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The Alfa 4C? That's been out ages...
It has been on sale for a year in the UK now, and if you remember, we didn't much like it when it first came out. That made some of you really quite angry (the comments under the story - yes, we do read them - contained evidence of some, er, strong opinions).
It's fair to say that Alfa Romeo wasn't particularly delighted either, and offered to loan us a car that was in a more road-biased trim. So here we are.
So what are the changes?
This 4C is equipped with the Comfort chassis (no rear anti-roll bar, softer springs and dampers), plus smaller diameter wheels (17s and 18s at the front and back respectively, rather than 18s and 19s). The hope is that this will make the 4C less distracted and prone to tramlining. Also less likely to weave under braking would be good.
Hopefully, after almost a year in production, the numb brakes with the inconsistent pedal will have been sorted, not to mention the strange gearbox calibration and the overly-excitable turbo. I could go on. But I won't. Suffice it to say there's a reason we never took the 4C on our summer Performance Car Of The Year shootout.
Does this one rectify all the bad stuff?
No. Almost none of it. Sigh. I take no pleasure in writing this, because I wanted the Alfa 4C to be so good, to really stick it to the Germans, but aside from more forgiveness in the ride, slightly improved traction and a hint less sensitivity to road camber, the basics of the chassis behavior haven't changed.
It's still an alarming thing to drive down a bumpy rutted road, as it's the road that governs your direction of travel as much as the steering.
But doesn't that mean it's engaging and fun?
Not when the car is fighting against you rather than with you, no. No matter how spiky the car, you need to have confidence in it in order to push it, to feel like you're getting anything out of it, but all too often the Alfa seems to be working against you, trying to trip you up.
Take the McLaren P1. It's a proper handful, a genuinely hairy hypercar, but because it communicates itself clearly through your hands and buttocks you know how much of its ability you can use, when to press on or back off. In the 4C, you don't. What heightens the issues is that this is a short, wide, mid-engined car - if it does start to slip, it moves very quickly.
Have you got anything nice to say about it?
It is achingly pretty. Properly heart-stoppingly lovely.
Is that really it?
Hmm. The 4C is actually pretty efficient (you'll get about 35mpg), it's very fast, and you can boast about the carbon tub. On smooth, dry roads it's much better behaved, and driving it is never less than an event.
Plus, if you compare it to a Lotus Exige, it looks reasonably good value. And you get to tell people you drive an Alfa Romeo, which, despite the company's efforts lately, still has cachet.
But...?
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