Gentleman's Dilemma: The Alfa Romeo 4C

One assumes, dear readers, that the last Alfa Romeo you saw was either piloted by Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate or (if you have ever seen one on the road) a fourth generation Spider.  But now, after a long hiatus, Alfa is bringing the 4C to the United States.  And it promises to be the Nuprin of sports cars.  Here’s why.

If you are looking to blow $60,000 on a new sports car, you are probably considering the Porsche Boxster and the Corvette Stingray.  Both are perfectly valid choices.  But what if you told Morpheus shove his red and blue pills where the sun does not shine?  If you did, Alfa would be standing in the shadows with another option whispering,  “Ah, the 4C.  Little.  Italian.  Different.”

So if you take Alfa’s little, yellow, different pill, you will eschew convention (and reliability) in favor of Italian flair.  Which the 4C has in spades.  And while it may not be as elegant as a the Maserati GranTurismo, it is every bit as gorgeous—wide and low with striking angles and some of the best looking wheels around.  Put another way, people notice you in a 4C.

But its looks aren’t the only thing that set the 4C apart.  Most notably, the aptly named 4C has a four-cylinder engine bolted to carbon-fiber tub and aluminum frame.  As illustrated below, Alfa has taken the Lotus approach to performance.

GO FAST FORMULA

240 bhp inline 4 cylinder turbocharged engine with 260 lb. ft. of torque

+

~2,194 lbs. curb weight

=

0-60 in 4.2 seconds (with launch control)

So will buyers forego a German 6 and an American 8 for an Italian 4?  Time will tell.  But the Gentleman Motorist hopes that some Americans take a cue from Steve Jobs and try to think different.  They just might get the ride of their lives.

Photo(s) from Wikipedia.