It’s a Electric Alfa Romeo. The expression is the clearest possible, but the result is perhaps the least obvious of all. The new Junior Fast it’s not just the most powerful version in the new range of compact sport utility of the Biscione, but it perfectly explains the challenge that automotive brands full of history and charm like Alfa Romeo have to face, that is, embracing electric motorization by finding a interpretation of true taste driving. While waiting for our test of the Junior Veloce in the Experimental Center of Balocco, on the entire route of the “Langhe” circuit of over 20 km, let’s discover together the technical details that make this car a step forward in driving for compact zero-emission cars . Looking at the facts, without rhetoric.
At the top of the range
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As it is known, Alfa Romeo Junior it is 417 cm long and 178 cm wide, has an urban SUV design that has been much talked about and must find its place in a market objectively crowded by competition. I am already orders open for the two “quieter” versions, first of all the hybrid variantequipped with the 1.2 three-cylinder petrol engine 136 Cv and 230 Nm of torque, eDct6 automatic transmission and declared consumption in the order of 19.2 km/l, all at a starting price from 29,900 euros. Pretty soft too before the electric editionsthe one from 156 Cv of power and 260 Nm of torque, in the price list from 39,500 euros. The 54 kWh battery is an element in common with the most powerful of the Juniors, precisely the Fastwhich will instead have a price of 48.500 eurobut also a completely different message.
Specific setting
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All Alfa Romeo Juniors, including the Veloce, are built on the latest evolution of the Stellantis CMP platform and are built in the Polish plant in Tychythe same as Fiat 600 e Jeep Avengerwith which there is one extensive mechanical sharing. Junior Veloce has however a different technical equipment in some fundamental elements, starting from the set-up with 20” rims with Michelin Pilot Sport EV tires in size 224/40R20. Behind, there is a braking system with discs measuring 382 mm at the front, with four-piston calipers. Going even deeper we find front mcpherson suspension magazines, with a 1 cm wider track also thanks to longer and more resistant lower arms, stiffer springs and shock absorber with double hydraulic stop, for a 25 mm lower ride height. They are not missing antirollio bar both at the front and at the rear, where the pattern is that of torsion bridge.
more power
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When revealing all the cards, one cannot help but notice thepower increasefrom 156 HP of the basic electric up to 280 HP Alfa Romeo Junior Veloceall thanks to a new engine with rotation up to 6,000 rpm, with torque reaching up to 345 Nm. The inverter has also changed, with faster energy circulation between the battery and the engine. In addition to maximum performance in driving mode Dynamicwe find a power limit that drops to 240 HP in that one Natural and at 175 HP in that one Advanced Efficiency. The electronics are designed for driving pleasure, with B energy recovery which can even be deactivated in Dynamic mode, thus relying on the sensitivity of the hydraulically operated brakes, i.e. not by wire.
All ahead
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The performance expected from the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce is deliberately not that of a “traffic light burner”: acceleration 0-100 km/h in 5.9 seconds e 200 maximum hours. The crucial element of the car is instead in the very careful management of tractionwhich is only on the front wheels, but assisted by a Torsen Type D differential of the latest generation, coupled directly to the electric motor, extremely compact and above all responsible for real added value of the Fast version. The Torsen differential has self-locking functions. For example, it counteracts the excessive movement of the external wheel when cornering, which tends to lose grip, by shifting, i.e. blocking, driving torque on the internal one, thus recovering directionality and avoiding understeer, with the car widening outwards. A control that Alfa Romeo has not tried to achieve with electronic solutions that exploit the engine power cut combined with the use of the brakes, but using a strictly mechanical method. destined to inevitably represent the highest standard for the new generation of front-wheel drive electric cars.
