Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica vs VW ID.4

The VW ID.4 costs £3,095 more than the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica. For that premium it adds 97 miles more WLTP range, 65 kW faster peak rapid charging and 133 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the VW ID.4 comes out ahead overall.

The Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica is £3,095 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £152 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica comes out roughly £3,015 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 176 miles for the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica and 293 miles for the VW ID.4 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The VW ID.4 goes roughly 117 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 27-29 minutes.

The Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 71 mm narrower than the VW ID.4. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 619 mm of total clearance for the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica and about 548 mm of total clearance for the VW ID.4. The VW ID.4 also turns in a 0.3 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica and 84% for the VW ID.4. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.