For a while it seemed Alfa Romeo were heading in the wrong direction. In the last decade the once flamboyant marque with a long line of sporting heritage had gone from producing some of the world’s greatest sports car icons and purveyor of finest engine notes to making family hatchbacks. The soul and passion of the great Italian company was apparently destined for the history books, with the memory of the recent stunning 8C and Brera / Spider a final beautiful but confusing swansong.
Then in 2011 at the Geneva Motor Show a spark of their former glory came back into view; the 4C concept appeared. Looking a bit like an 8C that someone had washed at too high a temperature, the stunning lines and Alfa Romeo DNA were plain to see. It’s ethos of lightweight construction and a focus on handling mixed with an ambitious cocktail of carbon fibre chassis and turbocharged power plant made the concept seem an ambitious plan that would never see the light of day. However, 2 years later at the same event, Alfa gave us the production version of the 4C in all its composite body beauty. The dream was seemingly ready to become a reality. 
Now, Alfa Romeo aren’t famous for their build quality or reliability, in fact they are often slated for both. But with this car they have a number of tricks up their sleeve to shake off that reputation. The engine was a unit using technology from their proven hatchbacks, themselves avoiding the infamous Alfa traits, the chassis was to be a carbon fibre tub, like the latest McLaren supercar, and wisely outsourced to specialists, and then there’s the looks. Looks have the ability to forget all that is wrong with the way a car drives or the fact it won’t start every now and again, an issue that Alfa hopefully won’t have to deal with.
The Alfa Romeo 4C sits low and is very very wide, in fact the car is wider than a Range Rover and a Rolls Royce Phantom, thankfully not combined! Viewing the car from above makes it appear strangely square in shape, but from the front gives a meaningful squat appearance. Its curves and lines are a real thing of beauty and a clear sign that the designers put their heart and soul into the looks of the car, a return to people’s comments for Alfa Romeo’s of yesteryear. The striking appearance means you not only get heads turning on the high street, but may often return to the car finding people taking a picture or two every time you get back in. It may not have the creature comforts or ride quality of a Porsche Cayman or the refinement of a TT or Z4 but it definitely has bucket loads of desirability. 
It may be the sort of car that you might not want to use as an everyday car or even use only occasionally as a summers day country drive when you fancy a blast to get your pulse racing. It is however a car that you would definitely want to look at every day. Covering it up in your garage would be classed as a sin; it would fit perfectly in those contemporary Beverly Hills houses where your lounge is divided from your garage only by a piece of glass. You feel like it belongs on show as a piece of art and that you’ll only dirty if you take it out in anything less than dry sunny weather.
As it happens the Alfa Romeo 4C does drive very well. It may not be the quietest or most comfortable car, and the unassisted steering may give you a bit of a workout when parallel parking in town, but the light weight and the punchy engine make it a proper driver’s car. The fact that it is beautiful to behold will for some just be an added bonus, but for Alfa Romeo purists and fans of the marque it is a return to form for one of motorsport’s greats. A true out and out sports car and one of the most stunning cars Italy has produced for many a year, long may it continue on its way to reviving the historic car company.
HYPE Automotive 