Alfa Romeo 4C Spider Review | The Little Super Car That Could

Sam, Don't give up so easily. Open up your eyes and see there's more to our story. Open up your eyes and see there's one to our story.

The truth is, The Alfa Romeo 4C is getting a little bit long in the tooth. I mean, it's been out for almost five years now. But to me, there's simply no competition.

For this car and nor will there ever be.

And you can say, well, Dan, the C8's a pretty solid contender. And while that might be true, because the C8's also a mid engine, rear drive, dual clutch sports car that costs around 60 grand, you have to remember that it's about 150% heavier. That's about half a ton thousand pounds or six American adults. So even if the Alpha only has 237 horsepower out of its tiny little 1.75 liter turbocharged inline four, it only has to move 2,487 pounds. It's not that impressive because there are a lot of cars out there with.

Better power to weight ratios.

But it doesn't matter because you can't horsepower your way around physics, especially when you're trying to negotiate a technical racetrack.

Or a twisty back mountain road.

I mean, I guess you could. You just end up in a ditch.

Or in a wall somewhere.

Anyway, I think that's what this car is really for because let's be honest, you're not going out and buying groceries in this thing. Unlike some other mid engine sports cars, it doesn't have a frunk. And the extra storage space behind the engine is sort of mediocre. This interior is honestly, it's a little bit spartan.

I mean, I don't mind though.

The car is a full carbon tub and you can see it happen all around you, with the exception of a little bit of leather and some carpeting. And unless you get a 2018 model or newer, which mandates the backup camera, you're pretty much just stuck with a steering wheel, a digital dash and seats. I mean, you have this cool little radio here from the 90s, but honestly, I'd rather be listening to that exhaust. You also have these little pull handles here, which I'm sure saved a few ounces. You can select your drive mode here.

With the DNA selector and the buttons.

It is a true dual clutch gearbox and you sort of have to treat.

It like a manual.

There's no park, just neutral, reverse and gear. I honestly don't even want to talk about the paddles because they're the biggest.

Disappointment to me in this car.

The Giulia and the Stelvio both have.

These giant looking paddles, but in the 4C, you're stuck with these little sad plastic tabs.

It's amazing because in this day and age, everybody's got key fobs, push button starts, and you can even start your car with your phone. But in this thing, you got one of these.

A mechanical key. Let's get started. It's hard to really put into words just how this car feels. I've never driven anything like it before. It sounds cliche, but if you asked me to describe it in just one word, I'd call it raw. It's f ing raw because it doesn't have power steering. There's basically no insulation in the cabin, and even in natural mode, which is Alfa's quote unquote comfort mode, everything feels more stiff than Sport plus in an M2 competition or TTRS. But on the street, it also feels like it'll outhandle anything. The downside is that you'll definitely end up needing to see a chiropractor afterwards. I would brace myself every time I saw any little crack in the road. Honestly, you won't care, though, because on a smooth, curvy road, it literally handles like it's on rails. And even though I feel like this car could use a little bit more tire, you'll probably never find its limits in a street situation. Unless you're a complete psychopath. Aside from the sublime handling, you can easily get addicted to mashing that throttle. Not because it's brutally fast, but because behind your head sits the engine, so you can hear everything. The air getting sucked into the intake, the turbo spooling like a jet engine, and that exhaust screaming as a boost kicks in. It's really visceral. You feel like you're about to take off from a Runway every time. Guess that's where the 258 pounds of torque comes in. And honestly, I can't get enough of it. The gearbox is decent, not what I've come to expect from a modern dual clutch transmission, but it's still better than most conventional autos. There is a very subtle delay, but I chalk it up to this car's design being five, six years old. There's also a noticeable amount of lag, which is surprising because the turbo really isn't that big at all. Once you get into the boost, though, everything feels right. But the moment you hit traffic is when this car becomes complete utter garbage. You realize how harsh the suspension is, how you need to be a Kryptonian to Make a K turn, how much you have to press the accelerator down to get the car moving, how sharp the brake pedal feels, and how bare the interior is. If you daily drive this car, you're either a masochist or you live next to the Nuremberg ring. Because this is definitely not a car you drive to do anything besides pretending to be a race car driver on a beautiful back mountain road. Speaking of being a race car driver, let's go see how this car behaves in its natural habitat, the track. Obviously, we have a different 4C here, and our track session was cut short by technical issues. Plus, the anamorphic lens was misaligned in the cabin. So forgive me for some wonky looking footage, but I think I got a pretty good idea of this car's potential. On paper, this thing should be an absolute monster.

And it is.

But my suspicions of it being under tired were correct. Around the test track, I found the four seater reached the limits of mechanical grip pretty early. Not because of the car's chassis or suspension, although I do think I could use a more refined suspension setup, but because the factory 205 front and 235 rear tires were just not enough to keep up with what the car is capable of. So if you plan on turning this into a track toy, the first thing you want to do is maybe get some stickier and wider rubber. And then there's supposedly these blocks you can buy to help improve the car's handling geometry. On top of that, you realize that you could use more power in the straightaways. The lag is not a huge issue here because you're always in the power band on the track. But even though this particular course favors better handling, lightweight cars, the 4C still felt like it could use more punch coming out of these corners.

Aside from these two issues, I don't.

Really have any other complaints. The power steering becomes your friend here, even on turn 10, which is a low speed hairpin. It takes a little getting used to having no dampening in the steering. But once you get used to it, you'll wonder how you did it any other way. The same goes for the brakes. They aren't huge, but stand on them and they'll bite hard. Actually, I do have one more complaint. The seats. They're like the ones in my Abarth 124, but with extra shoulder support. Regardless, they're still trash for what this car is capable of. The moment you push the 4C, you'll end up sliding all over the place. Ain't nobody wants that. Okay, we'll Move on to our acceleration test now.

Okay, so let's see how this thing does in a straight line. What we're going to do is we're going to do this in dynamic mode first and then we're going to go into full auto and let the computer do its thing. Okay, that wasn't bad. So now what we're gonna do is we're trying this thing in full race mode. And to do that, you're gonna hold this DNA switch up for five seconds straight. It's gonna be the longest five seconds of your life. But what it gives you is full manual control and supposedly a little bit more aggressiveness. So let's see if this makes. So with only 237 brake horsepower, I don't think the Alpha 4C is going.

To be setting any records in our fast list.

It's quick, but it's only got a.

Power to weight ratio about 10 to 1. So even with a dual clutch gearbox, you're looking at a low 4 second 0 to 60 time and a high 12 second quarter mile time at about 106, 107 miles per hour.

But how about that 4100 time that.

I care so much about? So let's take a look. The Alfa Romeo 4C did that in 8.64 seconds, which is pretty respectable for Italian displacement lightweight sports car. I mean, faster than the Audi S5 Ford Focus RS.

And I'll probably keep up with some of those baby AMGs for a little bit, but I'm not gonna lie, when you get on it, it feels and sounds much faster than that. Honestly, I was kind of hoping for an M340. I kind of time it felt that quick.

But.

But here's another tidbit. This car is a prime example of.

Why the computer's not always right.

The fastest time posted was actually in.

Race mode, which is full manual.

Letting the computer shift itself in dynamic mode slowed us down by about 2/10 of a second because it would nail.

The shift at 6,000 rpm instead of the actual redline, which was 6,500 rpm. Anyway, if you buy this car and you feel like it's a little bit.

Too slow for you, no worries, because.

All you need is a stage two tune, then bam. That's over 300 wheel horsepower right there.

That's kind of insane for a car this light. That's the kind of power to weight.

Ratio you need to kick some grown up supercar ass. I really, really wanted to like the 4C. The truth is I wasn't disappointed at all. It's a fantastic car, but it's like a mistress you know you shouldn't have because frankly, this can't be your only car. It shouldn't even be your second car. To a sensible human being, you should have at least three other cars before you even consider buying this thing. But we as car enthusiasts are rarely a sensible bunch. This car checks off every box. From a driver's standpoint, it's unique and honestly, it has no equal short of a low to six siege. It tickles all the senses when you find the right road. But the problem is, nine times out of 10 we're on the wrong road for this car. Plus, my wife hates this thing. To her, it makes absolutely no sense, even as a track toy. And if you buy it new at almost $70,000, I couldn't agree more. There are better cars out there at this price point. Dare I say Porsche 718? Also, I wouldn't buy the Spider. The removable soft top is annoying and honestly, the Coupe is a better looking car. But at around 45 grand on the used market, the Alfa Romeo 4C is the textbook definition of a good bargain. And even if some people think it's a little effeminate looking, to me it's still a little supercar that could.

If this is your first time on the channel, be sure to watch some.

Of my other stuff. I'm dedicated to producing cinematic car content and doing real world performance tests for all sorts of fast cars. So if that's your jam, be sure to hit that subscribe button and ring that bell icon for new episodes every Thursday. Thanks for watching.