2025 Alfa Romeo Junior - Design Review
Although the Junior has already gone through a name change, that doesn’t mean it’s a whole new car. Being only a few days old when this happened meant that nothing else was going to change. We are thankful for that, as Alfa has just released one of the best-looking Micros for the luxury marketplace. One that embodies the soul of performance into and small perfectly created package. Milano would have been a call to its home town, but Junior may work as well, as we all can see how this little ride, is the junior product of the Alfa CUV stable. Let’s just see if this little CUV can keep up with its larger siblings. At first glance you may think that the front of the Junior is a bit too busy for most. An excess of intakes and black accents seem to take away from the overall appeal of a clean looking front. But that all ends when you realize every part you find a bit off, fits with the overall look of this junior ride. Well tapered lower splitters help to drive air into the oversized intake and off to the sides of this CUV. Flowing gracefully off the side is a great thing for aerodynamics, but an oversized, all blacked out intake is not that great, as it may add to an aggressive look, but it does take away from other key features, as the lack of accented ends and creased edges, over emphasize the overall appeal of this key feature. With a large size intake, you may forget to check out the brake intakes which seem to be a bit off from where you would expect them to be. Not flowing with the side lines of the front intake, these inlets seem to be floating out in a sea of bumper all on their own. Bringing them more in line with the side of the intake may help this part fit with the rest of the front end. As with most new cars, claw lights are in and it seems that even Alfa is not immune to this trend. But as with the main sport appeal which comes with any other Alfa, they did add in an extra intake to the lower portion of these claws. The cheaper plastic does make them stand out from the gloss finish of the lights, but at least it doesn’t make them look out of place from the rest of the front. And we all know that a cool engine can perform better than a hot one. Hence a cold air intake. The last main feature you find yourself starring at for a quite some time, is the main grille. You may ask yourself what is going on here, as at first glance you think something is a bit off with the exterior accent layout. We can all see the crossline grille on the inside, but what is going on with its exterior. Something amazing which has not yet been done in the market, is what is going on here, as Alfa has added part of the logo to the front accent of the grille and once you figure this out, everything else seems to fall into place. Having not just a hood logo, but one embedded into the grille makes for one amazing key feature on this junior ride. Add to that the Alfa triangle grille outline, and you have the makings of one amazing front end.  Running along the side you may lose out on the thought that this is a sport luxury product, as the Juniors outline embodies the soul of most other small CUV products. Most notably small Nissan products (X-trail and Kicks) seem to show up in your mind when you take in the entire image of this side profile. Too bad for Alfa, as this may take away from the overall appeal of owning an Alfa. As the outline may take away from the appeal, the addition of large performance orientated wheels adds back into the appeal of owning an Alfa. Sure, Nissan has the original look, but Alfa has that aftermarket sport appeal which we all want. And given that they have kept the price down, this may be the key feature here which changes our mind over the standard products from the competition. Not much else really stands out from the rest, as the use of flat grey accents is very apparent here. On the lower half this seems to take away from the luxury aspect of this ride, as the accents do come off a bit cheap. Riding along the top half, this changes for the better as these accents seem to blend well into the window outline. Add to this another Alfa logo and you can start to see how this is what we require here to ensure our product stays in tip top shape. As everyone knows, flat colours tend to hide most scratches.  Rolling around to the rear you find yourself face to face with the Juniors robotic looking tail lights. Sure, they do blend well with the flow of the rear character lines and the rear glass, but they seem to give us a sense of a depressed state. Coming from a performance vehicle, we would have expected a better approach here, as more aggression is required from the lights to give us that menacing look, we all desire. Up top on the glass, Alfa has forgotten that people need to look out the rear of their vehicle, as the wiper blade is sitting in our direct visual path. Too bad for this as the overhead spoiler will also add in shadow which will make the visual area a bit easier to see though, once you get past the oversized and all too high wiper blade. Riding along the bottom you find yourself lost in a sea of flat plastic as you come to terms with an oversized rear bumper. Sure, we all require some protection, but doubling up on it may not work well for your follow through. This may take away from your wild experience, as you think you require all that in this crazy world, but a loss in fun may not be what you really want. Dropping the size of the rear bumper or at least adding in a large rear diffuser, could really help enhance the protective state of this rear end.  Overall, the appeal of the Junior is there for the Alfa name. With an overall sport appeal that betters the competition, the Junior has been set out into a world where it will be well received. And with price which puts it better than the competition, this little performance CUV is sure to find some love, even if it comes with some added protection. Let’s just hope that Alfa takes off that extra layer of protection and lets this little ride enjoy all the fun the world has to offer. Everett J. #autolooks COMPETITION: Audi Q2 - 50.91% Lexus LBX - 49.30% Volvo EX30 - 48.74% Zeekr X - 61.98%
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