Buy with your head, drive with your heart: Alfa Romeo 4C Coupe

The Alfa Romeo 4C is unusual. It’s not, like every other Alfa, “the make or break car for the company’s future” – a tag which has been attached to pretty much every new launch since the 75 in 1985. The 4C is truly head-turning If you buy a 4C, budget for a shorter number plate At £51,500, this is an out-and-out sports car …

[TeeCee]

HiFi.

Of course being a Parrott unit, it'll be the absolute dog's bollocks at Bluetooth handsfree phone and audio streaming, unlike the Alpine system as theirs are usually pig-awful in this area.

A far more useful feature than bloody DAB, which is to in-car music what welding gloves are to brain surgeons.

[Jason 24]

Re: HiFi.

At least they've gotten rid of Blue&Me, I've got one of those units in my recent Alfa purchase (159 2.4 diesel, the 200bhp model) and the damn thing is bricked and won't respond to any updates on any of 20 pen drives.

So I've gone for a pioneer head unit with parrot + radioapp + mirror link in the hope that one of them will work half decently!

[Dr_N]

Re: HiFi.

Blue & Me was fine. 10 years ago. Parrot is a stop-gap for the 4C as all other FCA cars now run UConnect. Try an Alfa Forum for B&M help.

A nice review of the 4C. Thanks El Reg.

[Anonymous Coward]

What's with car reviews on an IT site?

So, the occasional once-off car review... no worries.

But it seems like they're now a lot more than an occasional once-off. Please stop doing this. :(

[Steve Davies 3]

Re: What's with car reviews on an IT site?

Lighten up there's a good chap. It is the weekend after all.

All IT chatter and no play doth a dullard make.

[Gordon 10]

Re: What's with car reviews on an IT site?

There has been a car section every week since the reg started its weekend edition some months ago. Do wake up at the back.

[werdsmith]

Re: What's with car reviews on an IT site?

The car reviews are for the contractors with the cash to buy them.

[Admiral Grace Hopper]

Re: What's with car reviews on an IT site?

I have based several recent car choices on reviews on El Reg, indeed I am enjoying my Renault Twingo greatly, a car I wouldn't have considered without that review. These reviews are well-written, comprehensive and take a real-world view, all qualities which I find useful.

As to the IT relevance, have you listened to any conversations in any room with a reasonable concentration of IT folk? At some point it will turn to cars. It just does. You may start off with bit-rates, terabytes and mips but eventually you will end up at 0-60 and bhp. As the daughter of a manufacturer of automotive fasteners I'm quite used to it and join in quite happily. Car talk is all part of IT. No matter how hard I have tried. needlework talk hasn't replaced it yet.

Anyway, I may need to new job so that I can afford this particular run-around. Time to hit the job sites.

[Jim 59]

Re: What's with car reviews on an IT site?

Less noise from the cheaper seats please.

[Steve Davies 3]

Saw my first one yesterday

Heading for the supercar shindig at Dunsfold. Almost missed it what with overtaking a lime green Lambo on one of the few passing places on the A281.

mind you, does not really belong in a supercar class but for an Alfa it ain't half bad.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Saw my first one yesterday

Followed one around the Mercedes test track at Brooklands a couple of months ago; they do make a nice noise from outside.

[Zog_but_not_the_first]

Excellent real-life review

By that I mean it reads as though you have actually spent some time driving the car. When I was casting around for a fun car to stave off a mid life crisis I quickly realised how lazy some car reviewers are, often parroting "facts" about car faults and issues that simply aren't true. It became easy to spot and sieve them out as they couldn't even be bothered to modify the wording - just cut 'n paste journalism.

[Anonymous Coward]

Alfa's = flawed but you overcome them for the driving pleasure. I had an SZ, used to take it to track days, remarkably easy to slide around corners, handling was out of this world. Long gearing so it was slow compared to virtually everything else. But there was just something so "right" about it's handling and I compared it to a lot of cars including caterhams.

Driving to the track days was like hell on earth, an air con system in perfect working order that wouldn't demist, windscreen wipers that made visibility worse, touring car suspension so the car followed the camber all the time, every single piece of gravel felt through the rigid composite (not carbon, but not fibreglass) bodywork, ride quality would have been improved by removing the suspension, and a hydraulic button operated lift to get over speed bumps with no indicator light so you'd need to open the door to see if the car was rising or scrape the exhaust off. Never had a better car.

[werdsmith]

I've got an Alfa Brera in my garage that I bought for less than a grand as a non-runner. It's being looked at next week and hopefully will be back on the road for less than four figures more. It's a gamble but if it works out then I will have my first Alfa! Can't wait!

[teabag36]

WOW

A stunning looking car. Looks even better in the flesh. A Elise done properly. A Boxster with style, soul and passion. Well done Alfa!

[Richard Taylor 2]

Re: WOW

Oh dear you really haven't driven/owned an Elise.

[teabag36]

Re: WOW

Well I've driven Elises (never owned) and Caterhams - great cars for sure. The Alfa felt a lot nicer than the Elise and rather more stylish.

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Alfa

They always used to say on Top Gear that you haven't been a real car enthusiast until you've owned an Alfa. Up here in Australia, owning (or having owned) an Alfa generally isn't a badge of honour.

But I'd have this one in a heartbeat. And it won't rust to boot!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Alfa

It won't rust, but in a collision the carbon fibre will delaminate and spray little carbon needles over everything. Also, it may eventually micro-crack from vibration. Is it really suitable as a structural material for road going vehicles?

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Re: Alfa

It won't rust, but in a collision the carbon fibre will delaminate and spray little carbon needles over everything. Also, it may eventually micro-crack from vibration. Is it really suitable as a structural material for road going vehicles?

This isn't the first CFRP tubbed vehicle on the road.

Also, I suspect that if you hit something hard enough to cause the CFRP to shatter in the way you describe, that might low on your list of worries.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Alfa

Italian electrics are as dodgy as their boiler valves. I strongly advise joining the AA or RAC is you buy this.

[Dr_N]

Re: Alfa

Electrics from the likes of that famous Italian firm Bosch....?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Alfa

@ Dr_N

Depends how you implement something.

PS Worcester Bosch use Italian valves and no degree of implementation stops them from being shit and leaky.

[Dr_N]

Re: Alfa

Mine's a Guinness,

Are you in the valve sector or the electronics sector? Or just a consumer with a bad boiler experience....?

And what does this have to do with FCA's Baby Alfa. Did your boss just order the Spider and you need to talk it down to dull the envy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Alfa

@ Dr_N

I've owned both a Worcester Bosch cd35i and Alfa 156 both of which I've had to repair many times myself.

I'm a former electronics engineer who is now a biochemist.

[Angol]

Not many of us can indulge in the cars you've been entertainingly reviewing for us lately. But a lot of our budgets would stretch to a good motorcycle. Could El Reg get a Vulture fetchingly dressed in blaçk leather to show us a few options?

[Steve Knox]

Could El Reg get a Vulture fetchingly dressed in blaçk leather to show us a few options?

A cry for the return of the Moderatrix?

[JP19]

Front number plate

Is there anywhere these cars are not going to have front number plates?

Can't they design the front of the car to take one instead of sticking one on looking like a butt ugly afterthought? A full size one must look even worse than the short one in the review.

[Tom Chiverton 1]

Umm

"At £51,500 ... a sub-£50,000 car."

It's not just my maths being off is it ?

[Steve Aubrey]

Re: Umm

Well, there's the car, and then there's the tires.

Will you be wanting tires with your car?

[MJI]

Nice car

Looks lovely.

An Alfa I would like

[Anonymous Coward]

Had a couple...

...of Alfas in the past. They looked gorgeous. They went well, but sadly only for about a year. Bits started failing (electrics, brake discs), bits fell off (wiper arms, silencer) and some corrosion started appearing. Never again (sadly).

[Jim 59]

Absolutely smashing. I'm not keen on minimalistic track cars personally, bit if I were, this.

Thing is the 4C, Elise and so on are (even more) expensive when you include the other car you'll also need to own for a bearable life. And the sub 5 second 0-60 is achieved simply by removing most of the car, and then charging buyers a premium for the remainder. Still would though.

[JustNiz]

Thats one heck of a lot of money for what is basically a go cart in a pretty body.

Given it is priced similarly to a base F-type coupe which comes with much more everything, especially luxury, I know which I'd go for if I was in that market.

[teabag36]

The F type certainly is brilliant and has luxury and speed. It doesn't have the added lightness of the Alfa - that ain't cheap. Very different horses methinks.....

[annodomini2]

Still don't get this car

Too soft to be a track weapon

Too hard to be a weekend toy

Oh and other than the CF tub gimmick, too expensive.