Katha Pollitt

Yum. I almost don’t care what’s under the hood or on the inside, I’d be happy to cast my gaze over that funky matte red finish all day long. Thankfully the 4C concept has more depth to it than it’s surface-level beauty, which is fairly substantial as it is.

The 4C is the successor to the 8C Competizione, which was an exorbitantly expensive Maserati-based RWD coupe. While the 8C was unbelievably pretty and single-minded, it’s ridiculous pricetag prevented it from actually meaning anything to sports-car enthusiasts of realistic means, besides poster fodder.

Mechanically, the 4C focuses on lightweight construction and sophisticated technology rather than brute force for it’s performance. In order to keep weight down, the 4C is unusually compact and uses some clever materials. The body and chassis are made of carbon fibre, while the rear subframe and crumple zones (a sign this car has production intent) are aluminum. Overall dimensions are tiny, the 4C stretching just over 4M in overall length (13.1′) and 2.4m wide (9.7′). To put this into perspective, a new (R56) Mini Cooper is 3.7M long, but only 1.6M wide – meaning the 4C has a low, aggressive stance. Total weight is remarkably low at under 850kg (1873lbs), comparable to an Elise.

The engine is a transverse mid-mounted 1750cc “MultiAir” Turbo four cylinder from the Guilietta Quadrifoglio hot hatch, mated to Alfa’s new TCT twin clutch automated gearbox, driving the rear wheels. With over 200 horsepower available, the 4C doesn’t need a lot of power to post 0-100km/h times in the 4-second range, meaning it’s about on par with the 8C acceleration-wise with half the power. Technology is amazing.

Suspension-wise, the 4C uses a “high quadrilateral” front setup (4-link independent?) and MacPherson struts at the rear, which is pretty typical. Weight distribution front-rear is a typical 40:60 for a mid engine car, and the wide stance means this sucker will probably eat corners alive. Of course, the 4C includes Alfa’s DNA drive-mode selector, which juggles parameters to fit your driving style.

Now, the world isn’t exactly overrun with mid-engine 200bhp turbo-four-cylinder cars, but I can’t help but be reminded of something when looking at the 4C’s specs on paper:

MR2 Turbo. Still, a good idea is still a good idea even if it’s an old one. What’s the best part though? After reading through all these mouth-watering specs and looking at these drool-inducing pictures, I suffered from TGTBT sydrome – too good to be true. There’s no way Alfa is going to put a mid-engined 1800lb turbo sports car with curves like Pamela Anderson into production. But err, to quote directly from the press release:

“This car is not simply an exercise in style created for the Motor Show; it will be on sale in 2012 and is set to reinforce Alfa Romeo’s global growth.”

Praise be to the great god Marchionne, who smiles down upon us in his benevolence. For while he may seem to wear the same creepy turtleneck and be adverse to shaving, the man knows how to build cars people want. I would expect the 4C to be priced comparably with cars like the Audi TT, Peugeot RC-Z, and likely the Nissan 370Z, as well as within spitting distance of a base-model Cayman or a 135i. If this car is how Alfa Romeo plans to kick-start their resurgence in the US market, I can’t really think of a better way. Alfa: PLEASE offer Matte Red as a paint option. And a stick shift. I’ll get in line.

Live images courtesy: 1) carscoop.blogspot.com and 2) Autoblog.com. MR2 Turbo picture from Google Images via Cargurus.com. Sadly Alfa only released 3 press pictures of this gorgeous car. You shoulda seen the booth models.