Owners Manual

Alfa has spent a long time being messed about by successive managements, one and all with one of a kind 1/2-cooked recommendations, then relatively a few more. recently it has had its higher-identified values attached to B and C-section hatchbacks - the Mito and Giulietta - seeing that that is where the cash is.

but no car in latest historical past has intentionally set out to embody Alfa values. The 8C Competizione helped, of course, nevertheless it was once quite only a concept made excellent. in fact, it is as a minimum 30 years considering Alfa Romeo has developed a vehicle for real folks that immediately and affordably expresses its values. this is the 4C's mission and it is why it's so very gigantic.

Alfa Romeo 4C

Nothing about the fixed-head, two-seat 4C higher underscores its seriousness than the fact that its chassis is an extremely rigid carbonfibre bath weighing just 65kg. This featherweight basis, plus Alfa's use of a brand new, 22kg lighter, all-aluminium, direct-injection four-cylinder 1750 faster engine - and a myriad extra weight-saving features - mean that, parked within the avenue in a position to go, a 4C weighs simply 925kg. that's in regards to the identical as a Lotus Exige.

in view that the engine produces 240bhp at 6000rpm, plus 258lb ft of torque between 2100rpm and 4000rpm, its vigour-to-weight ratio of 259bhp per tonne is really anything to crow about, matching that of many big-ability supercars at more than twice the fee and vigour.

Small surprise that the Alfa Romeo 4C can high 155mph and sprint 0-62mph in just 4.5sec, at the same time returning an impressive forty one.5mpg on the mixed cycle. As our figures show, a normal Porsche Cayman charges a little much less and goes just a little turbo, but does not speed up as swiftly and uses more gasoline doing it.

extra particularly the carbon tub places the 4C on a level - in chassis terms - with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari, yet the 4C will set you again just £forty five,000 when provides to flow at a cost of 3500 items a 12 months earlier than the year-finish. do not get your hopes up, intellect. only one thousand cars a year are earmarked for Europe, and about 200 of these for the uk. All 500 examples of the all-white launch edition have offered out already, and Britain's allocation of average items for 2014 additionally all have names against them.

nonetheless, in case you can not purchase your self a 4C for a whilst, which you can as a minimum admire its specification. it is a very compact coupé with a transverse mid-engine layout, carrying 60 per cent of its weight over its pushed rear wheels. It has a ordinary six-pace twin-grab computerized gearbox with paddle shifters. The all-disc brakes are by way of Brembo; the discs are above all covered to give a boost to each initial bite and suppose.

The unique shape, created at Alfa's Turin-established Centro Stile, has been subtle over many hours in the wind tunnel in order that it has each bad lift at velocity and a Cd of zero.35, a low figure in view that downforce creates drag. Oh yes, and the guidance is totally unassisted, and its gearing is excessive sufficient to permit you to take 90 per cent of corners without shifting your fingers from the wheel.

when you meet your first 4C, your affect of it goes by means of a number of phases on its approach to a demonstrated opinion. at first you believe Lotus Exige, since it's diminutive (just four metres long), has a transverse 4-cylinder engine, incorporates a exceptional title on the nose and its rate is in the Exige ballpark.

Then you can notice a relationship in its haunch and rear air scoop shapes to a Ferrari F12. there is Lancia Stratos in it, too; investigate these aspect-window shapes, the semicircular windscreen base and the positioning of the reveal pillars (and door hinges), surprisingly a ways again in the automobile. And at all times you're seeing echoes of the 8C Competizione, so influential on all present day Alfas.

Afterwards, someone starts the engine for the primary time and drives the 4C up the avenue. You hear that strong exhaust bark (who says authorized exhausts cannot still encourage?) and the dramatic wastegate chirrup and chatter because the ignition cuts at the first gearchange.

That phase is paying homage to a current 1.6-litre rally vehicle, also turbocharged, small-engined and very robust. Spend a day with the 4C as we did and you'll grow to be determining it's an character that draws have an impact on from something's good, peculiarly if its Italian, without owing an excessive amount of to anyone.

extra surprises inside of. the driver's door opens to reveal a significantly bigger sill than most cars, even though not as obstructive as a Lotus Exige's, and manufactured from carbonfibre, not extruded aluminium. Put your main foot as a ways down the footwell as which you could, slide your backside down the well bolstered semi-race bucket seat (ours faced with entertaining Alcantara) and pull your second leg in across the door hinge, too far back for effortless entry however clever in every wrong way. very first thing you'll detect is plenty of naked carbonfibre: that is the tub, undisguised.

The second is the easy, nearly competitors automobile air of secrecy of the internal: matt black all over the place and rough plastic on the sprint, but proper for this vehicle, from which using purists can delete the air-con and audio. The doors have simple leather-based pull-handles harking back to these in revered, stripped-out Porsche 911s of yore, and the ground protecting is long lasting, no longer high priced. This is probably not particularly what you have been anticipating, however its proper for a car whose giant goal is low weight.

There are pockets-like slots underneath the dash and between the seats for carrying things (plus a couple of the inevitable cup-holders safely out of view beneath your elbow) but this cabin is built for simplicity, no longer comfort. A TFT screen forward includes a significant electronic tacho dial surrounded by main information (pace, equipment function, temp, gasoline and - incongruously - day and date). This whole display alterations shape and color while you select the brand new-for-4C ‘Race’ position on the familiar DNA quadrant on the low centre console that allows you to you configure throttle response, gearchange time and measure of chassis balance intrusion from 4 settings. All you want do to start the engine is to put your foot on the brake (there are handiest two pedals, consider, plus an alloy-confronted leisure in your redundant grab foot) and twist the key.

No looking across the cockpit for starter buttons or posting plastic bricks into slots. Twist, and and not using a ceremony, no dashboard messages and no crowd-exciting blip, the 4C's engine fires in a timely fashion and settles right away right into a generally 4-cylinder idle. In a way, it's kind of stunning. There appears little soundproofing to speak of: which you can hear the valve equipment rustling away at shut quarters in a technique most manufacturers wouldn't permit. however why not? this can be a brand new Alfa engine, in spite of everything, and on a horsepower/litre groundwork it roundly beats one of the vital greatest race engines ever constructed. Blip the engine and it barks instantly and gruffly, as if fed by means of a pair of double Webers. feels like fun. reach down on to the abbreviated centre console and pick the '1' button. That hooks up first gear and dictates that you can ought to alternate gears yourself by way of paddles. You might have chosen 'A/M' but that may were self-shift mode. practice a little bit throttle and the auto moves off immediately, like an Elise or an Atom. here's how one can know instantly, with out the help of a weighbridge, that the Alfa Romeo 4C is a gentle automobile.

First is noisy and brief, but the thrust is mighty. You have to be respectably speedy on the correct paddle seeing that you'll be able to shut quick on the 6500rpm redline. the next gearchange itself is speedy and gentle, mechanically speaking, and accelerates 30 per cent in Dynamic or Race, however the way in which the seize approach suits revs with velocity is always exemplary. If you're expecting instantaneous, Ferrari-kind controlled explosions as the cogs swap, you're no longer going to get them. efficiency and flexibility are this powertrain's strong point. The exhaust word can also be raucous and the mixed racket of ignition-reduce and wastegate whoop while you exchange gear is in no way peaceable, constantly inspiring. From outside, the car sounds strong.

From inside, the quality's not particularly the equal, though it would continually entertain me. Used to the whole, the automobile feels properly quick, primarily between 60 and 100mph where it seems to gain percent as rapidly as so much larger automobiles but without their huge-dice effort. The engine's thrust would not develop past 5500rpm with really the highest-end shove you count on, however in reality that in Dynamic or Race, making use of plenty of throttle and altering at 5500rpm, you can be among the many quickest automobiles on avenue or monitor.

Passing manoeuvres are targeted fun, considering that the car is compact and good points speed with so little effort. So is slingshotting out of gradual bends: there's strong urge from 2000rpm this means that practically any equipment will do. And the noise is perpetually first-class. In countries like the uk, the 4C would seem a mite overgeared; it does practically 30mph per 1000rpm in high. happily, it has the torque to carry it, and that you would be able to have an understanding of why Alfa has gone down that route; the car can be extra frantic with ratios closed up by means of slash total gearing. Inevitably, Alfa has had some complaints about each its choice of a DCT gearbox (why now not a stick shift?) and a small-ability turbo four-cylinder engine (why not a creamy V6?) but the vehicle's performance solutions both of these lovely convincingly. The 1750 engine can provide a distinct type of sound and thrust regular with its lightweight objectives. The DCT, as many a manufacturer is aware of, is the 'field that 90 per cent of householders would prefer if it provided both; why spend thousands engineering anything that few will buy? due to the lightness, the vast monitor, the chassis tension, the low centre of gravity and shortage of overhangs - plus all-independent suspension and the fact that a bunch of difficult-using Italian engineers have given it demise in areas like Alfa’s noted Balocco experiment track - the 4C’s roadholding and experience first-class are simply extraordinary. 

The vehicle will understeer a bit near the limit, but getting it to oversteer is a helluva job. We tried again and again, and have been rewarded, once for a second, with a short and reluctant tail wag. in the meantime, the vehicle rides with a Lotus-like serenity and composure: company but amazingly flat and perfectly damped. remedy is more likely to be spectacular even on gnarly UK roads. this is a type of cars that doesn't want tremendous rubber hoops to give grip, despite the fact that our scan auto was once admittedly on the optional tyre percent, 205/40 ZR18s in entrance and 235/35 ZR19s on the back. The typical wheels are 17in front, 18in rear. On whichever, this mild automobile and its fancy Brembo brakes can stop from 100km/h in just 35 metres, a performance that eludes any heavy supercar. 

 The unassisted guidance takes some getting used to, however turns into one of the 4C's most important virtues. At standstill, you need to re-be trained the expertise of presenting muscle; it feels weird. but at 2mph and all pace thereafter it can be excellent. It loads greater than power-assist techniques as cornering speeds upward thrust, however you feel way more of the street. At sane speeds (underneath 100mph) it is superbly stable. Above that, you have to take into account - once more, as you used to in the unassisted breed of early Porsche 911 - not to chase small steering corrections. The auto easily ‘walks’ a little bit on uneven surfaces, taken very speedy. Let it need, and it can track like an arrow. This 4C is an exceptional driver's car, despite the fact that it is not going to go well with everybody. It has a couple of flaws. Some will say a Porsche Cayman is extra ‘grown-up’ and ‘completed’, and they are proper. it's undoubtedly more of a automobile that you simply might conveniently drive to work. but, put frankly, two hundred Britons a 12 months won't care a damn. they will no longer be eager about Porsches. they're going to be Alfa 4C homeowners, and they are going to have learned one of those cars - and at simplest £45,000 - that real stands apart from the rest.