If you had to list the current crop of road
cars that feature a full carbon-fibre monocoque, it would read like a
petrolhead's wish list: McLaren P1, Porsche 918, Koenigsegg Agera, Pagani Zonda
and La Ferrari immediately come to mind. Now we can add another name to the
list: 4C. If you haven't already recognized that signature shield on the car's
nose, it is an all-new Alfa Romeo - making this only the third car in the
Milanese brand's portfolio after the Mito and Giulietta.
4C is an entirely new type of product for
Alfa because it's based on a carbon-fibre platform, which weighs just 65 kg,
and aluminium sub frames at either end serve as mounting points for the
suspension and engine. Power is derived from a turbocharged, 1.75-litre
four-pot that develops 177 kW at 6,000r/min and 350 Nm of torque from 2,200 to
4,250r/min.
The
Alfa Romeo 4C is built to encapsulate all of the Alfa Romeo brand values
In true mid-engined sportscar fashion, the
motor sits behind the cabin and drive is delivered to the rear wheels via a
twin-clutch automated transmission and a limited-slip differential. Suspension
is a strut-type arrangement for the rear wheels and double wishbones for the
fronts. Thanks to the carbon tub and extensive use of other lightweight
materials, the 4C tips the scales at a claimed 895 kg, which is about half the
kerb weight of some other exotics available in the Alfa's price bracket.
Parts
of the Alfa Romeo 4C, like these bespoke wheels, are very stylish
The entire package is wrapped in a
curvaceous composite body. The 4C's form was penned in-house by Centro Stile
Alfa and design cues are borrowed from other striking shapes on the brand's
family tree, namely the Disco Volante, 33 Stradale and the more recent 8C
Competizione. Apart from those love-'em-or-hate-'em headlamps, there is very
little that isn't appealing about the 4C's appearance.
The
engine is mid-mounted, and gives the 4C 265bhp per tonne
Slide down and into the snug cabin and the
dearth of interior cladding is immediately apparent. You can see polished
sections of carbon-fibre on the sills and central tunnel, swathes of matte
aluminium; even the pedal box mounts are exposed, as are some electrical
components, adding to the very racy feel of the low-slung - at just 1,180 mm -
car.
The
Alfa Romeo 4C’s cabin is snug, and fairly spartan
When you first fire up the all-alloy,
force-fed four-pot, it sounds raucous. Alfa purposely didn't add much, if any,
sound-deadening between the cabin and engine room; therefore, the mechanical
cacophony filters directly over the driver's shoulders and into their ears. At
idle, the motor has a guttural edge and the soundtrack gains layers as the
crank speed rises. Later, as the 4C lapped Kyalami at full chat, the
distinctive flat brraaapp that punctuates an upshift in cars equipped
with a twin-clutch transmission made its presence heard. And the cherry on top
was a wastegate whistle akin to an '80s rally car -grande!
