Alfa Romeo 4C: Falling In Love In 4,5 Seconds

7 February 2018 Redazione News, Supercars Lounge, Tested

ALFA ROMEO 4C

FALLING IN LOVE IN 4,5 SECONDS

Words: Richi Mackie

Photography: Richard Montagner

When I grow up I want to be an astronaut, a footballer or maybe a Formula 1 racing driver. We all started with the same dreams, until we realized that we would be lucky just having a warm place and not ending to pay a new TV month after month. But a car, even those with a soul, certainly cannot have such desires – they can’t, but ultimately they have ambitions and the 4C is one of the most exciting and emotionally profound sports cars I’ve ever met. You would say that when it grows up it would like to become a Ferrari, after all it is still a nephew of the glorious 8C, which with its noble lines and the Maserati engine has engraved its name in modern motoring, like the great classics from Maranello. But what the 4C can do is to give strong emotions to those who drive it, now, in a time when we are submerged by alternatives of all kinds and that are moving more and more inexorable to a digitalized world.

I have no idea if one day it will be like a Ferrari, but having it close to me fills my spirit with equal measure joy. I observe that body so low and wide, further accentuated by her white dress and the carbon fiber details typical of the Launch Edition, characterized by those two “handles” incorporated in the front fenders and an extra air intake on the left side. 18-inch wheels at the front and 19 at the rear that fill the arches of an fat-enough body that combines with style and complicity a frame entirely made of carbon fiber and devoted to lightness. I hold a standard Alfa key in my hands, it seems that of any Giulietta, but it will give me much more fun. I open the door that stretches out, I do not have time to point anything precise that my eyes are bewitched by those red leather seats that are waiting for me to sit down, almost as if I were at the theater – fortunately the show will see me among the protagonists and not among the restricted public. I insert the key and I start the 1,750cc 4-cylinder turbo and so, while I wait for the temperature indicator to arrive halfway, I take this opportunity to let my eyes rest all around. The interior is devoid of frills, in front of me I have a steering wheel with a beautiful thick crown and a square bottom, a small full digital display behind it and a central console that houses a stereo with an inconspicuous look. Then the controls for the air conditioner – literally borrowed from some spare parts found in the basement – and a flat tunnel to accommodate the four buttons of the gearbox, a dual-clutch 6-speed automatic, the windows controls and the DNA, a real treat when it arrived in 2013.

Entering is not as difficult as on a Lotus, but it is not as simple as on the hot-hatch you currently have in the garage, after all we are dealing with an ultra-light sports car with a center of gravity close to the ground and a balance of weight devoted to driving as pure as possible. There is no power steering, the powering wheels are those at the back and the road will be an extension of your hands. On this model the DNA is already set on Dynamic, which galvanizes and gives a few more decibels to the Akrapovic sports exhaust, located in the center of the rear bumper and with a carbon fiber mouth that frames the double tailpipes. The 4C is an animal, you understand that as soon as you have to leave the parking lot of the office, having to cope with a couple of extra maneuvers due to the lack of rear visibility and a steering that, at least during slow movements, is really heavy. Placed on road and pointing its sharp face to the mountains is another music though. Tires tend to follow the roughness of the road, advising you to keep both hands firmly on the steering. The gearbox, compulsorily set in manual mode is fast and gives that unmistakable puff that soon creates a diabolical addiction. Windows down and ear strained to listen to one of the most exciting 4 cylinders out there, it wants to be kept up and in fact delivers its 240 horses at 6000 rpm, just before it is the case to pinch the small plastic paddle to throw in another gear. Observing the world from another perspective always has its charm, but today I do not just do it a few centimeters from the ground, I do it with the added value of speeds easily reached thanks to the extraordinary torque of the small 1,750 turbo. To push hard on the straight you just need a heavy right foot, to do that through corners you need some hair on your stomach, at least when the grip limit is measured by the relaxation of your bottom. But having overcome that moment of sympathetic amazement, you start loving the precision of what happens beneath you and so you find yourself driving in a completely different way from what you’ve always done. I use every rev of every single gear and when I have acquired enough confidence I act on the DNA and release the secret ingredient, that called “Race” mode: at this point I will be entirely responsible for all my actions. Traction control is disabled and from the display behind the steering wheel I can see the G force exercised at each corner of my climb, a treat that is fun even if I admit I kept my eyes exactly where they should have been: looking for the following corner.

The 4C likes to remind me that I am not a driver and in some cases, braking late or accelerating in the wrong way, suffers a bit of understeer, but when I do my homework well, the rear comfortably widens and the steering, which above 40 per hour becomes soft shows another side of it that does nothing but increase my respect for this car. Control the powerslide with your fingertips, with the 4 cylinder puffing forcefully and a chassis that slips exactly where you wanted to. There is no uncertainty on the part of the suspension, but when you need to get the tires back biting the road, you need to be quick and avoid pointing the other side. Before booking a front row seat for the disaster of the year, you must realize this. The 4C increases its pace after a microscopic uncertainty that goes away starting from 2,100 rpm, its rigid body communicates with mine and transmits me any loss of grip, any variation of the tires and the fluency with which we are tuned allows me to move the limit of my confidence further. It is useless to be pontificating if it is a car that will go down in history, because what interests us most is if it deserves to enter our personal album of memories and its does this after just ten minutes of driving. In the city it is completely fine, even if I don’t think you’ll end up parking it on a random narrow street full of city cars. Its natural habitat is a road worthy of emphasizing a pure driving chassis and the harmony between car and driver that the Alfisti have been claiming for a long time. Someone has listened to them. It is not practical because of a limited luggage compartment, located close to the engine and victim of an inevitable overheating, but after all who pretends that shopping should be the best moment of the week? Its reactivity comes in various forms, which are the purest and simplest acceleration or a top speed of almost 260 kph, a torque that does not require you to search the right gear to overtake someone on the motorway or a hard brake pedal which is hinged to the floor, just like on racing cars. Forget about driving with moccasins, you would look silly – using it properly means you’ll have to rape it in all circumstances, without ifs and buts. She will thank you.

The 4C is created to let us create our best moments, combining the convenience of an engine with little thirst with noble materials that adorn a sensual and muscular design. Modern because of the automatic transmission and the digital display, but damn raw and old-fashioned for those kicks in the back, those clutch’s shuddering in traffic and a little back pain after a long journey. With it you bring home a complete package, and if set up like the one I’ve tested you will not have eyes for anything else, you will not feel the need to drive anything else, but only to take a nice holiday “on the road” and drive, drive and then drive some more. I do not know if one day we’ll look at it like we do with a Ferrari, but be assured that if it was looking to be super, it did that in 4 and a half seconds. Maybe even less.

ALFA ROMEO 4C

Layout   –  mid-rear engine, rear wheel drive

Engine  –  4 cylinder 1.750cc – turbo

Transmission  –  6-speed automatic gearbox

Power  –  240 hp @ 6000 rpm

                      350 Nm @ 2100-3750 rpm

Weight  –  995 kg

Acceleration  –  4,5 sec.

Top Speed  –  258 kph

Price  –  from € 65.000