Alfa Romeo 4C 2014 Review - International

Alfa Romeo 4C

Alfa Romeo is one of the world’s most evocative brands. And not just in the auto sphere. With history aplenty, it attracts some of the motoring world’s most passionate of proponents.

Nascent in recent times (save for the unloved and unlovable MiTo, and just left-of-centre Giulietta), the brand is seen as one of a trio of saviours for the Fiat Chrysler group. Along with Maserati and Jeep, Alfa Romeo has been targeted as a brand upon which the group can build its medium term profitability, and long term future.

May 6, 2014 is D-day for Alfa. Or should that be M-day. It’s then (probably in Detroit) that Fiat Chrysler Automobile boss, Sergio Marchionne, will announce the group’s plans – in terms of brands, products and technologies.

For Alfa Romeo this probably means bespoke platforms – rear-drive predominately, perhaps even with transaxles as a trademark technology. It will also mean a refocus on sporting performance.

Until then therefore, this is the car that defines Nouvo Alfa Romeo.

The 4C was built from a clean sheet in just 28 months -- about two-thirds the time Toyota or General Motors would take to build a new-from-the-ground-up model. Through this period, the car’s development mantra was ‘supercar performance at an affordable price’. Alfa’s engineers wanted to build a supercar which, with some application many enthusiasts could own.

The finished item is in many ways an appropriate calling card for the brand. It is elemental. It’s beautiful to look at, there’s real carbon-fibre to stroke and the exhaust note is rorty. But it is also a ‘simple’ car – one that is not far removed from kit status.

Production is limited by the number of tubs Alfa’s carbon-fibre contractor can build – 3500 per annum. Locally in 2014-15 we’ll get 300 4Cs, with around one-third of those being Spiders.

Given the most basic coupe version will be priced between $80-100K when it arrives in August (2014), that’s a decent chunk of cars to shift.

Local FCA officials will not be nailed down on price yet, but admit the limited-build Launch Edition – which features extra equipment (larger wheels, sports exhaust, etc.) and a build number – will hit local shores at between $100-120K. By way of comparison the cheapest Porsche Boxster is just over $100K.

We drove the 4C coupe at its international launch late last year so I won’t regurgitate all of the specifications. I will, however, take this opportunity to applaud Alfa Romeo for having the courage to carry the carbon-fibre tubbed sporty right the way through to production.

Our latest sampling of the 4C was at the Balocco proving ground halfway between Turin and Milan, and on a short 100km road loop. Although now used by the full Fiat Chrysler group, the large sign at the facility’s entrance created in Alfa’s cursive script leaves no doubt on whose turf the track and workshop complex sits.

To add gravitas, our base for the 4C drive at Balocco was in the same group of buildings that once housed Alfa Romeo’s Autodelta race team.

Just two laps of the facility’s ‘Alfa’ circuit were not enough to get to grips with the 4C. The main instant take-out was, however, the nervous nature of the steering and front-end – especially at the exit of the 200km/h plus recreation of Monza’s Lesmo curve. There was also clearly no shortage of pace – although the fizzing, popping and whooshing of the turbo four just behind your head didn’t result in the most engaging of soundtracks.

Then a half-dozen or so laps of a tighter handling circuit within the boundaries of the ‘big’ track instilled more confidence in the car.

On this layout, with the TCT twin-clutch transmission in full manual mode and using the four’s prodigious torque and higher gears, I was able to start to appreciate the car’s natural balance and grip. Indeed, here and on the road loop to the foot of the Italian Alps, the harder the 4C was driven, the better it started to feel – although with some caveats.

The 4C’s steering lacks the self-centring and self-censoring of the power assisted systems to which most of us are now used. The wheel squirms in your hands under brakes and the front wheels tram-track on almost every ridge and camber. Badly!

If you try and fight this you end up chasing the car all over the road. Use ‘soft hands’ though, and let the 4C have a little leeway, and then the whole plot starts to feel a lot better.

The steering is simply never ‘right’ though – in the same way, say, as a Porsche Boxster or even Lotus’ various Elise and Exige models. Turn-in is sharp off-centre and then the weighting of the 4C’s steering loads up – so that if more lock is required, you need to really muscle the car. Yet at the same time, there’s not the level of feel that you’d expect in this type of vehicle either.

That said, push really hard in second and third-gear corners and the front eventually instils quite a degree of confidence. When the car does approach its limits the front tyres lose grip in relatively predictable manner, just a smidge before the rear. In this respect, the car is kinder to newbies than in might be.

Bumpy roads will test your concentration (remember: soft hands, soft hands), but not your rear-end… Here the 4C is firm, but for a pukka sportscar its ride is well resolved.

For the record, we drove Launch Edition cars with the 4C’s optional larger wheels fitted. Instead of standard 205/45 17s and 235/40 18s, the test cars wore 40 and 35-section tyres of the same widths on 18 and 19-inch diameter alloys. It may be the standard wheels will be the best choice for local roads.

The numbers that dominate any performance discussion regards the 4C, however, are 177kW, 350Nm and the car’s dry weight – 895kg (claimed).

Alfa says the car can generate more than 1.1g in lateral acceleration and 1.25g-plus under braking – it claims 100-0km/h takes 35 metres. Although it never really feels that quick off the line, the 4C accelerates 0-100km/h in less than 4.5sec, they say.

One contributor to this great acceleration number is power down grip. Even allowing for the extra grip of the ‘Rosso’ spec Pirelli P-Zero tyres fitted to our testers it’s astonishing.

Out of dry second gear hairpins, substantial ‘natural’ grip (think 40:60 static weight distribution) means the traction and stability control systems are rarely, if ever, called upon.

Point to point there’s also clearly very decent pace available – the Giulietta-based four has significant reserves of torque which thanks to the 4C’s low mass translates immediately into midrange acceleration.

The practical among us will criticise the 4C for its high levels of cabin noise and almost non-existent rear and rear-three quarter sight lines. There are also some missing ‘essentials’ – no form of satnav is offered, park sensors and a rear camera are must-adds soon Mr Marchionne, and so is cruise control. Luggage space is limited to a small well at the rear of the car.

Enthusiasts and Alfa Romeo apologists will counter that such features have no place on a proper sportscar. To that I reply simply: tell that to Porsche…

And have we mentioned in this driver focussed car that the passenger seat lacks any sort of adjustment – it’s fixed in position in terms of fore and aft and backrest angle. Then there’s the pedal position, which in the left-hand drive tester was markedly offset to the right – so much so that left-foot braking is next to impossible

The other issue with the 4C is the TCT dry dual-clutch transmission – it’s simply not up to the high standards set by conceptually similar units from other manufacturers.

Alfa gifts the 4C an enhanced version of its DNA drive mode select system which also affects changes to the throttle and TCT gearbox mapping. In the MiTo and Giulietta, DNA offers All-Weather, Natural and Dynamic modes, while the 4C adds ‘Race’. This mode actuates launch control but also disables stability and traction control systems.

In short, on the road the TCT is best used in pure manual mode in the Dynamic setting – all of the others we tried were problematic (in Natural gear changes are slower and there’s no throttle blipping). If left to its own devices in auto mode, either Dynamic or Race, the TCT is simply too reactive. Such is the torque of this engine, that you want the gearbox to be holding higher gears rather than kicking down constantly.

Indeed, the TCT is almost singularly the most annoying part of the 4C. As noted above, the tram-tracking front-end come a close second.

It also seems that in some aspects Alfa Romeo is doing its development of the 4C on the run. Calibration for the twin-clutch transmission continues to evolve and two of the cars we drove were retired (albeit temporarily) after onboard warnings chimed in: an engine overheating on one, and a gearbox fault on the other.

Although not good for consumer confidence, we can vouch on the road loop there was no repeat of the faults. Let’s put the glitches down to high kilometre use (one had over 7000km on the clock) as evaluation and track test vehicles.

Short in gestation, big on performance, and character, the 4C is not going to suit everybody. In fact, it’s not going to suit many…

As a sporting road car it’s flawed but, once your blood’s up, seriously fast. Its true abilities are at the edge of the envelope – alas, most potential buyers won’t even know how to correctly address that envelope, let alone write the letter to seal within it…

2014 Alfa Romeo 4C pricing and specifications:
Price: $TBA (plus on-road costs, see text)
Engine: 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 177kW/350Nm
Transmission: Six-speed dual-clutch
Fuel: 6.8L/100km (NEDC Combined)
CO2: 157g/km (NEDC Combined)
Safety Rating: TBA