The Alfa Romeo Junior, the brand’s first EV and a whole new chapter for the Turin carmaker, is now on our long-term fleet. Nat Barnes takes delivery.

List price (BiK): £35,695 (3%) | Range: 254mls | Test range: 248mls | Claimed efficiency: 4.1mpkWh | Test efficiency: 4.0mpkWh

First report:

So here’s a tough circle to square for Alfa Romeo. Just how, with a brand known for its passion, emotion and focus on driver enjoyment, do you match that to the efficiency and more practical needs of a modern EV? I’ll be looking to find that out over my next six months with the new Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica.

This Junior is the mid-range Speciale model with a 54kWh battery and 156hp, down on the flagship 240hp of the Veloce but also maximising its 254-mile claimed range. As a family car and with summer holidays and some upcoming hiking trips, I’ll be stretching that range to its maximum at times – especially so after having enjoyed the range of the outgoing Renault Scenic with its 87kWh battery.

That said, perhaps that won’t be the issue I first imagined judging from my first few days with the car. When I saw the claimed 4.1mpkWh official average efficiency, I must admit that I inwardly scoffed as to whether that could be matched in the real world. However, even with some long motorway journeys, I’ve already been recording 4.0mpkWh without any effort whatsoever. If first impressions count, then the Alfa is doing itself no harm at all.

The same goes for its looks too. I have yet to see another Junior on the roads, but the Brera Red of our test car combined with the black roof (a £1,200 optional extra) is really striking – even my neighbour who isn’t remotely interested in cars, remarked on its looks and styling. The other option, the £1,350 Technology pack, adds LED matrix headlights, an electric tailgate (nice to have, but probably a bit OTT on such a small car), wireless charging and front, rear and side parking sensors.

In fact, the only downside of the Junior’s styling is, ironically, one of my favourite elements. The dominant front grille with its Alfa serpent cut out is a lovely detail, but being all matt black perhaps doesn’t stand out in real life (or pictures) as much as you might imagine. For me that’s a shame as it matches the rest of the eye-catching exterior – but then if it were gloss black maybe it would stand out too much?

The Junior’s size is also winning me over. I loved my previous Scenic, but even though it wasn’t a huge SUV, it still sometimes felt big when slotting into some tighter car parking spaces. That’s not a problem with the Alfa though, its smaller dimensions meaning that it can easily slot into the most awkward of spaces. Along with that smaller battery and range but great efficiency, it’s also a great example of ‘rightsized EVs’ for car manufacturers going forward.

I’ve always been a firm believer in smaller and more efficient EVs having a crucial part to play in the e-mobility transition, so the next six months spent with the Junior will be a good test of that.