alfa romeo hasn't sold a car in the United States since the mid-nineteen
nineties but it is back and it is back big with the 2015 4c coupe
now this is being positioned as something of a supercar
what is the supercar well typically it has exotic looks check it as exotic
performance check and it has an extremely high price tag
this car starts with destination at just over 55,000 dollars that's not a bad
thing
now the 4c is a mid-engine coupe
that is something that still rare in the American market its best-known
competitor is the porsche cayman like the Cayman it is mid-engine meaning the
engine is behind the cabin but slightly in front of the center line of the rear
axle and you can see it right through the window
so what powers this little supercar is a 1.75 liter 4 cylinder engine
if you can believe it now even though it's that small
it puts out 273 horsepower 285 pound feet of torque it does that because it
is turbocharged and it takes more than 21 pounds of boost
that's a lot from 91 octane gasoline
now you'll also notice back here is your only cargo area
this happens to be a car cover uh it has about 3.7 cubic feet of storage that is
really really really small
the Porsche Cayman has for example 15 between a rear and front trunk and even
a mazda miata has five now alpha has gone to great lengths to keep this car
light weight and one of the ways they have done that is with the use of carbon
fiber now we're not talking about a carbon fiber roof or hood or certainly
not trim
we're talking about the top the structure of this car
you can see it on the still hear the door jamb just about everywhere
that is a big big step to reduce weight while maintaining strength
the body panels are composite another step to keep things light one of the
things i find interesting about the 4c is how much it combines super modern
technology like a
highly turbo-boosted four-cylinder engine and the carbon fiber with some
old-school stuff
kind of like how hard it is to get in and out a very wide still a very low car
now once you're in if you are a taller person you're actually not in bad shape
plenty of leg room bedroom is a bit limited certainly one of the hallmarks
of a mid-engine car is excellent handling and alfa romeo takes it to
another level with manual steering manual steering is something you don't
see that much anymore
it is both a step to minimize weight and also to improve feedback
aside from it needing more muscle at low speeds you do get a lot more feedback
which is fantastic it's a very direct feel but you also tend to have to work
at it a little bit more part of heaven that feedback is the steering wheel the
whole system reacts to hitting bumps and such so on the highway
you're doing a little bit more work and that actually can add to a fatigue
factor if you're trying to drive this car as a daily driver
fortunately the car is really controllable with the manual steering
the only real x factor is a little bit of turbo leg so you get sometimes a peek
that will start to kick the rear end out but you can counter it get it back under
control for a car with that much weight in the back
it's both entertaining and pretty safe now one of the ways that the 4c is a
little bit old school is the ride quality you can get a new sporty or
sports car these days that rides really nicely this one even with the regular
suspensions called the sport suspension but it's not the racing suspension
I rides very firmly
it's certainly livable if you're buying a car like this you might not mind but
you're not gonna mistake this for something else 0 to 60 is between four
and five seconds
you hit the gas and it goes like a rocket
bangs off shifts with the dual-clutch automated manual transmission very
quickly with a great bargain own really nice
now purists are gonna wish they had a stick shift
I unfortunately I'm going to have to agree but as these dual clutch automatic
schoo
it's a pretty good one there's no Idol creep when you come off the brake it
just kind of sits there until you give it some gas but the transition isn't bad
the up shifts again very quick the downshift are a little bit of a
disappointment I must say in the regular mode
they can be a little bit slow and if you use the shift paddles on the steering
wheel here
sometimes it will stair-step a bit down multiple gears that does get a little
bit better when you change the mode the 4 c's driving modes are controlled via a
DNA selector that stands out we'll start with a that is for all-weather use and
it cuts back on the throttle makes the ship program or you know a minimal to
snow conditions etc
beyond that there's the end which is for natural i would just call it normal mode
and then if you hold the toggle switch up
that's dynamic mode what that gives you is that hold onto gears into higher revs
gives you a more sensitive throttle etc the obvious stuff
now you can also go into a race mode by holding that switch up all the way and
that just styles up those settings a notch more and turns off the electronic
stability control now the interior quality has gotten a lot of knocks for
the base version but i have to say for 2750 you can get the leather package
which adds leather upholstery to the doors that -
we have leather seats in this one the bolsters are pretty prominent reasonably
comfortable seats overall I must say I find the upper ones a little bit
restrictive but I feel like you do need them because there's not much bracing
in the car you can't get your leg against the door so far over here
the center console is kind of low overall I think the quality is good
note that this test car is option up to over sixty four thousand dollars and one
of the option packages is the convenience package for 1800
it includes things like cruise control a backup sensor system which is definitely
welcome because there's practically no rear visibility and a premium stereo
that both doesn't sound good and i could not for the life of me figure it out
I I mean I did that supposed to come off
now if you're looking for things like cabin storage
there's really one cup holder which is nice this one is not so much of a cup
holder other storage options and I don't know what you call this a pocket of
sleeve something like that
oh here i found the from the cabin storage is here now there are a lot of
cars out there that don't photograph as well as they look in person this one
photographs pretty well but when you see in person it really is stunning but it
is not a car you buy just because you want a pretty car because of what it's
like to get in and out stiff ride and especially the manual steering
you got to really want it there are definitely quieter cars there are more
refined cars and actually the porsche cayman is one of them but what I have to
say is this car has a lot of heart
it's a visceral experience and and between the sound and the manual
steering you never forget that it's a machine and for that I kind of love it
and
yeah