Alfa Romeo 4C...

[northernpar]

Been looking at these for a while although nothing too much other than the normal marketing blurb on the Alfa website. Then, TG tonight had the road test around Lake Como, although too much time spent on JC being an arse the car styling and performance look good (0-60 in 4.5s with 40mpg claimed as possible although I'm assuming that this is at a much more leisurely pace). An obvious down side was that the car looked tiny even when RH was standing beside it although according to the road test it's pretty wide, and there's the usual AR reliability concerns to contend with.

I'm sure it'll attract a lot of interest with the price quoted as £45k OTR (not sure what options are available and how they will affect the price) but I still have nightmares about the Lotus Exige S that I had.......

Whereas the McLaren MP1............. Now, if only I had a spare £887k kicking about.......

[RIV]

Maclaren p1 is a monster of a car, Alfa on the other hand is not my cuppa, as Hamand said cheap and plasticky

[SPIKE_RS]

There is something about the 4C that doesn't do it for me. I loved the 159 & 8C, but the styling on the 4C is just a bit wishy washy.

At 45k, I think I would be looking at other cars first, but I can see why it would be appealing to lots of people.

[HYFR]

4C is a great concept but let down by the 1.7 engine and plastic crap interior

Put a 2.0T and use the extra power to carry some additional weight to improve the luxury level

It looks great
It's mid engine
Double clutch
RWD
An Alfa!

[adsgreen]

Personally I think the little alfa looks great - the back of it is really nice.
End of the day 4.5 to 60 is none to shaby and will give things like an rs4 something to think about.
I could very easily see it getting 40mpg as similar cars with much older n/a engines do about the same. I'd imagine being DCT it has a very very long top gear to help with the emissions.

It is a lot for the money and is not a track car... I'm also concerned that going the carbon tub route accounts for a lot of the cost and it could have been done just as good in more conventional materials. Really comes down to this, boxster, cayman, slk or exige v6... similar money but different propositions.

I'd like to have a go and see how it goes but for a nice 2 seater car with reasonable on road performance and running costs it's a nice package.

[P_G]

4C is a great concept poorly executed. In that the carbon tub work, suspension etc. is great but the trim material quality is poor and as soon as they changed the concept's headlights to those bug eyes visually for me it has spoiled it. There is space for the 3.2 V6 in the rear but then it changes weight distribution, economy and emissions which is why they went for the 1.7 litre four cylinder turbo.

[lofty]

Have to agree with P_G about the lights, the concept car was a stunner, but they totally spoilt it with those stupid lights, the interior also looks a lot cheaper now, shame as it could have been fantastic.