{"id":30161,"date":"2025-11-12T15:35:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T05:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=30161"},"modified":"2025-11-16T11:30:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T01:30:36","slug":"alfa-juniors-blend-classic-italian-flair-with-a-touch-of-modern-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/alfa-juniors-blend-classic-italian-flair-with-a-touch-of-modern-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Alfa Juniors Blend Classic Italian Flair With a Touch of Modern Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cI am someone who places great value on detail. That was always the case, even in my days as a racing driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A comment by Niki Lauda, the\u00a0Austrian racing driver, motorsport executive and aviation entrepreneur who competed in Formula One from 1971 to 1979 and from 1982 to 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lauda won three Formula One World Drivers&#8217; Championships and, at the time of his retirement, held the record for most podium finishes. In\u00a01978, Formula One was at the pinnacle of motorsports and that year Lauda joined forces with Alfa Romeo&#8217;s\u00a0F1\u00a0team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some background: More than a century ago,&nbsp;Enzo Ferrari signed a racing driver&#8217;s contract with Alfa Romeo and the seed of what would later go on to become Ferrari was sown. It is very likely that if Enzo hadn&#8217;t begun racing for Alfa, he would never have gone on to found&nbsp;the Scuderia Ferrari racing team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This month, we tested Alfa\u2019s SUV Imbrida, which blends bold Italian style, clever tech and hatchback charm and marks the brand\u2019s bold leap into the electric era, blending classic Italian flair with modern tech and practicality. It forms Alfa Romeo Australia\u2019s two-variants, one-trim Junior range\u00a0with the\u00a0Elettrica Junior\u00a0Alfa\u2019s first all-electric vehicle\u00a0with a\u00a0fully electric powertrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alfa Romeo is owned by Stellantis, which means the Junior shares a platform with numerous models from six other brands under the global corporation\u2019s umbrella, including the Jeep Avenger and Peugeot 2008. Sales have been slow for both these cars, but Alfa is hoping the Junior can tap into new buyer groups to turn that around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A test run from Brisbane to Beerwah on Queensland\u2019s Sunshine Coast stirred the racing&nbsp;driver within. Our \u2018racetrack\u2019 was the Bruce Highway so it was foot&nbsp;to&nbsp;the pedal whenever the maximum 110 km sign&nbsp;came into view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Junior Ibrida is priced at $45,900 before on-road costs, making it $12,000 cheaper than the all-electric Elettrica flagship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like\u00a0Niki Lauda says the devil is in the detail so here\u2019s some of the detail for the\u00a0our test Imbrida:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Exterior colour: Blue Navigli with black roof.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Number of cylinders: 3.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Electric motor (kW): 21.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Power: (kW @ rpm) 100 @ 5500.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Torque: (Nm @ rpm) 230 @ 1750.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Combined power (kW): 107.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Transmission: dual clutch.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Number of speeds: 6.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Acceleration: 0-100 km 8.5 secs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Max speed: 206 km\/hr.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Safety features include adaptive cruise, lane keeping for Level 2 autonomy, parking sensors, blind-spot detection and traffic sign recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ibrida powertrain pairs a 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo (100kW\/230Nm) with a 48V mild-hybrid system. The electric motor integrated into the six-speed dual-clutch transmission enabling electric-only driving up to 150 km\/h with light throttle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Features such as e-Launch and e-Parking help achieve the impressive 4.1L\/100 km fuel consumption figure and like all Alfa\u2019s Romeos, the Junior comes with five-year unlimited-kilometre warranty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The seats are firm and supportive, but there\u2019s only single-zone climate control and a six-speaker stereo \u2026 so what?..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The back seat is roomy for a small SUV, thanks to impressive packaging, and the boot is likewise surprisingly spacious. An adjustable cargo floor is a nice touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"578\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image001-2025-11-13T153804.093.jpg\" alt=\"image001 2025 11 13T153804.093\" class=\"wp-image-30163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image001-2025-11-13T153804.093.jpg 578w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image001-2025-11-13T153804.093-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Inside Junior\u2026 sunroof and the appearance and \u2018feel\u2019 of a racing car but at a very challenging competitive price. (Photo credit: Alpha Romeo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The &nbsp;Elettrica&nbsp;Junior&nbsp;retains front-wheel drive with a single electric motor rated at 115kW\/260Nm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the higher outputs, acceleration is slightly slower at 9 seconds to 100 km\/h. The difference comes down to a 1545 kg tare weight for the Elettrica, versus 1280kg for the Ibrida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alpha rates the driving range&nbsp;for the Junior Elettrica is 407 km, and energy consumption is listed at 15.2kWh\/100km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;all-electric Junior is equipped with a 54kWh (gross) lithium-ion battery with a 51&nbsp;kWh useable capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The battery can be recharged at a maximum of 11&nbsp;kW on an AC charger, or up to 100 kW on a compatible DC charger, allowing a 20-80% top-up in a claimed 27 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Detailed changes between the two powertrains relate primarily to the mechanical specification with differences in boot space (415L hybrid, 400L EV), rear brake discs (249 mm hybrid, 268 mm EV), rear suspension (torsion beam on both, with a Panhard bar on\u00a0the\u00a0hybrid only), and wheelbase (2557 mm hybrid, 2562 mm EV).\u00a0Other changes include visible exhaust tips and shift paddles on the hybrid but not fitted to the EV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Faced with established\u00a0rivals such as the<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Audi Q2, Jeep Avenger and Lexus LBX, can the Alfa junior compete.\u00a0We think so \u2026 magnets\u00a0also for the high-status-seeking\u00a0alpha male and female looking for high performance, style and appearance of a racing car but at a very challenging competitive price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Congratulazioni Alpha!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI am someone who places great value on detail. That was always the case, even in my days as a racing driver. A comment by Niki Lauda, the\u00a0Austrian racing driver, motorsport executive and aviation entrepreneur who competed in Formula One from 1971 to 1979 and from 1982 to 1985. Lauda won three Formula One World [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":30162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[104],"class_list":{"0":"post-30161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motoring"},"authors":[{"term_id":104,"user_id":24,"is_guest":0,"slug":"orson-whiels","display_name":"Orson Whiels","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image001-44.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image001-44.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30164,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30161\/revisions\/30164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30161"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=30161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}