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Alfa Romeo 4C Is A Masterpiece, Say FIAT

Topics:  Alfa Romeo 4C

Alfa Romeo 4C Is A Masterpiece, Say FIAT

Geoff Maxted
DriveWrite
September 5, 2013

To which the cynic responds with, ‘well, they would say that wouldn’t they?’

On the other hand, it certainly looks the part and ‘masterpiece’ is not a word that can be bandied about lightly. There has to be something in it.

It seems that the company used the Porsche Cayman as a comparison and it doesn’t get any better than that. Rather cruelly, FIAT stated that at slow speeds being in a Cayman feels just like being in a Golf. It’s only when the foot goes down that things liven up. The 4C, they say, is different; it is apparently like being in a racing car at all times. In pure handling terms they are rating it as highly as a Ferrari. You can’t say they are not talking this one up.

The 4C weighs in at 895kg, is 3990mm long and delivers 240hp from its 1.75L turbocharged direct-injection petrol engine with the traffic light sprint coming in at 4.5 seconds. Perhaps a comparable car would be the Lotus Elise although parent company FIAT believe that that sports car can’t hold a candle to the 4C which, they insist, is better in every respect.

If you want one then get in line down at your local dealers. Because the carbon fibre chassis is, FIAT admit, a production bottleneck because of the limitations of their supplier, they will only build 3500 a year. With order books opening officially in September and some months later in the USA you had better believe that many of those have already been pre-ordered.

If you were lucky enough to catch the demonstration run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July you’ll already know that this diminutive Alfa is a bit special. Whether it lives up to the ‘masterpiece’ tag remains to be seen.