Alfaise / Alfora 4c - Competitor?

[Stirling_Villeneuve]

I'd love to have seen an Elise in that review too, he mentioned it often enough... it would've been interesting to see how the Alfa compared against it. 

[Exploded]

I'd love to have seen an Elise in that review too, he mentioned it often enough... it would've been interesting to see how the Alfa compared against it. 

 

Somebody compared them already a month ago...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_HBDS6KwoI#t=1

 

I came across several 4c on the road already, as one of the biggest Alfa dealers in Belgium in on my road to work. I think the proportions of the car are not good. Especially the rear.

What I was amazed of the first time I saw it on the road was the width. It really is wide especially on the rear.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Exploded

[Loose Cannon]

By taking the roof and elegant back window off they have ruined it IMHO. The new lights are super-boring too. The "hunched hind quarters" look is predictable and contrived (like the 458 spyder and Evora, oops).

 

All in all it looks like an older design.

[pete]

I'd love to have seen an Elise in that review too, he mentioned it often enough... it would've been interesting to see how the Alfa compared against it. 

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/alfa-romeo-4c-porsche-cayman-lotus-exige-2014-3-17

[Vulcan Grey]

Pistonheads Chris Harris on Alfa 4C compared to Exige S (4 Cyl)

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=29651

[Snoopy1969]

Last sentence is a good result............

[pete]

I would like to read the rest of the article. Any one copy and paste the text?

 

Buddsy

click on the arrows on the pictures

[pete]

norfolk?

[CaptainBigleux]

 

 

had a nice passenger ride this morning. Loved it.

Quick pros and cons :

+ look terrific, even better in real

+ engine seems quite punchy, not borring for a stock turbo engine, not the "diesel" feeling like for example an VX220 turbo.

+ noise is fantastic, like an american V8 at low rev, and funky on the top range

+ gearbox seems very reactive, quick, and give you a nice kick at upshift

+ interior seems good quality, good assembly even if bad plastics, very nice design, love the look of the carbon chassis inside

+ good handlgin, seemed like a Lotus elise/exige, but a bit less oversteer

- not so small

- front nose is too low (you have to be very careful)

- steering wheel design

- price?

[Bee]

Top Gear: 'How much you would use [the Exige] depends how committed you are to lap times and spanners'

 

It's not surprising that Lotus finds it difficult to change perceptions about the improved quality of its products when one of the leading motoring magazines makes unwarranted statements like that to the public! What factual basis does Top Gear journalist, Dan Read, have about the reliability of the Lotus Exige S V6 to tell the general public that the car will be unreliable?

 

The JD Power survey for 2013 places Alfa Romeo as second from bottom. Their Mito was second from bottom out of 116 cars! Dan doesn't tell his readers that they will need a spanner.

 

Personally, I'm finding Top Gear's journalistic standards to be increasingly unreliable; I'd suggest that they need a spanner but it looks like they are already employing one to write unsubstantiated drivel for cheap digs.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Bee

[Advantage]

Maybe he was getting at the almost infinite adjustability of the car's set-up rather than the potential for something important to fall off? People do tend to fiddle with their Lotus.

[Stirling_Villeneuve]

Looks great in the pics, not a stubby as it appears in some shots. Got to love the way people still jump on the Lots Of Trouble bandwagon while totally forgetting Alfa's not so whiter than white reputation in the build dept. 

 

I like it though... can't see myself buying one over the 'new' ( ahem! ), Evora but you never know. Let's see how the first few running reports stack up! 

[softlips]

Maybe he was getting at the almost infinite adjustability of the car's set-up rather than the potential for something important to fall off? People do tend to fiddle with their Lotus.

I took it as meaning this too.

[Snoopy1969]

just saw the first one in the flesh, looks like a too big elise or a "hot washed" Evora......not bad but the proportions are a little bit strange, maybe too short for the width (?) 

[Stirling_Villeneuve]

Right, that's how it looks to me in the pics, odd proportions, from all the pics I've seen it's as  if the length has been taken out of the cockpit area, looks cramped in there.

[Bibs]

http://www.autojunk.nl/2014/06/alfa-romeo-4c-crash-goodwood-festival-of-speed-2014

 

Opps! They might want to nip that up to Hethel for some work on the handling!

[Stirling_Villeneuve]

Exaclty, it might look like a Lotus... but that where the similarity ends!

 

I'm sure the carbon bits are cheap and easy to fix though!      

[Bibs]

The Lotus Elise has beaten the Alfa Romeo 4C yet again in the latest comparison test by France’s widest-read sports car magazine Sport Auto.

 

The August issue, rates the Elise S Club Racer for its ride and handling, as well as its "delightful simplicity", preferring it to the Alfa Romeo, stating “the most simple recipes are the best”. Sport Auto also praises the Elise S as a "reassuring and easy to understand sports car, whose performance delivers the pure driving experience sports car fans love." The magazine also comments that the Lotus is "easy to live with” and is “a real pleasure to drive".

 

This is the third comparison test the Elise S has won against the Alfa Romeo 4C, recently beating the Italian car in German magazine AutoBild and Dutch magazine AutoWeek

 

[FredP]

Alfa Romeo 4C Spider

 

http://youtu.be/6nEg_Jaz-Ak

[USAndretti42]

Just reading Evo magazine's "The 9 Best Sports Cars of the Year" article one car of which is the Alfa 4C. One reporter says, "It costs £45K -that's £5K more than a Porsche Cayman, £8K more than a Lotus Elise S. Yikes." Their car had the sports suspension which, "on anything less than race-track smooth surfaces, the thing veers all over the place like it's got .... Lane Unkeeping Assist." It sounds like the race pack is one option to avoid.

They also complain about the "coarse, too obviously turbocharged" engine "and the elastic delay between asking for power and the motor obliging."

Not too complimentary, then.

[USAndretti42]

Just reading Evo magazine's "The 9 Best Sports Cars of the Year" article one car of which is the Alfa 4C. One reporter says, "It costs £45K -that's £5K more than a Porsche Cayman, £8K more than a Lotus Elise S. Yikes." Their car had the sports suspension which, "on anything less than race-track smooth surfaces, the thing veers all over the place like it's got .... Lane Unkeeping Assist." It sounds like the race pack is one option to avoid.

They also complain about the "coarse, too obviously turbocharged" engine "and the elastic delay between asking for power and the motor obliging."

Not too complimentary, then.

I did, of course, mean Car Magazine, not Evo.

[FredP]

It seems they were working on improving the setup... will see from the first review of the Spider. Have you noticed the new (black) air intake on the left side (front of the rear wheel)?

[TBD]

That should be a challenge. Taking a transverse design and putting in a longitudinal engine!

 

Something for Hennessey