Alfa Romeo's Junior Ibrida is a watered down Veloce - it won't stir your soul but there is a big plus

IT’S safe to say Italy makes a cracking cup of coffee.

Intense. Rich. Short. And hot.

Dark-green SUV driving on a road. — The Junior Ibrida is a watered-down version of the Junior Veloce electricCredit: Supplied

Man driving a car on a sunny road. — Diluted though it is, Junior Ibrida is not pitched to be a performance benchmarkCredit: Supplied

Rear view of an Alfa Romeo driving on a road. — Refreshingly, there is no complicated list of different trim levels with the Junior IbridaCredit: Supplied

So imagine my shock in sunny Turin, Alfa Romeo’s HQ, when a barista poured cold water in my espresso and called it an Americano.

Tepid though it was, I still drank it and it still tasted all right.

Which brings me to the car I was there to test drive – the Junior Ibrida.

To pronounce it, just say “hybrid” in an over-the-top Italian accent.

Junior Ibrida is a watered-down version of the Junior Veloce electric, which excels but isn’t exactly flying off the shelves at £42k.

Ibrida is also more than a third cheaper at a smidge under £28k. So it’s here to sell well to those who want affordability, convenience but also that Alfa badge.

Although it does look overly fussy in pictures, in the metal it’s got some actual presence given its diminutive footprint.

It is notably compact in the cabin, however. Especially in the rear-seat legroom department.

Boot space is really rather decent, though, and bigger than the electric Junior, with 415 litres to 1,280 litres (with back seats stowed) of opportunity to stuff full of what you will.

Switchgear is another sore point, with much of what you can see and touch having been seen and touched before in other Stellantis group cars.

Alfa Romeo from legendary episode of BBC comedy up for sale at just £30k

And the mismatch of materials, from cheap, hard plastics to faux leather to swish Alcantara, results in a compromised and unbalanced cockpit.

Diluted though it is, Junior Ibrida is not pitched to be a performance benchmark – despite the optional, and downright superb, racy Sabelt bucket seats.

But it returns an impressive 57mpg, never needs plugging in and handles sweetly with quick and pointy steering while prioritising silent EV driving at city shuffle speeds.

The rorty three-cylinder engine even sounds nice too when it kicks in but my test car produced a lot of wind noise around the wing mirrors at motorway speeds.

Refreshingly, there is no complicated list of different trim levels with the Junior Ibrida – there is just the one. It includes fabric seats, 17in diamond-cut alloys, retro Alfa logo grille, (pointless) paddle shifters and a 10in infotainment touchscreen that’s both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto-friendly.

At the end of the day, though, Junior Ibrida is not a classic Alfa

Naturally though there are options to spend more dough on it by way of a £4,100 sports pack, with the Sabelt sporty seats, special grille and Alcantara steering wheel.

Or there’s a £2,200 tech pack bringing, among other gadgets, adaptive cruise control, traffic-sign recognition, keyless entry and a couple of extra speakers.

At the end of the day, though, Junior Ibrida is not a classic Alfa.

It won’t stir your soul.

But it will deliver cost-effective motoring.

And it will make you stand out more than the £28k you spent on it rightly should.