension Bridge, so ended up using a slightly different route to get home. What a difference – the sun was shining, there wasn’t much traffic and the car came into its own on the twisty B-road sections. This is what the Veloce version of the Junior is made for – it handles really well and feels so at home through the bends. And when we did encounter a slow-moving vehicle on the country roads, the Alfa’s quick acceleration made it easy to pass them; it was nice to forget about range and enjoy the drive – or passenger ride in my case.
The car isn’t perfect, though. The front door pockets aren’t the most practical, and my water bottle won’t fit in them. The good news is that it does fit in the centre console easily enough, and while it sitting in that position in cars with manual gearboxes tends to annoy my husband, there’s no such issue in the Alfa EV, which has no gears. Even so, my bottle sits back out of the way in the Junior’s centre console anyway.
The dashboard also features a wireless smartphone charger, although we tend to use it fairly rarely; we usually charge our phones using a cable from one of the USB sockets, which tend to charge phones more quickly and without any overheating issues. The other benefit is that the space is handy for our essential travel sweets!
Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce: first fleetwatch
The Junior’s 400-litre boot made light work of a huge supermarket shop
When we do our normal supermarket shop, we never worry about whether it’s going to fit in the boot of our Alfa Romeo Junior. But with a couple of new storage baskets and extra shopping for visitors staying over for a couple of days, we weren’t sure we would squeeze everything in. However, the 400-litre boot swallowed several bags without us having to stack things up and our guests were able to sit in the back seats, although room is tight there.
Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce: first report
Sporty-looking EV makes a good first impression, although range could be an issue
- Mileage: 2,656 miles
- Efficiency: 3.6mi/kWh
I’ve recently taken delivery of our new long-term test car, Alfa Romeo’s first fully electric vehicle: the Junior Elettrica. Ours isn’t just any Junior though, it’s the sporty Veloce version with a whole raft of options fitted. It does come at a price, because the on-the-road figure of £48,595 is only £100 cheaper than my previous Cupra Tavascan, which is a much bigger car.
Most of the time it’s only my husband and I in the car, so size isn’t such an issue. But I’m currently looking after my daughter’s dog, Isla, and testing out the comfort level from a canine point of view. Not that Isla is fussy – she absolutely loves being in a car, whether it’s the back seats or the boot.
While the Junior’s 400-litre boot is actually a decent size for this class of vehicle, the sloping rear windscreen means room isn’t great in the back seats for adults. Yet it was comfortable for Isla, who was happy either sitting up – especially with her nose out of the back window – or curled up asleep.
I like the car’s exterior looks, and despite hoping for the Alfa red, the Arese Grey with Black Roof (£700 option) is classy. The Junior Veloce looks different outside, with a lower ride height compared with the other versions, so it leans more towards a hot hatch than a compact SUV, but done with Alfa style.
It has upgraded brakes and the bright-red branded calipers stand out within the 20-inch four-spoke wheels. There is also a subtle red bodykit along the sides and rear, with a larger lower grille at the front, while the grille above has a dramatic cut-out of the trademark Alfa Romeo serpent logo.
It’s a bit more mixed inside, though. The styling is still good, but there is quite a bit of cheap plastic material, which feels stingy considering the asking price. There is a 10.25-inch touchscreen, which is angled towards the driver, although it’s located lower down in the dashboard than some are.
The system may not be fancy, but so far it seems easy to use, with the added benefit of some physical buttons. The Sabelt bucket seats definitely improve the look of the cabin and we’ve found them very comfortable so far. But these – along with the Alcantara touches and sporty leather steering wheel – come as part of the £2,200 Sports Pack option.
The centre console has some bits that are taken from sister Stellantis products, but I was happy to see a stop/start button in the Junior Elettrica. I never felt completely happy with the way you just put the car in park and left it with the Tavascan, although, ironically, it seems to be taking some getting used to when it comes to remembering to turn it off in the Alfa. Thankfully, an alarm sounds as soon as you open a door.
Our car also has the £2,200 Technology Pack that adds some level-two driving assistance and a variety of other features, including all-round parking sensors and a rear-view camera with gridlines, an upgraded sound system, hands-free tailgate and wireless phone charging pad.
Finally, our Junior Elettrica also has the optional £1,200 electronic sunroof, which despite the arrival of autumn, I hope to get to appreciate during my time with the car. I’m looking forward to spending some more time behind the wheel of the Alfa EV.
| Rating: | 4.0 stars |
| Model: | Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce |
| On fleet since: | August 2025 |
| Price new: | £42,295 |
| Powertrain: | 54kWh battery, 1x e-motor |
| Power/torque: | 276bhp/345Nm |
| CO2/BiK: | 0g/km/3% |
| Options: | Sport Pack (£2,200), Technology Pack (£2,200), Arese Grey with Black Roof (£700), Electrically Operated Sunroof (£1,200) |
| Insurance: | Group: 34 Quote: £1,153 |
| Mileage: | 5,383 miles |
| Efficiency: | 3.3mi/kWh |
| Any problems? | None so far |
*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.
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