Alfa Romeo strikes 4C trouble

Meant to be the technology-rich coupe to take Alfa Romeo back to its sportscar roots, insiders have claimed next year’s 4C is riddled with development problems that could take the red-blooded Italian brand years to put right.

The ambitious carbon-fibre sportscar, designed to lead the once-great European brand back into the US market, has been beset with handling problems, sources insist.

Originally due on sale late this year, the 4C’s delayed rollout targets – including a 2013 Geneva production unveil and mid-2013 on-sale date - are forcing its chassis development team to burn the midnight oil to correct serious handling flaws.

The mid-engined, rear-drive baby supercar, which will be the first Alfa to boast the maker’s all-new, all-alloy 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, has a target weight of just 850kg.

Alfa has insisted it is keeping to the performance promises made at its 2011 Geneva Motor Show launch, which means a 0-100km/h time of around 4.5 seconds, a top speed of 250km/h and peak power of up to 225kW, though entry models will deliver only 170kW.

One source, who declined to be named, said the problems can be tracked to the car’s original carbon-fibre chassis developer, Dallara, and its late delivery of the earliest prototypes, which forced Alfa Romeo to take the 4C’s development back in-house.

Three insiders have confirmed to motoring.com.au that recent tests with the car found fundamental issues with front splitters hitting the ground under hard braking and severe toe-angle changes in the rear suspension during hard cornering.

Due to be built in Maserati’s Modena plant in Italy and on sale in Europe next year from under €50,000 ($A75,600), while right-hand drive versions will take at least six months more to arrive in Australia at a price that’s yet to be disclosed but should be somewhere between $85,000 and $100,000.

Alfa engineers have been working to overcome what one source insisted was a fundamental configuration issue related to its MacPherson strut rear suspension, a layout more commonly seen at the front-end of modern cars – including rear- and mid-engined Porsches, which run multi-link rear-ends.

“If you want to build a mid-engined or rear-heavy sports car, there’s one brand you’d probably want to take some lessons from,” he hinted. “And they’ve been doing this sort of thing with a MacPherson strut front end and a multi-link rear-end pretty well for years.

“We’ve turned that around (with a multi-link front-end and a MacPherson strut rear) and it’s made life very difficult for us.”

Two Alfa sources confirmed the car’s low centre of gravity, combined with the four-link front suspension’s lack of anti-dive geometry, meant current development prototypes had problems with their noses hitting the ground under hard braking.

They also confirmed the car started life with an inboard MacPherson strut rear end, though that quickly moved to an outboard setup when the original proved too troublesome.

“Even now, the toe-angle changes are significant in hard cornering. The cars are all toeing-in as they turn. There is a lot left to do,” one said.

Alfa has plans to build 2500 examples of the KTM X-Bow-inspired 4C a year, with high export hopes for the US and even higher hopes that it will take the fight to the Porsche Cayman – a redesigned version of which will debut at the Los Angeles Motor Show in November - even in the German’s home market.

Alfa executives originally hired open-wheel racing firm Dallara to deliver a turn-key chassis. Dallara had been involved in the X-Bow’s development, yet Alfa became disillusioned with its progress and pulled the project in-house after a year. By then, however, Alfa was already committed to many of the core principles Dallara had given the 4C, such as its suspension layout.

About the same length as its MiTo, though a little wider, the 4C is based around a carbon-fibre tub with aluminium frame crashboxes at either end. The two-seater had a target front/rear weight distribution of 40/60, though sources say this is now closer to 35/65.

Its all-new engine will ultimately find its way into the 2015 Spider and both the Giulietta hatch and the long-delayed Giulia sedan and wagon, which will finally provide Alfa dealers with a replacement for the 159.

It will spread around the world, too, with Dodge eyeing it off for an SRT version of its new Dodge Dart, while detuned versions will appear in other Chrysler, Lancia, Dodge and Jeep models.

In the 4C, Alfa has mated the halo spec of the engine with a stronger version of the TCT dual dry-clutch transmission (currently found only in the Giulietta and the MiTo), which will operate via shift paddles on the steering column.

While it will initially be a six-speeder, the gearbox has a pre-engineered slot for a seventh gear, which the 4C is expected to utilize at some point in its life cycle.

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