[OriginalForza]

Daily driven 2015/16 (production/registration weirdness on mine) 4c spider here, 40,### miles, 50+ 7/10-8/10 track miles, a delaminated dash and TCU valve recall as my only issues, nothing but oil changes and a belt/pump service coming up... But more than a few modifications that has transformed the experience from "with issues" to my best and favorite daily experience. The key to it all is "carbon fiber tub" and how reliable/robust it all actually is, blowing every other exotic (more "super" cars such as 430/Gallardo/R8 as the 4c was really the only actual "sports" car the past decade to a "right" Porsche, Exige/Elise, or maybe an Ariel) out of my garage. The only other car better at being even confusingly affordable (think insurance, fuel, service, aftermarket items), always up to the task, dent-proof, easy/quick to replace windshield (free from insurance in Florida, USA), and just plain enjoyable was a 2012 Jeep JK two door manual after all the mods I did to it, that made it more a tanked-out trophy truck (insanely lightweighted on 4.88 gears and 33's, straight pipe, and thick aluminum with custom cutting board plates...) - a daily I bought with $23k and sold for $20k after 88k+ abused miles and all the DIY mods one can do badly, in a time where driving off the lot and installing a dash cam will take a chunk out of your resale value.

The 4c is also rare: I pass a handful of C8 corvettes, any Porsche you can blurt out, and all manner of Ferrari/Lamborghini every day just getting coffee, but of the three 4c I've ever crossed, we are friends today. It's a completely different experience to any other car, and for what even still is a bargain price.

I loved the "darkstar" Tesla roadster when I drove it, and might love the new one when Elon/Tesla ever gets around to actually making it. I'm excited to see what Lotus/Geely has cooked up with these new Emira, etcetera, and I am hoping to maybe trade in my 997 manual 911 for the new Cayman RS, but even if either model is a superstar, the 4C will forever stay in my garage, and with the right drivetrain swap (some owners love it as is, but I do need my high revs and some form of manual transmission), might even stay my daily until I have kids.

- but then I'm the type of future parent that would likely have a 6x6 hellcrated or 4xe jeep as the family hauler, so maybe I'm different from you: The 4c isn't for everyone, and that's maybe why it was exactly for me. So if you like to not worry about where you park, park next to a Pagani "self-explanatorily" while the owner will talk how cool their old Alfa was/is, and would enjoy 30+ miles per gallon over a mostly-theoretical real world speed advantage from "real" horsepower (also obviously not need more trunk space than a golf bag and a ski box), the 4C might be for you.

Hope this helps understand!🍀

 

[VabeneGTV]

How can you misunderstand this...

 

[OriginalForza]

How can you misunderstand this... View attachment 1686065

Well, there's the blind and the deaf and the numb. That also hate alcantara and/or real leather. And read in braille a car's specs, skipping over how it's built and what it's made of... And then there's wannabe "car journalists", you tube "connoisseurs", which might be the same thing.

 

[Peter A]

Saw two C8 corvettes yesterday. They are massive machines, like many of the supercars today. Completely the antithesis of a 4C. Too big and too fast, and too expensive (corvette excepted) for me to drive on backroads I enjoy, at nowhere near their capability. Anybody can push the pedal down on a huge engine with AWD and tons of layers of electronics but those drivers are mostly along for the ride. I’d rather have a 1970 Buick 455 GS for stoplight drag racing. How many high end cars are mostly cars and coffee round-trippers on their R-Spec tires? Why do I need launch control on a sports car (although 4C has launch control but I’ll never use it, the DCT is kinda a 4C black box, very reliable until it’s not). Hats off to those folks that actually find the place and have the skill to drive supercars, or even a 505hp Guilia QV. More hats off to a 4C that is well driven. BTW there is an active world of tuners and owners who have continued to develop the 4C for minor or more extensive mods if that is your thing. Getting 330 HP and 1.2g cornering capability is not hard while still road friendly, and some have gone a lot farther. FWIW I am all stock 240-ish HP and OEM tires with the road-tuned suspension (vs. the factory track tuned setup) and the car is perfect for my 95% road use plus a couple of expected track days per year. Down the road I’ll likely add a little power, a little suspension and 200tw tires.

 

[DSpieg]

".....and they ditched the manual gearbox option....." End of story, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[JoeCab]

".....and they ditched the manual gearbox option....." End of story, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm all for a good manual, but in the case of the 4C I'm just not sure it fits the character of the car. Boost builds pretty fast and the steering is really lively, so it's best to keep both hands on the wheel.

I don't think I've ever driven ours in "Automatic" mode, paddle shifting only, and it's pretty evident that it's an automated manual, not really an automatic transmission. You can hear all sorts of gear noises at low speeds, which just adds to the appeal.

 

[Peter A]

It is an amazing drive, not for everybody, that’s OK, But given the chance, drive one for a rare experience even if you don’t want to own one. I loved my 164...with FWD....not exactly the holy grail of specification either.

 

[alfaloco]

Based on my limited drives with the 4C, I'm with Joe C above on the manual shift vs. paddle shifter. Things happen very quickly in a 4C, even a stone stock one, and you can be up in somebody's trunk before you know it. The wheel is the right shape, the paddle shifters fall readily to hand (as H N Manney III would say), and you can maintain your focus with both hands on the job. It's a manual gearbox alright... you can feel the compression backing you down in the gears when you lift, it just shifts differently. The 4C should not be driven casually, but attentively, for best results. YMMV, as they say.

 

[Duckdude]

The mourning here is for the death of the manual transmission. And not just in regards to the 4C. Didn't Aston Martin announce yesterday they were joining Jaguar from last year and many others in ringing the death knell as well?

My suggestion (if budget and room allow) is do what I did: Get a 4C for the pure joy of the 4C as is, but also keep a car in your garage to satisfy your manual urges. In my personal case that would be an S2000. A perfect complement to a 4C in my opinion: Like a box cutter and a scalpel, they do the same job (purpose-built, low-volume race car for the street), just differently. Others might opt for a Cayman/Boxster or an MX-5, or any older Alfa should do the trick quite nicely.

BTW, nice Henry N Manney III reference, alfaloco!!

 

[Peter A]

@Duckdude I get it. That’s why I have a gtv6 as well, to go along with the 4C. Randomly met a guy this morning who has a Stelvio, 4C and S3 spider.

 

[OriginalForza]

Ppl should man up and just make the 4c manual despite the manual steering rack and suspension that demands a realignment. The 1.750L mito racecars have manual transmission. Similar basic engine, same motor mounts. It's not impossible, and even not difficult...

If you think you know better or have a doubt, drive a Stratos or 308 QV/328. Now imagine that with a carbon chassis and check out the 4C aftermarket solutions. F40+ but for less than $100k.

 

[Peter A]

@OriginalForza somebody is gonna do this one day. The rest of the equation to get a smoking track car or a smokin road car are now well known, it’s mostly just the money. Correct? Doing the tranny mod is a resale issue for some and I suspect track fiends know that they can turn the fastest lap with the dct. Nobody is excited about cutting holes in their carbon tub.

 

[OriginalForza]

@OriginalForza somebody is gonna do this one day. The rest of the equation to get a smoking track car or a smokin road car are now well known, it’s mostly just the money. Correct? Doing the tranny mod is a resale issue for some and I suspect track fiends know that they can turn the fastest lap with the dct. Nobody is excited about cutting holes in their carbon tub.

The money is the only issue, since you can also see that A. values now are purely market driven (see Bitcoin/Dogecoin, value of diamonds, new cost of your increasingly lower quality food, etc) and have zero to do with "keeping the purity of the car", B. Track fiends are guided by their series rules and not all try to set "faster" times with a hotted 1.75L mated to a hotted DCT (the real race car with the drivetrain was the MiTo and no one can say it still is a popular platform over, say, an equally priced spec miata)... Also some track fiends such as myself want to set times based on our actual skills rather than pose/emulate current F1's fund-leveraging of hyper-inflated engineering with materials and technology more appropriate for Space X {is Hamilton or Fangio better/"faster"?}. Given the 4c platform's oem capacity (8 minute Nurburgring? Come on), it isn't too much to stretch it as a pleasurable daily exotic with a manual transmission to luxuriate with, or enter it against historical machinery such as the F40, NSX, and other fast midengine legends on a more level playing field now that the first 4c made is nearing a decade "old" (wow btw, felt like yesterday the debut on Baloco was broadcast).

Zero cutting of the tub is necessary with cable actuated transmissions, theres multiple plugs along the floor and a giant hole between the seats where the parking brake and other conduits pass through. The only real cost is the rear subframe being redesigned/welded/fabricated depending on what drivetrain was selected, since the front is just a custom wheelset away from whatever geometry was selected (see Ariel atom/nomad for an executed example of what the 4c can accommodate with just a rewelded rear subframe and some wrench time).

 

[Peter A]

@OriginalForza Go for it, that would be cool. I’d think a wider powerband with higher rpm ponies would be a good addition with a manual gearbox.

 

[OriginalForza]

@OriginalForza Go for it, that would be cool. I’d think a wider powerband with higher rpm ponies would be a good addition with a manual gearbox.

Wide band linear power with organic clutch control? No one would disagree. Problem is, with drivetrain development at monthly pace for the last two years (both ICE, hybrid, and BEV), the new engines (despite less designed for manual transmission) are better across the board, promises completed, energy landscape changing ever faster, etc - What to swap for versus 'a lightly tuned oem/just buy a second car' for the time being is an exercise in frustration. Always a trendy idea YouTubbing around, few classics such as the latest German hot 3/4/6, K20/24, Hayabusa/high output motorcycle, built Mazda rotaries, and hey, why not mention a chassis redefining LS or Hellcrate (A guy in Vegas swapped a twin turbo Lamborghini V10, 6-spd MT), along with Yamaha using the 4c to develop now available electric power plants, EV West conversion kits (like the 818's Tesla-power route)...
Just crazy times, time will have to tell on this one, maybe.

 

[lgbalfa]

Too bad these cars are now discontinued.

 

[Ruzhany]

Too bad these cars are now discontinued.

FIAT will make Abarth 1000 SP using 4C monocoque as a base. It will cost about 250K Euro

 

[SteveNunez]

I agree this car is under-appreciated.

 

[Koenraad]

My problem with the 4C is that it doesn't fit into the history of Alfa Romeo but more into the history of Fiat (X1/9) or Lancia (Beta Monte Carlo/Scorpion).

(Before the actual launch - say during the development - some sources stated that the car was to be introduced as an Abarth to (re-) launch that make as a stand-alone make...).

Alfa has no history with mid-engined production cars (the 33 Stradale was not a production car).

That's why I don't understand why AR choose to built this car as a "halo" car in order to relaunch AR in the states as a competitor for BMW, meaning: sedan, RWD, front engine, longitudinal transmission and drive train.

If you know that AR refuses to built a (new) Giulia Coupe because of 'the too small market'... the money invested in the 4C was better used for the Giulia Coupe (or any other coupe).

I think that instead of the 4C, AR should have built an eye-catching FWD coupe based on the Giulietta (type 940) as a halo car. By doing so, they would also have a successor for the GT Coupe (type 937).

 

[Peter A]

Have to disagree. I don’t associate Alfa with engine location. One could say styling cues from the 8C, lightweight focus like a 105 GTA, limited run like a Montreal or an SZ/RZ/8C, or that the 33 Stradale is an iconic Alfa to emulate regardless of production numbers.

A hot hatchback FWD car would not be a “halo” car in a world defining performance as RWD. Maybe a cool car. I doubt US buyers would have flocked to that and establish Alfa as a competitor to VW or Hyundai, or Honda. I probably would have bought one just because it’s an Alfa.

There was a large product plan including a coupe and a more. Aborted for financial reasons, Marchionne’s passing, Stellantis, etc. Should Alfa have skipped the 4C and built a coupe version of the Guilia first? Maybe but it would not have appeared until later. The 4C was hotly anticipated and because of simplicity and design, as well as production techniques, could be brought to market quickly. It was Marchionne’s vision for better or worse.

A sorted 4C is an amazing drive. Reminds me of a gtv6.