Steve Cropley: Here we are at Alfa Romeo's famous test track, Balocco, in northern Italy, and the reason
we're here is to attend the launch of this car, the Alfa Romeo 4C, which I reckon, is
the most important Alfa Romeo for the last twenty years.
Why is it so important? Well, it's the first time that the modern Alfa management have
shown us what they really think an Alfa Romeo should be like. We've had saloons and superminis
and all of the rest of it, but those cars are simply old values expressed on convenient
cars. This car here shows us what they think a modern Alfa Romeo should be like.
The first thing about this car, of course, is that it's got a very rudimentary interior,
appealing, but hard plastic, no carpets, really, on the floor. Here, what I'm tapping here,
is the actual carbon fibre chassis. There's a low console, not a lot of stuff. Just the
rudiments. There's a familiar steering wheel. See these paddles, they work the six-speed
'box. No stick shift in this car, and no clutch either. So what you do is, twist the key to
start. No looking around for some start button. And then you just give her the beans.
And it sounds fabulous. There's an ignition cut every time you change
gear, so it sounds like a little rally car. Brilliant.
Loads of poke because the car only weighs 925kg, I think, dry, which is about the same weight as a Lotus Exige, in fact,
lighter than some of them. And so, with 240 horse power, and quite a lot of torque from
a turbo charged engine, it really goes a bit.
The lightness of the car spreads everywhere. It means it brakes really well. It's got sensational brakes, this car. It also changes direction
really easily because the tyres are, well, the load to be transferred, is low.
But the most remarkable thing about it, is that it rides really well. You won't believe
it. It rides so brilliantly. I think it will even work in Britain on the rubbish roads
we have in most of our counties. The thing that's really remarkable about this
car, is that they've had the courage, I suppose, to build what is, I guess, the flagship Alfa Romeo,
with a four-cylinder engine. There are lots of people who say it needs
a V6. It needs a stick shift and all the rest of it. This is what Alfa's were like, light,
simple, built of improved mainstream components, but held within a beautiful design.
This car, if you go back in Alfa history, is really, very, very similar, or at least
similar in concept to some of the stuff they were making 40 years ago. And of course,
the other thing that really stands out, puts this car - it's one of the reasons people compare
it with an Elise - is that it has unassisted steering. And when you're stopped, and you
want to park it, you have to get back into the habit of supplying muscle to get it to
do it, but once you're doing two or three miles an hour, its fine.
And then as soon as you're going down the road, it's beautiful. This is the fastest
tight bend, a little bit of reverse camber. The effort does load up through the steering,
but I love it. You know, you get used to it, and you wouldn't have anything else really.
I don't want the responses of this car to be dulled in any way. It's fantastic.
It is a lovely car, this, and I'm just lost in admiration, really, for these guys because
it's also this animalistic nature, and the fact that it's so basic, in a way, and so
sophisticated in others. It's sort of a car that no one else would build except the Italians.
It costs forty five grand which, some people will say, that's a lot of money but you know
McLaren is still boasting about having carbonfibre chassis in cars that cost two hundred.
And they're going to build 17 of these a day, in a factory in Naples, and there's
nothing really radical about the process, but they're just doing it in greater volume than most people.
I have had a wonderful day with the new Alfa
4C. It is everything its cracked up to be. It is a very, very special Alfa Romeo.
Perhaps, not the perfect car, there's a couple of faults, I suppose. In my dreams, I would just make
it oversteer a little bit more easily, and I would also maybe lower the gearing, so that
you could power slide it in the lower gears. But, it is a fantastic machine in almost every
way. And, I tell you what, right here and now, I'd rather have it than a Ferrari, as
long as you give me the test track to drive it on.