{"id":2145249,"date":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2145249"},"modified":"2026-09-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T21:00:00","slug":"alfa-romeo-junior-ibrida-long-term-review-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2145249","title":{"rendered":"Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida – long-term review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our <\/em>Alfa Junior Ibrida arrived in top of the tree Sport Speciale trim with a gloss black body kit, the nose of a 1930s racer, and Alcantara on its seats, dash and flat-ish bottomed steering wheel. So, it looks the part, feels rather racey from the inside and has \u2018sport\u2019 in its name, but does any of that translate into a small crossover that\u2019s actually fun to drive?<\/p>\n

Well, recently we discovered the all-electric Junior Veloce kicks it\u2019s a**e on a twisty road with its extra power, bigger brakes and Torsen limited-slip diff, but that costs almost \u00a310k more and the real-world range is dreadful. So, here\u2019s a hybrid rival that\u2019s around \u00a3200 cheaper than the Sport Speciale\u2019s base price and should give it another run for its money\u2026 it\u2019s the Ford Puma ST.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And yes, keen followers of Fast-ish Fords (if they still exist, because only one car does) may still be lamenting the fact that the Puma ST is now only available with this 1.0-litre three-cylinder mild<\/em>-hybrid setup. The Fiesta ST\u2019s brilliant old 1.5-litre turbo triple \u2013 which the hot Puma initially borrowed \u2013 is no more. To add insult to injury, this downsized powertrain can only be equipped with a seven-speed dual clutch auto rather than the neat six-speed manual of old.<\/p>\n

Still, immediately the Puma feels more purposeful than the Alfa. You sit low in ‘FORD PERFORMANCE’ bucket seats, and while it may have done away with the bigger engine, Ford did keep the old ST\u2019s stronger chassis and fancy suspension. It\u2019s seriously stiff. On rough roads I think it might actually be too firm for comfortable everyday use, but where the Alfa Romeo leans and understeers through corners, the Puma resists roll remarkably. You really can chuck it at bends, and there\u2019s decent weight to the steering too.<\/p>\n

And while it may be down on power vs the old ST, this 1.0-litre\u2019s 168bhp output comfortably beats the Alfa\u2019s 143bhp. Ford claims 0-62mph in 7.4 seconds, while the heavy-legged Junior can only manage the same sprint in 8.9. I\u2019m also left feeling let down by the Alfa\u2019s supremely soft brake pedal.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s actually a bit of torque steer in the Puma, and in its Sport or Track modes (yep, really) you get a few crackles and pops from the exhaust. It\u2019s fun, and not just for a crossover, but then you remember the hot Puma that came before and this one pales in comparison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It is far sportier than our Junior though. It\u2019s also techier inside with its 12.8in dial display and massive 12in central touchscreen slapped on the dash. Said screen runs Ford\u2019s SYNC 4 system and is quicker to respond to your inputs than the Alfa\u2019s infotainment, although the serving platter-sized squircle steering wheel is extremely unsporting and slightly ruins the vibe. Despite its shared Stellantis parts, the inside of the Junior feels a whole lot more premium.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a genuinely sporting crossover then, avoid our Junior Ibrida. On a twisty road it might be a little more game than its Peugeot, Citroen and Vauxhall siblings, but christening this top trim level \u2018Sport Speciale\u2019 was probably a bit of a reach. Then again, you do see a fair few 128bhp Toyota Yaris Cross GR Sports on UK roads, so what do we know?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Alfa Junior Ibrida arrived in top of the tree Sport Speciale trim with a gloss black body kit, the nose of a 1930s racer, and Alcantara on its seats, dash and flat-ish bottomed steering wheel. So, it looks the part, feels rather racey from the inside and has \u2018sport\u2019 in its name, but does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-2145249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2145249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2145249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2145249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2145249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}