Alfa Romeo Junior vs Kia Niro

What's the difference?

The Alfa Romeo Junior is a cute car that’s charming and smile-inducing. It deserves to sell well but ultimately this will come down to whether the Australian public is receptive.

There is plenty of competition out there and if you're wanting something design-led, it's hard to look past this without spending much more money.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The Kia Niro S Electric is a solid little SUV that has decent space inside and some nice specs, but it's more expensive than its nearest rivals. The EV powertrain can take a little getting used to and I would have liked a smoother ride, but the 460km driving range is good.

For first-time EV owners, this wouldn’t be a bad option if you wanted to dip your toes in the water but it will suit urban dwellers and smaller families, like mine, best. This gets a 7.5/10 from me.

My son wasn’t in love with this one. Not enough buttons for him to press and he did comment on how bumpy the ride was in the back. He gives it a 6.0/10.

This is such a cute and tiny car with Alfa Romeo trying its hardest to sandwich all of its hallmark design traits in. It’s certainly a busy design on the outside which I don’t love right now, but I imagine I’ll grow to like it with time.

At the front there’s a special grille as standard that features Alfa Romeo script, plus an offset license plate and cool matrix LED headlights with the company’s ‘3+3’ lighting signature.

Around the side the 18-inch alloy wheels have a flower petal-like design, hidden second-row door handles, as well as a hidden serpent (Biscione) easter egg that’s laser etched into the C-pillar.

The rear of the Junior is my least favourite angle. It tries too hard to look more like a hatchback than a crossover SUV with the slanted rear window and the big black slab where the tail-lights are.

The twin exhaust pipes are a cute look, however, especially given the engine doesn’t scream performance credentials on paper.

Inside there’s an obvious attempt at making the cabin look and feel driver-oriented and sporty.

I like the seats which have a red section that runs down the backrest and onto the seat base. It helps break up the black finishes nicely.

Speaking of, however, there's a sea of black finishes throughout the rest of the cabin. I’d like to see some more silver or chrome accents as the glossy piano black may not age well.

There is interior ambient lighting around the cabin with a customisable colour, which looks great in low-light situations. It particularly pops in the large circular air vents which flank the dashboard and are shaped like cloverleaves.

If you look closely you may notice the Junior shares a lot of its physical switchgear with the related Jeep Avenger. Examples include the steering wheel buttons, gear selector, starter button and the physical climate control switches.

While there’s an argument to say that this cheapens the feel of the Junior, I’m thankful there is physical switchgear in this car to begin with. Plus, the Junior does look different enough as it is.

It’s a compact SUV with a footprint that's 4420mm long, 1825mm wide and 1570mm tall. But while small, I wouldn’t call it cute. It’s boxier than its sibling and without any of the swoopy design elements that make the EV6 look cool. 

I do like the way the two-tone body panelling, which is seen most prominently on the C-pillar, breaks up the ‘blocky-ness’ and creates areas of interest. As do the high-mounted rear LED lights. 

Speaking of lights, the base model makes do with halogen headlights, which unfortunately stand out against the LED daytime-running lights. You’ll notice the dimmer light at night, too.

The 17-inch alloy wheels are thick for better aerodynamics but the clever two-tone colouring stops them from looking unfashionable.

The interior has a lot style cred with the curvature of the door panelling blending in almost seamlessly with the dashboard.

The gently sloping panelling that houses the multimedia systems and switchable touchscreen interface for the controls creates a very pleasing cabin space.

There are some harder plastics mixed in here but enough soft touchpoints that you won’t be bothered by them. 

The front seats in the Junior are very comfortable for longer drives. The driver’s seat in particular offers six ways of electric adjustability and a massage function. You don’t see features like that very often on a tiny SUV.

Ahead of the driver there’s a leather-wrapped steering wheel. It’s surprisingly slim which makes it nice to hold. There are also paddle shifters on the back which could be more pronounced.

As standard there’s a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster which emulates analogue dials for the tachometer and speedometer. While the screen is high-res and clear, it’s interesting that Alfa Romeo chose to emulate dials in a digital way rather than just have physical ones, especially because you can’t change their appearance.

There’s a section in the middle that has a few different informative pages you can cycle through. I’d love to see more configurability given there’s limitless possibilities with a screen.

Moving across there’s another 10.25-inch screen for the central multimedia system. It certainly makes up for the lack of configurability in the digital instrument cluster and you can create and customise five different home page screens with a vast array of widgets. It’s fairly clever though at some point it feels like overkill.

There aren’t many menus or sub-menus to get lost in, however, the home button took me a while to locate. It’s above the touchscreen in a small pod of physical buttons alongside the hazard lights and door lock switch.

Underneath the touchscreen there’s a wireless phone charger, plus USB-C and USB-A charger ports.

The engine start button is mounted prominently on the centre tunnel with the lightswitch-like gear selector directly behind it. It’s mounted a little too close to the centre armrest which means craning my arm like a T-Rex to use it.

Other amenities up front include a deep console area with configurable cupholders, a sliding centre armrest with a cubby, as well as a tiny glovebox.

It’s very clear the second row of the Junior isn’t the focus. At 182cm tall I need to splay my legs on either side of the driver’s seat in my desired driving position. Despite this, toe room and headroom is adequate, even with the optional sunroof.

The second row isn’t a place anyone would want to spend too long in. Kids would likely suit better, plus there are top-tether points on all three rear seats and ISOFIX mounting points on the outboard rear seats.

Amenities are limited to a single USB-C port in the second row. There are no air vents or centre armrest. You need to make your own entertainment.

At the back there’s a hands-free power tailgate, which is rare for a vehicle of this size. Once it’s open, the available boot space is decent, especially for such a small car. There’s 415L of boot space with the rear seats upright.

The area itself is fine. There’s no load lip which allows you to get things in and out with ease, plus there’s a two-tier boot floor, allowing you to stow items under the floor away for prying eyes.

In terms of boot-related amenities there’s a 12V socket, a light and some hooks. It’s fairly standard back there.

Unfortunately there’s no spare wheel as standard in the Junior line-up. Instead there’s a tyre repair kit which is not super handy if you have a tyre blow out.

Thankfully you can purchase a space-saver spare wheel for the Junior Ibrida for $314 as a genuine accessory. It would be better if this came as standard given there’s the space for it.

It’s surprisingly roomy inside and all passengers will enjoy decent leg and headroom, but taller passengers will find the backseat cosier than the front.

As such, two child seats will fit best but you do have ISOFIX child seat mounts on the outboard positions and three top-tether points, if you need them.

The synthetic leather/cloth seat trim cleans well and is nice to touch. The seats themselves, front and rear, are well-padded and super comfortable.

The backs of the front seats can double as coat hangers and have hardened kickplates, which are always practical for little feet.

The front row gets the most amenities and tech. The 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system has clear graphics but is different to other Kia’s I’ve sampled recently. It seems to have been simplified but you’ll get used to it quickly.

There are plenty of charging options available, too, with a USB-A and C port, plus a 12-volt socket. Not needing a cable for the wireless Apple CarPlay is a bonus, too!

The front row also has the most storage space with two retractable cupholders, dedicated phone tray, glove box, middle console and skinny drink bottle holders in each door.

Back seat passengers enjoy two USB-C ports, reading lights, drink bottle holders in each door plus an armrest with two cupholders. As well as, a standard three-pin socket in case you need to run electrical gear or charge anything up on the go.

The windows are wide and offer good visibility but I really like the 150mm ground clearance. It was super easy for my six-year old to climb in and out, plus he got a good view this week!

The boot is good for this size SUV with 475L of capacity available. It does look more like a hatchback, because while you can readjust the floor to sit lower, the back still slopes up.

However, it was fine for my weekly grocery and school run. The 'frunk' storage is small at 20L, which is just big enough for a charging cable.

You don’t get a spare wheel but you do get a puncture repair kit. And being the base model, it’s not a powered tailgate but it’s not heavy to close.

There are two variants for the Niro, our base model, the S, and the range-topper GT-Line.

Despite being the base model, the Niro S will still set you back $65,300, before on-road costs. Which makes it about $5K dearer than the equivalent Kona Electric, and $20K more expensive than the ZS EV.

There is a hybrid Niro (also available in two grades), if you’re not quite ready to commit to a full EV life. The price isn’t as eye-watering, either, being just $44,380, before on-road costs.

The Niro is well-specified, though, and the driver will enjoy an electric seat with adjustable lumbar support while the passenger side remains manual.

The regenerative braking is customisable (levels 0-3), there’s an 'iPedal' function, a dual-zone climate system, reversing camera and the backs of the front seats even double as coat hangers.

The tech is also good, with an 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system, 10.25-inch digital instrument panel plus wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto all coming as standard equipment. More on the tech below.

The Junior Ibrida is powered by a 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine with 48V mild-hybrid assistance.

In the six-speed dual-clutch transmission is a 21kW electric motor that’s fed by a 0.9kWh lithium-ion battery pack.

It’s worth noting that this is the exact same engine set-up that features in a growing number of Peugeot models locally, including hybrid versions of the 2008, 3008, 5008, 308 and 408.

Total system outputs are 107kW and 230Nm which is far from class-leading. Alfa Romeo claims the 0-100km/h sprint takes 8.9 seconds.

The Niro is a full EV and has a front-wheel drive drivetrain with a maximum output of 150kW/255Nm. It’s not as powerful as its stablemate and only has the single-motor which is powered by a 64.8kWh lithium-ion battery but going from 0-100km/h can still be achieved in 7.8 seconds. With specs like those, this is most suited for an urban setting.

The Junior Ibrida has a claimed fuel consumption of just 4.1L/100km, which is solid for a mild-hybrid vehicle.

There’s a 44L fuel tank which requires a minimum of 95 RON premium unleaded petrol.

During our 200km drive loop on the launch which consisted of mixed and spirited drive, we returned an average of 5.4L/100km. However, during one section with fewer twists and turns we saw an average of 4.0L/100km, which is incredible.

Using our as-tested fuel consumption there’s a theoretical range of 815km.

Such is the EV life but you can’t escape the charging.

The onboard DC charger has up to 85kW of capacity and that means on a 50kW fast charger station, you can get from 10 to 80 per cent in 65 minutes.

However, if plugged into a 350kW ultra-fast charger, you’ll only save 22 minutes because it can’t accept that faster speed.

On a 7.5kW system, you’ll go from 10 to 80 per cent in approximately nine hours, 25 minutes. On an 11kW, you’ll see that figure drop to six hours, 20 minutes.

The charging port is a Type 2 (CCS Combo2) and the car comes with an emergency charging cable that can plug into a standard three-pin domestic socket, if needed.

However, it’s slow going and you’re looking at a wait time of up to 27 hours, 30 minutes to get to a full charge. All other cables cost extra.

The official kWh/100km consumption is 16.2kWh and my average on-test figure was 14.3kWh after a mix of urban and open-road driving.

However, I did see figures getting closer to 20kWh on longer trips. Still, I would consider my average to be efficient.

The Niro S has a driving range of up to 460km (WLTP).

Starting up the Junior Ibrida, the turbo three-cylinder engine roars to life with an off-beat, thrum-y sound.

If the engine is bone cold, it’ll stay on to get the fluids up to operating temperature. Once this happens it will happily switch off.

Initial acceleration is typically done on electric power alone and if you don’t press the accelerator too hard it’ll stay in EV mode at city speeds. It’s very electric-heavy for a car that’s technically only a 48V mild-hybrid.

At many points the engine switches off at speeds up to 80km/h, especially if you’re travelling on flat ground. Even at 100-110km/h, it’ll switch off if coasting.

Something to note is the electric motor is part of the six-speed dual-clutch transmission which means you can sometimes feel gear changes even when driving in EV mode. You do get used to this.

A positive of the electric motor being in the dual-clutch is it helps iron out awkward pauses and jerks that this type of transmission typically presents. It’s still not perfect though.

If you press the accelerator harder or the battery charge gets lower, it’ll inevitably fire up the three-cylinder engine. It makes a rorty note during acceleration which is fun to listen to.

The transition from electric to petrol is generally seamless. There can be a slight shudder when the three-cylinder first fires up at low revs, but I’ve experienced much worse in other cars.

There’s only one setting for regenerative braking, which is fairly strong and almost one-pedal-driving like. It takes a bit to get used to the feeling. You do still need to put your foot on the brake pedal to come to a complete stop.

With the combination of the petrol engine and electric motor, acceleration is far from break-neck but it’s far from slow. The fact it doesn’t have much power actually makes this car more endearing, especially because it’s rewarding to drive.

The steering in the Junior is communicative and direct. It's a joy to take corners in as the feel errs more on the lighter side. It almost has a Mini-like go-kart feel as the car feels so nimble.

Additionally, the ride is composed and settled, even at higher speeds on rough roads, which is rare for small vehicles. This is likely because the Junior only has 18-inch alloy wheels with a decent amount of tyre sidewall, rather than the low-profile 20-inch units that are offered in the Veloce Elettrica overseas.

On the highway the Junior’s cabin is surprisingly quiet. You can’t hear the three-cylinder once you’ve reached your set speed and there’s also minimal wind/tyre noise.

Lastly, the safety systems do a good job at working but not being annoying. The worst culprit is the intelligent speed limit assist which chimes when you go over the signposted speed limit.

If it does grate you too much, you can easily switch it off in a dedicated advanced driver assist system (ADAS) menu that can be reached via a shortcut button near the hazard lights. It’s as easy as that.

This is a pretty simple car to drive but it doesn’t feel as fun as some other EVs I’ve driven. It can even feel sluggish when you accelerate from a full stop and that makes it feel laggy in stop/start traffic.

Once you’re on your way, the acceleration is fairly responsive. You feel confident overtaking on the open road, too.

The car feels connected to the road with minimal shuddering through the steering wheel. The car responds in a timely manner when you have to make sudden moves, which I like.

Sometimes, the lane keeping aids make it feel jerky and I turned it off in some situations.

The regen braking delivers a big physical presence like the EV6 but isn’t as refined and can feel almost ‘bunny hoppy’ at times.

You can customise it up to four levels, zero being low regen and four being the iPedal. I’m not overly fond of the iPedal, so didn’t use it that much this week and kept it at level 3.

You do have to change up how you drive an EV, so this wasn’t that surprising and something I’m sure you’d get used to.

The ride comfort is pretty mixed. Around town, it’s good but there’s quite a bit of passenger movement in this. You kinda feel like you’re bobbing along sometimes, which is jolting.

You also feel the road but the seats are so comfortable, they stop it from feeling too rough. 

Surprisingly, the cabin gets very loud with wind and road noise. You can still chat but you won’t forget that it’s there, which is a shame.

I didn’t notice much difference between the drive modes, so it was kept on 'Normal', too. 

This is very easy to park! It’s a good size for even a tight car park with a 10.6m turning circle and the reversing camera is super clear, which is great. 

However, I would have liked to have seen front parking sensors, as well as the rear sensors. You can get them on the GT-line though.

The Niro EV S has a good list of safety features, with the following being standard: LED daytime running lights, lane departure alert, lane keeping aid, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, a reversing camera (with dynamic guidelines), rear parking sensors, driver fatigue alert, check rear occupant alert and adaptive cruise control (with stop/go function).

It has auto emergency braking with car, pedestrian and cyclist detection as well as junction turning assist, which is operational from 5.0-85km/h. 

The Niro was recently awarded a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2022. It has eight airbags and that does include the newer front centre airbag.

There are ISOFIX child seat mounts on the rear outboard seats and three top tethers, but two seats will fit best. And while there will be room for a 0-4 rearward facing child seat, it will encroach on front passenger comfort.

Like other Alfa Romeos, the Junior is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty.

There’s also five years of roadside assistance as standard. An additional 12 months of coverage can be added for the lifetime of the vehicle every time you service at an authorised Alfa Romeo dealer.

Logbook servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first. The first five services are capped and total $3105.84, which averages out to around $620 each.

This seems pretty expensive for such a small car, but it's only a touch pricier than the Lexus LBX.

It’s clear maintaining this vehicle with its dual-clutch automatic transmission and mild-hybrid components is costly in the long run.

The ongoing costs are great on the Niro. It comes with Kia’s ‘better-than-average-for-the-market’ seven-year/150,000km warranty, which also covers the battery.

You get a seven-year capped-price servicing plan and services average $250 per year, which is good.

Servicing intervals are more in line with a petrol car at every 12 months or 15,000km. It’s usual to see those intervals doubled on an EV but it’s still reasonable.