GTP Cool Wall: 2013+ Alfa Romeo 4C

[White & Nerdy]

2013+ Alfa Romeo 4C nominated by Beeblebrox237

Stats:
Production: 2013+
Style: 2-door coupe
Engine: 106 ci/1,742 cc turbocharged inline 4 (rated 240 HP & 260 lb-ft)
Transmission: TCT/C635 6-speed Dual Dry Clutch
Layout: Mid-engine, Rear-drive​

My take? Hmmmmm, it's a hard one, this. On one hand, I'm almost willing to compliment the styling - I know it deserves it, but does it qualify as cool? On the other, the engine is smaller than a large bottle of Dr. Pepper and uses an exhaust-driven turbocharger rather than an engine-driven superchager. And no three-pedal is available as far as I know. And it has way too much electronic stuff on it.

 

[Roger the Horse]

Alfa's are usually very, very cool. However, Alfa's which ape the looks of other Alfa's despite the fact that the design features of that car look completely out of proportion on a differently sized / shaped body are not.

Seriously uncool.

 

[homeforsummer]

Aside from the Arna and a couple of other 80s-early 90s Alfas with few redeeming features, I can't think of a single Alfa Romeo that isn't at the very least cooler than every other car in its class.

This one is a mid-engined sports car and the sort of car Alfa enthusiasts have been bitching at them to make for god knows how long. It's also, for want of a better term, voluptuous.

Even the most jaded, car-disinterested female would be impressed with it, the lay person on the street sees a sports car - but one without a Porsche badge so he's less likely to drag a key down the side - and the car enthusiast sees a carbon-fibre, mid-engined Alfa. Also, W&N thinks it's too technologically advanced based on things he's either misinterpreted or knows nothing about.

All that automatically makes it cool.

Misses out on sub-Z because Alfa buggered up the front of it with those headlights.

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

Sub Zero. It sounds sporty, it looks sporty, it definitely has sporty weight, it's reasonably priced..And on top of all that, it's an Alfa Romeo. I can hardly wait the later special editions, such as Cloverleaf.

 

[Azure Flare]

I would love to have one (Rosso Competizione please), that doesn't make it cool.

What makes it cool is that it is sexy as hell (dat ass), goes reasonably well, and it says "Alfa Romeo" on it and its meant to be driven hard.

Sub-Zero.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

Those headlights ruin what isn't a stunning face in the first place. Meh.

 

[Stotty]

Cool.

Though it's massively overpriced, completely impractical, and the articles in the motoring press on how it drives are mixed (it came last in EVO's COTY).

 

[GranTurismo916]

Meh, I really don't care for this car much. Not saying it's a bad car though.

 

[Joey D]

Sub-zero. You get super car good looks without having to pay super car prices. Also if you drove it down the street, people who have no idea about cars would probably stare at it and think it's awesome.

Even the curse of being Top Gear's love interest can't even bring it down.

 

[Famine]

You had £45k to go out and buy a sportscar, and you didn't come back with a Porsche?

Cool.

 

[skynyrd]

It's sub zero from the front wheels back. It's just bad from that point forward, however.

It just barely manages a Cool.

 

[AudiMan2011]

Uncool. The proportions look wrong to me for some odd reason. It doesn't look as clean as a Cayman and suffers from the same problem that happened to the 8C: Alfa tried too hard to make something pretty and screwed it up massively. Also, from listening to the Chris Harris review, the engine sounds terrible and the TCT gearbox isn't that great compared to the Germans. A missed opportunity.

 

[Adamgp]

Uncool.

Supposedly will carry a sticker price of $55k-$70k, and there are better cars for that price.

Plus it looks like the automotive equivalent of this (only with insect eyes):

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

You had £45k to go out and buy a sportscar, and you didn't come back with a Porsche?

Cool.

Despite their lengthy, frequent, conspicuous, and inexcusable absences, A-R is pretty much the OG sports car maker. Glad to see they are going back to their routes, if only [probably] in passing...as usual.



[I realize you probably already know all this, but it might be interesting to other members]

 

[Azure Flare]

AM is pretty much the OG sports car maker

I think this is one of the best things I have ever read.

 

[Murcie_LP640]

Light, Alfa Romeo badge, got some guts, and it's interestingly very cheap for what it actually presents (AU$75k base for a carbon-tubbed sub-tonne mid-mounted sports car...and even the Launch Edition with all the options ticked is several grand cheaper even after LCT than a base Cayman).

However, I don't feel it's pretty enough. It only get's a low Cool I'm afraid.

 

[Cano]

It's sub zero from the front wheels back. It's just bad from that point forward, however.

It just barely manages a Cool.

This, but I'm not so generous. Meh.

 

[huskeR32]

Fantastic car. The only thing that holds it back from Sub-Zero for me is the lack of a manual transmission.

 

[Dennisch]

Everything HFS said.

Cool.

 

[MoLiEG]

Good, but not great car... barely makes it to cool...

 

[Slash]

Uncool. Ugly as sin to me, but would probably turn some heads.

Then when you tell them it has an I4 they laugh and walk away. No thanks.

 

[homeforsummer]

If people laugh and walk away when you tell them about the engine I'd say that says much more about what sort of people they are than it does about the car...

 

[edawg456]

It's a definite cool car. Could've gone with a sub zero on this but not a huge fan of the newer Alfa's.

 

[Zenith]

The badge is a man being eaten by a serpent, super cool.

Weird face, uncool.

I would say it's uncool in the UK where Top Gear and their "Alfa Romeo mega car awesome" nonsense is more widely known. Cool in the US because nobody knows what an Alfa Romeo is.

 

[Tyger]

Upper "cool" from me, I personally like the styling a lot, though I've no doubt a lot of people prefer the safe, samey looks of umpteen BMWs, Mercs or Porsches.

 

[Slash]

If people laugh and walk away when you tell them about the engine I'd say that says much more about what sort of people they are than it does about the car...

The world is full of idiots. It won't ever change.

 

[Joey D]

Then when you tell them it has an I4 they laugh and walk away. No thanks.

The only people who laugh at an I4 are those idiots who think everything in the world should have a V8.

 

[Slash]

The only people who laugh at an I4 are those idiots who think everything in the world should have a V8.

I don't appreciate being called an idiot. Really?


There is a mindset in the states that because I4's have always had loud power and sounded like crap that it will never change and the only way to reverse that is to make 500+ horsepower ones for the next 80 years.

 

[Joey D]

I don't appreciate being called an idiot. Really?


There is a mindset in the states that because I4's have always had loud power and sounded like crap that it will never change and the only way to reverse that is to make 500+ horsepower ones for the next 80 years.

Because I specifically said Slashfan is an idiot, right?

And what mindset in the states? Maybe it the backwoods where rednecks roam wild and free, but it many parts of the country automotive enthusiast don't care what engine a vehicle has as long as it's good.

 

[Slash]

Nom you didn't outright say me, but you implied it. You said "those idiots who think everything in the world should have a V8". So, apparently that makes me an idiot just because I think everything needs a V8? Who the hell cares what I think everything should have, or what anything else should have.