Alfa 4C - "Without The Heart We Would Be Mere Machines"

The 4C is a cool car but it may end up being one of the most rare Alfa's ever built, the sales numbers are seriously low. I believe less than 400 units have ben sold in the US What gives?

IMO it should have been a true top down spider, but it is what it is. The owners of the 4C are in a small special club.

 

If your idea is trying so save weight, it makes no sense to do it any other way. The spider is only 22 lbs heavier than the coupe. Try that with any other car.

I only wish the rear window would roll down but it doesn't.

Seriously low? They are bringing in SE's now in larger quantities. One dealer on the East Coast got 5 yesterday. No one got more than 2 LE's a month before. They will sell more 4c's than Maserati Granturismo's.

BTW: I own number 400. The last two cars my dealer got were both sold in a week.

 

Maybe it's a supply issue, but history shows that these small light cars sell in low numbers ask Lotus. I hope the car does well and the technology can be transferred into a spider version. and when I say spider I mean like a duetto or Gulia spider something the average guy can get in and out of.

 

Drifting in race mode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnjB1N9JPoY&feature=youtu.be

 

Fun
there is a show on velocity called something like 'how its built' about 4c this weekend

 

Watched it and I'm convinced after watching them build the 4c that the car is a steal.

Great job Alfa!

 

Amazing how much hand crafting goes into it. Hand squeezing air bubbles out of cf laminate! Yikes, i hope that guy had good nights sleep. Lots trouble down road if not

And doesnt the engine seem very tall? Like it should be mounted on its side.

 

agree on both. I think the additional vacuuming of the air prior to baking would help re the air bubbles, completely shocked at the height of the engine-I thought it was big before the cyc head went on it....i was amazed at the automated engine assembly and the hand made body-would have thought the reverse...that said, after seeing the show, I'd buy a 4c over a cayman in a heartbeat, and I'm a Porsche fan...

 

im opposite. i usually fall in love with whatever car they build on that show but not with the alfa. seems like too much can go wrong with the cf tub. like on the f50. i would take a gt4 cayman or boxster spyder over alfa now

 

This "how its built" 4C video has been around for some time. IMO, AR is not making any money on the 4C; which is another reason why they are only doing a 2-year limited production run.

As for the labour intensive nature of its construction, that's how hand-made cars are built. If the thought of human error is too worrisome, then you'd have to stick to automation errors.

The 4C engine has to share space with a small trunk, unlike the 458. And unlike the 458 engine, the 4C engine is wet sump - so the oil pan needs to take up space at the bottom, unlike the dry sump engine of the 458.

The 4C can definitely be better, but then it would also cost a lot more than $80k. Try buying a GT4 or even a GTS for $80k.

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Here's the 458's engine. It's not exactly short either.
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So a friend and I are at Concorso Italiano looking at all the great cars and we notice the Alfa 4C tent. Excellent time to really check one out. My friend is a ex jet pilot and really wants a new fun car that is a bit edgy, so he's really interested. We wait while the salesman finishes with a customer then we ask a few general questions, but the most important question is will we fit? The car looks small, but who knows maybe it's larger than it looks. My friend is 6 foot one.

The Alfa sales man standing in the middle of three 4C's and 5000 potential customers then proceeds to tell us the cars are all locked, no you can't see if you fit. One of the largest shows Alfa will attend this year and the cars are all locked???

Alfa marketing!

 

I got to try one on in Toronto.

I am 6' to 6'1"

I do not fit comfortably. My eye level sits at where the side window glass meets the roof edge.

the seat needs to be able to recline more or slide 2 more inches to the back for our height (preferably both).

So I thought the carbon was gorgeous and the lines (and that rich red paint) were fantastic.

But, no, I just don't fit.

Robb

 

I'm 6'2 and fitted fine, although I must admit whit the door open. So never saw my seating position in relation to the side window glass. Do remember sitting low in the car and having a good visibilty to the front windscreen (no upstruction of visibilty by the roof). Tested the room above my head as well, which was adequate, maybe a cm or 2 max. Meaning just enough, but most probably, not quite enough space for a helmet.

The driver seat by the way can be bolted into a lower or higher position depending on driver needs/size.

 

I recently purchased a Fiat 500X for my wife and the Fiat dealer in Hurst had three 4C's on display. All were coupes and two were red, other was white. I believe one of them was from the first batch of 500. As I was buying a new car from them, I asked if I could sit inside one of the 4C's. The white one was unlocked. I am 6' tall and the leg room was sufficient. However, my "girth" is not as slim as I would like and the seats seemed a bit narrow for me. This is another good reason to start losing the weight.

The cars looked great but the dealership overall is not really pushing Alfa Romeo at this time. They do not even have the logo sign out on the building. Hopefully Alfa can find the correct price point for cost of production vs. what the market will pay for it.

PS: the wife loves her 500X. It has many features and comforts, gets 30+ miles per gallon and looks good.

Cheers,

Jeff
Dallas, Texas

2016 Fiat 500x
1999 Mercury Mystique (now my high school son's car)
1994 Alfa Romeo 164 LS
1997 Fiat 124 spider

 

My take..

Its beautiful day. Perfect day for a spirited run. I have a 458 Spider and a 4c to choose from. I am leaning towards the 4c...that says a ton about the Alfa.

 

I'll jump in on this thread since I had the privilege of being around one of these the last few days. A client of mine that has owned (and owns) multiple Ferraris purchased a launch edition and brought it to me for some work. He took me for a ride and to say it was insanity would be putting it mildly! Talking to him he said that taking the 4C out puts a bigger smile on his face than his Ferraris. After the three days of detailing, I took it down the street and back. I would say for about five hours after the little drive I still had an enormous smile on my face. Simply thinking about it as I am writing this is making me smile like a little kid. The car is an absolute blast to drive and even a blast to be a passenger in. The sound of the exhaust and that turbo whaling in your ear as you go from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th shifting each time at redline....it makes me wonder why the hell they even have a radio and speakers in the car, its a symphony all its own. While he was driving me around he got on it pretty heavy and was hitting the brakes very hard, the car is astonishing in every way. I have taken this little Italian drug and I am addicted!! Oh and to be clear, I was not the one shifting at redline or even driving it hard, that was him when I was along for the ride. I drove it mildly since it is not my car.

 

Sounds like the perfect weekend car, and very much an Alfa!

IMO Ferrari, McLaren, Lamborghini (now they are designed by sterile Audi) and Porsche have lost the point of their ROAD cars by concentrating way toooooooo much on mere speeds and lap times.

Unless you actually race your car, speed and lap times are irrelevant!!! Why can't these fools get this.

IMO they all should be building sportscars that top out at about 175mph but are gloriously involving and challenging to drive. Piss off flappy paddle, computer processors altering grip levels and put the challenge back on to the driver to LIFT their game to get the most out of their car. Honestly modern supercars must be as unchallenging to drive as a Toyota Camry ... why do people buy them?, when for the same $'s you can get a 365BB or Countach or maybe even a F40!

Yes by all means make the GT2 and GT3 cars but add a model to your range that is for DRIVING enthusiasts not computer operators. Some where on this site a poster spoke to a McLaren owner about the amazing speed of his car and he responded saying the car does it all, he just turns in and floors the accelerator and the computer does everything ... surely after 3 laps that would be boring!
Pete

 

well I driven/owned all of them and I strongly disagree with the above. I like modern sports cars more than vintage ones. I think boxer, countach, etc drive like bucket of bolts with terrible ergonomics, handling, clutch/shift, you name it. theyre super cool collector cars that look great and will only go up in value, but for driving, theyre junk

and I like that if you want a stick sports car you need to buy American. z06 and viper acr should do the trick if that's what you want.

 

Good point. I had forgotten about the poor engineering. Okay then a 308 or F40 would be my pick, or I will just stick with my 1750GTV Alfa.

Yes the z06 appears to be a great modern sports car. I won't talk about the Viper simply because it is not my thing.
Pete

 

why not viper?

its as raw as raw gets

 

I'm not into big cars ... but to be fair I have never driven one, but I'm more a "as small as it gets" sort of car person.
Pete

 

What exactly does launch edition include? Over here it's about 28k on top of the regular model.

 

I have yet to see one out and about here in Chicago. I saw one in Paris last year but still none in Chicago. Seems like a nicely equipped (leather, 18 wheels, red paint and sport exhaust) one would be around $63k + taxes, or $70k. I really love how it looks, love that it's an Alfa..but i cant justify $70k on that toy. I really hope they devaluate some.

 

All (?) new Alfas devalue like a lead bricks so a low mileage second hand one would make a lot of sense.
Pete