Alfa Romeo’s Junior Veloce takes on VW’s Golf GTI

Exceptional driving dynamics meet Italian style and innovation. Picture: Mark Jones This is not the definitive road test of all road tests to try to unseat the GTI with a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV). But very few who encountered the Junior thought that it looked like a crossover or compact SUV.

And even fewer thought it was a ‘boring’ BEV. Most thought it looked like a sexy hot hatch that must haul. And when I looked at the power and torque figures, I thought, what the heck, let’s throw the King of hot hatches,VW’s Golf GTI, into the mix for a bit of fun.

I mean, everybody out on the road is just as keen to line a GTI up. Why can’t we? With the on-paper numbers listed below, you can now see why I thought these two could be an interesting comparison.

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The Junior is all silent yet fast. The GTI offering wheelspin and noise is also fast. Two very different approaches to how these manufacturers go about getting their thrills to the owners of their cars.

The Junior is as firm as all hell on the road, but I kinda expected that. And the snug Sabelt race bucket seats, which can be added as an option, add to the feeling that this is more of a hot hatch than a family-friendly SUV. I enjoyed that it let you think you could throw it around like a go-kart.

But obviously, near the limit, you can’t escape the extra weight the battery adds to the mix. Is the VW Golf GTI more engaging to drive? Better in the twisties?

And more passenger-friendly with a softer ride? Of course, it is, but I must admit, I enjoyed my week in the Junior playing racer boy in the suburbs. The world today will never allow it, but chuck out that heavy battery and put a proper petrol engine under the hood, and just maybe the tables could be turned.

I am going to very briefly touch on fuel/battery consumption before moving to what happened when I strapped my RaceLogic VBOX equipment to the cars. The Junior averaged 21.3 kWh per 100 km. This comes to R80 to do 100 km.

So, around 4.0 litres per 100km. The GTI, on the other hand, burned through just short of 10.0 litres per 100km. Which is more than decent for a hot hatch, but twice as expensive as the Junior.

Yes, one is going to need a few stops for charging on the way down to the coast, and the other will get there on a single tank. You decide your poison. Onto Gerotek.

This went way closer than it should have. The GTI gets off the line 0.3 seconds quicker than the Junior, which has a little think about life before unleashing its power. It’s this 0.3 of a second that separates them at 100km/h.

The GTI goes better than claimed, as they always do, and posted a time of 5.88 seconds. The Junior came through at 6.15 seconds. Fractionally slower than claimed.

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