Tubulare_Zagato
Alfista Consagrado
Tubolare_Zagato dijo:Esta tarde ha sido la presentación del 4C a los medios:
Ha habido hasta cena, con esto asomándose por la ventana:
Fotos del twitter de Chris Harris
En español
Denebola dijo:VAGtopista ya lo ha probado:
http://www.autopista.es/pruebas/pruebas-de-coches/articulo/alfa-romeo-4c-96164
"Contacto: Alfa Romeo 4C, como un Ferrari
Lo observas, lo descubres, lo tocas, lo escuchas, lo pilotas e inmediatamente lo sientes como un puro Ferrari... para iniciados. Lo fabrica Maserati y se vende con el precioso escudo de Alfa Romeo. Te puedes imaginar qué tipo de deportivo es... estás en lo cierto: es el nuevo Alfa 4C.
Desde hace muchos meses, estábamos esperando el día de poder pilotar el nuevo Alfa 4C, entre otras cosas, porque la materia prima y su concepción técnica son propias de sólo algunos modelos de los fabricantes de deportivos más exclusivos del mundo. Lo hubiera podido firmar la propia Ferrari, pero imagino que habría sido popularizar la categoría y exclusividad del "cavallino rampante", algo políticamente incorrecto.
Su sofisticadísimo chasis de carbono y aluminio es una realidad en un deportivo de "sólo" 53.900 euros. Y con su motor en disposición central, su configuración no asume compromisos que desvirtúen la deportividad más pura. Todo arropado por una carrocería tan sofisticada en su diseño, como los livianos y compactos polímeros que la componen. Viniendo de Alfa Romeo, un V6 atmosférico de aquellos de la marca hubiera sido el colofón, pero hoy día, el 4 cilindros 1.750 Turbo del Giulietta no desmerece en semejante deportivo. Sus 240 CV parecen muchos más cuando sólo deben mover menos de una tonelada de 4C (homologa ¡895 kilos!). Y porque el "perturbador" sonido que golpea tu cabeza a escasos centímetros, te lleva a un excitante ambiente deportivo sin filtros y sin compromisos.
Ni la preparación más extrema de un Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde te aproximaría a lo que vives en el 4C. Y no porque te exija ser un entrenado contorsionista para entrar y salir de él. El espacio y ambiente interior parece recrear el cockpit de un monoplaza. Da lo mismo que desmerezca la cubierta del salpicadero. Su valor está, entre otras cosas, en el carbono visto del marco de las puertas.
Solo tú eres el protagonista. El convidado de piedra ni podrá regular su asiento. Echo de menos un pulsador para arrancar el motor, cuando el cambio de doble embrague despliega 4 pulsadores para las funciones básicas y 2 levas en el volante para manejar sus 6 velocidades. Su cuadro digital, su pedalier de aluminio, su achatado volante, sus envolventes y rígidos asientos, su reducida visibilidad... respiras una deportividad tan pura como extrema.
Ponerlo en marcha impresiona. Te sabes dominador de sus 240 CV, pero el atronador sonido que amplifica el pack deportivo que monta nuestra unidad, acelera un poco más tus ya aceleradas emociones. Sin asistencia en la dirección, en parado el esfuerzo físico por girar el volante es enorme. Más presión. El Alfa 4C inicia la marcha como a trompicones; su doble embrague es muy directo, lógicamente sin una elaborada transición para la maniobra a baja velocidad. El 4C quiere avanzar, ganar metros y coger velocidad. Es su naturaleza. Tirones, ruido, firmeza, exigencia, concentración... el 4C es deliciosamente rudo.
Yo también pensé que a lo mejor era "mucho deportivo para tan poco motor", pero te bastará la primera aceleración para no querer, por ahora, más. La naturaleza turbo de su 1.7 hace que empieces a sentir diabólica su respuesta a solo 2.500 rpm. Seguro que su rugido imprime más empuje psicológico, pero no deja de ser muy esclarecedor que bata en la corta distancia al "refinado" Porsche Cayman S de 325 CV... y 1.320 kg. Estira hasta las 6.500 rpm con una rotundidad y rapidez que debes evitar el brusco corte haciendo caso al cambio de iluminación de un cuentavueltas digital de difícil lectura. El doble embrague resulta extraordinario. Te ofrece cambios rapidísimos y permite reducciones abusivas... mientras en las transiciones la válvula de descarga del turbo se ocupa de añadir más ruido melódico, digno de ser grabado.
La ligereza es clave en el 4C. Cuánto de deportividad tiene el poco peso... y la poca altura. Además, con un reparto de pesos 40/60 por ciento delante/detrás, la sensación de ligereza se acrecienta. Una vez en movimiento, la dirección sin asistencia es suave, pero quizá en aceleración, sientas que demasiado. Por ello, parece que las rectas no le gustan al 4C. Neumáticos y suspensión intervienen también para que su ligera dirección "husmeé" la carretera incluso cuando jurarías que su superficie está limpia y es plana como una mesa de billar. Te exige sujetar y dirigir con firmeza el volante, hasta que cargas el tren delantero simplemente desacelerando cuando te enfrentas a la curva.
Se inscribe con una naturalidad increíble. De rígido y ligero biplaza sin compromisos. Rapidísimo, plano y sin que percibas inercias comprometidas. Ahí es tan sólido, firme y dirigible, que entiendes que su hábitat natural son las secuencias de curvas. En la salida genera la misma confianza. Con diferentes grados de interacción de la electrónica según el modo de conducción que elijas (race, dynamic, natural o all weather), puedes decidir dónde poner tu límite y la eficacia pura del 4C. En cualquier caso, su tren trasero parece preparado para asimilar la respuesta del motor. Hay mucha goma (más anchura y diámetro que delante) y mucha calidad en ellas. Y sólo errores de apreciación o buscados para salir guapo en la foto comprometerían la capacidad del tren trasero... y sería en circuito.
Los frenos son igualmente excepcionales. Normalmente son la debilidad de esos compactos llamados deportivos, pero en el 4C hay tanto de mordiente como de aguante al uso abusivo. Puedes llevarlos al estrés, a oler el ferodo y escuchar los ruidos de la dilatación y contracción de los discos, que no desfallecerán. En definitiva, la sofisticación del 4C retorna en eficacia dinámica y deportiva de elite, de la que presumía Alfa Romeo muchos años atrás."
Se han cargado la dirección asistida!!!!!!!
DoctorX dijo:Las impresiones de El Mundo: http://www.elmundo.es/elmundomotor/2013/09/19/coches/1379612981.html
En inglés
RadiK-Alfa dijo:En INglaterra tienen vendidos todos los 4C hasta 2014 incluido.
Muy buena nota de AUTOCAR (UK): 4,5/5 (9/10 Sobresaliente)
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/alfa-romeo/4c/first-drives/alfa-romeo-4c-first-drive-review
RadiK-Alfa dijo:CRITICA COMPLETA DE TOP GEAR:
Generally, you know how you feel about a car after about, oh, five minutes. Call it the fizzy nethers or simple gut instinct. But after 24 hours, 500 miles, and several of the world’s best mountain passes at the wheel of the Alfa Romeo 4C, we still can’t make the definitive call. Why? Because Alfa’s new baby is a car that manages to be both hugely seductive and irritatingly inconsistent, often on the same stretch of road.
Let’s start with the positives, of which there are many. This really is a stunning bit of design. Yes, those head lights – apparently reworked at the behest of Fiat group CEO Sergio Marchionne, saving a rumoured €4m – undermine the 4C’s junior supercar look, but the launch edition’s carbon surround off-sets any visual disappointment. There are no bad angles on this thing, and several bracingly good ones – head on it looks lower and meaner than the pictures suggest, while the rear three-quarters showcase a typically Italian interplay of curves and sinuously sculpted elements. A chap called Alessandro Maccolini designed the 4C, a name worth keeping an eye on.
Alfa is to be heartily congratulated for daring to downsize; small and light, the 4C posits a way forward for fast cars that adds intellectual muscle to the Lotus Elise’s well-established philosophy. Central to this is the technology at the heart of the 4C, specifically its pre-preg carbon fibre monocoque. ‘We plan to make up to 3500 cars per year,’ Alfa Romeo’s boss Louis-Carl Vignon told topgear.com a few months ago during a visit to the production line in Modena, ‘which will make us the biggest manufacturer of a carbon chassis-ed car.’ With the UK price now confirmed at £45,000, the 4C’s carbon tech is a major USP, and a great pub boast to back up the Alfa’s 21st century Ferrari Dino looks and Alfa 33 Stradale references. It’s effectively a small McLaren 12C…
In actual fact, the tub only accounts for 10 per cent of the car’s structure – it’s mainly a steel and aluminium mix – but on the move the 4C feels amazingly rigid. With a dry weight of just 895kg (that’s a slightly misleading figure, taken without any fluids on-board, but impressive nonetheless), the 4C’s power-to-weight ratio of 268bhp-per-tonne emphasises Alfa’s claim that this is a ‘politically correct super sports car’, a notion that’s backed up by CO2 emissions of just 159g/km and a combined fuel economy average of 41.5mpg. (Compare that to the base Porsche Cayman, the car the 4C must inevitably do battle with, which chucks out 192g/km and averages 34.4mpg.)
It’s also properly fast. It’ll do 160mph all out, and 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds. Its unassisted steering is terrific, its Brembo brakes are fabulous, and it has a colossal amount of grip. Turn-in on those relatively skinny 205-section tyres (235 on the rear) is also sensational. Snap the throttle shut abruptly on a high-speed corner and the 4C’s mid-engined configuration means that it’ll oversteer readily, but you need loads of space to try that sort of malarkey. On the endless up- and downhill hairpins of the Aosta valley, where we spent most of our time, it’s mostly well balanced and engagingly neutral, with some understeer to warn the unwary, and generally rides well, too. Drive it like you have sides of ham for hands and clods of mud on your feet and you might get into bother, but the 4C prefers and rewards a more intelligent approach.
Now for the negatives. Sadly, the 4C’s powertrain falls short of its chassis. Not disastrously so, but enough to drive you a bit nuts. On paper, we love the idea of a 1.75-litre, turbocharged four-cylinder, and it fits perfectly with the 4C’s PC remit. Its 240bhp power output and 258lb ft of torques also sound more than ample, especially in such a lightweight package. The engine has direct injection, clever scavenge tech, and variable valve timing on intake and exhaust. The gearbox is a dual-clutch flappy paddle set up which, Alfa claims, has faster shift times in specific increments than even the Ferrari 458 Italia can manage.
The reality is different. Granted, we spent a lot of time at high altitude, but the engine still feels strangely uptight, and simply doesn’t generate the sort of grunt the figures suggest. At sea level, the 4C is fine when you keep it in the zone – between 2000-5000rpm – but it’s not what you’d call effortless. The turbo runs 1.5bar of boost and dominates the 4C to such an extent that, depending on your point of view, it becomes detrimental to the overall driving experience. Throttle response is also frustratingly soggy; the 4C looks like a car that’ll respond to pedal blips with superbike-style intensity, but instead feels like there’s a heavy flywheel. The revs decay lazily, too. Blame the anaesthetising effect of the turbo, the EU6 compliance, and the need to peg back emissions.
The launch edition features the optional sports exhaust as standard, and while it sounds fabulous from the outside, like an old Alfa racing car, inside it’s rather strident and a touch droney, especially at steady motorway speeds. And when it’s not doing that, the dump valve is chumpfing and chirruping like an excessively tuned mid-’90s hot hatch. On occasions it even manages to summon a sound worryingly reminiscent of the Morris Minor’s flatulent over-run parp. It’s not a classically sonorous Alfa, that’s for sure.
The ’box is even more distracting. Quite simply, you have to drive round it to wring the best out of the car rather than working with it. Italian engineers have a habit of justifying an overly jerky paddle-shift on emotional grounds, but the 4C’s gearchanges initially made me angry before inducing melancholy at the bungling of another golden opportunity. You could argue that the Cayman is a bit soulless in comparison, but then you drift into simplistic stereotyping. The truth is, it’s a car powered by a glorious flat-six engine, harnessed to a mighty dual-clutch PDK transmission, both of which work seamlessly to allow the driver to revel in an equally remarkable chassis. The Alfa erects too many barriers.
The Porsche is also unimpeachable when it comes to the detail stuff. For example, you’ll look in vain for exposed screw heads or any loose wiring in the Cayman’s cabin, but won’t have any trouble finding unacceptable quality glitches in the Alfa Romeo. The 4C’s driving position is fine, and its configurable TFT instrument screen is clever. The passenger seat is fixed, eliminating the need for a seat runner and thus saving weight, but it’s also less comfortable as a result. The interior plastics are, at best, a mixed bag, even if the material covering the dash and seats is the result of highly efficient manufacturing processes. There’s still evidence of cost-cutting inside, yet this is hardly a cheap car.
We sooooo want to love the Alfa Romeo 4C. And up to a point we do. It will be bought and enjoyed by people who get huge pleasure from simply looking at it, which is fine by us. Nor is it all mouth and no trousers, because it backs up its beauty with some great technology. It also goes like hell, and handles beautifully. It has a philosophical beauty, too, which we approve of. But that same thinking means the 4C has to endure some compromises, mainly in the powertrain department. We’d happily trade some of the weight saving and CO2 numbers for a normally aspirated V6 – Alfa’s good at those – and an old school manual gearbox. Alfa Romeo could call it the 6C, and we reckon that really would get the nether regions fizzing. What do you think?
Friday 20th September
ALFA ROMEO 4C: REVIEW
Alfa Romeo 4C driven as PistonHeads muscles to the front of the queue and Harris delivers his verdict
There was much razzmatazz and pomp at Fiat's Balocco proving ground the other night - far more than a sports car scheduled to find just 3,500 homes per year should warrant. But the new 4C is much more than a new hotshoe. It is a metaphor for the rebirth of Alfa Romeo, and brings with it an expectation that the brand can finally assert itself in a German-dominated world. It's hard not to find yourself rooting for them - I think all of us agree that a fully-functioning Alfa is a good thing for the car world - and I suppose I have to mark a word of caution now before describing the new 4C. I want us to avoid what should probably be called the TVR factor, allowing ourselves to wish success on a brand so much that we care willing to forgive what, in hindsight, history judges as unforgivable shortcomings.
The 4C has to be a good car.
Or does it? The 500 launch edition versions priced at £53,000 sold in 10 days and Alfa ended up with over 1,000 requests. The total yearly volume looks pessimistic and is of course limited by the labour-intensive carbon tub. You would not need to be cynical to suggest that the 4C could sell on badge, looks and perhaps the simple fact that it is not a Porsche. I get the feeling that there's an aching, burgeoning need among enthusiasts to own an Italian car at this price point, the 4C might not satisfy all of them, but it is a timely safety valve.
Jump right in
There are perhaps two ways to appraise the 4C: the first is to deconstruct its engineering and the specification Alfa has chosen for it. The other is simply to judge it as an object to behold, own and, most importantly for us, to drive. I think a hybrid approach is probably best: drive it and then see if the brave engineering has done its job.
The 4C is a small car. Much shorter than a Cayman, but actually quite wide. I will not comment on the styling, but will add that a day spent with it has made me much, much more of a fan. The headlights? Don't go there just yet.
Uniquely in this class, it sits on a carbon tub which weighs just 65kg, was designed initially with the help of Dallara, but is now built and assembled by Alfa itself. Well, Maserati. The 4C is actually assembled over with the triple-pronged lot. It makes sense - they know more about building sports cars.
Strutting its stuff
To the front of the tub are attached double wishbones and at the rear a subframe houses a turbocharged 1,750cc four-cylinder motor. Packaging constraints precluded double wishbones at the rear, so there's a strut-type suspension instead. I find this slightly odd in a no compromise machine, but Alfa insists it has made the layout work.
The engine is heavily modified over the one found in the Guilietta, with a crank running in eight bearings. The result is 240hp at 6,000rpm and 258lb ft at 2,200rpm.
Reduced mass was the 4C's goal from the start and with a dry weight of 895kg (925kg wet) it's far daintier than a Cayman. Seemingly nothing has escaped the liposuction treatment, the dash is a single, bare lump of plastic, the passenger seat is fixed and has no runners, there is no gas strut for the rear boot. This is Alfa digesting the Colin Chapman book of luxury and regurgitating it in Latin form - it makes compelling viewing.
The bare carbon tub peeks through the minimal carpeting. The carbon-composite seats weigh just 12kg and the creature comforts are minimal, but it's not too sparse.
Thumbs up
Best of all, it starts with a key. No button-BS here, just twist and go. The starter motor has an appallingly blue-collar drone to it and my heart sank as I heard its minicab clank, but then - Ka-BOOM! - the motor catches with a completely outrageous volley of noise. If you've ever stood near a proper four-cylinder turbocharged racing car as it starts in the paddock, you'll understand how raucous the 4C is. Alfa clearly wasn't going to allow this outwardly ordinary engine room to run quietly. Push the throttle and it fizzes away eagerly.
The twin-clutch gearbox is Fiat's own system and you select a forward gear either by pulling a paddle or pressing a button down by your knee. You do the same for neutral and reverse. The rather fiddly DNA switch is down there too. The cabin is intimate: I'm too small to judge whether it's hard to get in and out of, but your bottom is very low and the wheel comes back to meet you. It also adjusts up and down. The seat has very thin padding and doesn't appear to offer much lateral support. When you look right, your passenger seems too close. When you look in the rear view mirror, you can just about see the roof of the car behind. A Cayman is like a Mulsanne after this.
Rolling away is easy, but you immediately get the sense that the right pedal will require some learning. Being so heavily turbocharged and light on its Pirellis the lag is amplified - at low speed I found myself simply selecting as high a gear as possible because it made for smooth progress, and the thing has such guts it'll haul from 2,800rpm in sixth with meaningful results.
Up to speed
The problem with the 4C going slowly is that it cannot show you any of its tricks. A manual Cayman can still titillate through its slick gearchange, immediate throttle response and musical six-banger; the 4C just burbles, surges and those dual clutches moan as they try to smooth each slightly ponderous part-throttle shift. The ride comfort is pretty good and the unassisted steering is no hardship. But it's like a speedboat running below planing speed - outside its intended operational window.
The great news is that the 4C doesn't need to be hooned on a circuit to show itself, it comes properly alive on the public road, and not just at unreasonable speeds. The steering initially feels disconcertingly light just off-centre, and this can allow the car to wander across the crown of the road slightly, but you soon learn to just relax and work with it. Once into a corner it weights up significantly, and the chassis immediately feels right. At normal speed, there's no understeer, you just turn and it flicks into corners with the agility you'd expect of something so light - it definitely feels closer to an Elise than a Cayman in the way it changes direction and links sequences of flowing turns. The roads I used were quite broken in places, and the damping remained very composed. The car is certainly not over-sprung, and it does lean in bends, which gives much appreciated feedback to the driver.
Contact point
There is just one problem though - it seems trivial, but it is in fact quite important: the 4C has a truly dreadful steering wheel. It is too thick, oddly shaped and doesn't allow the driver to complete his or her connection with the car. I cannot understand the thinking behind providing the purest un-assisted steering system and then destroying its delicacy right at the point of human connection. It's such a shame. With a Lotus Elise wheel the 2.5 turns of lock would feel far more appealing. Even so, the 4C still demolishes the Cayman for steering weight and feel, but think what it might have been!
The powertrain is surprising too. This is not a car that shines on a two-hour test run - you need to calibrate yourself to its behaviour and then you are left with one of the most effortless ways of covering ground I've experienced for a while. The torque to weight ratio is so impressive you can just leave the car in sixth and mow your way past slower traffic. The gearshift in the slower of the DNA modes isn't very impressive, I just left it in race (which disconnects the ESP) and then, under full throttle, the 130 millisecond claims are quite believable. There's a lovely crack of exhaust on each upshift and some good, lingering burbles coming back down again. I was worried about the transmission, but it suits the engine's power characteristics and when you're pushing it feels sharp. Interestingly, R&D boss Mauro Pierallini let slip that Alfa hasn't discounted a manual version in the future, but it'll take some serious re-engineering.
The brakes are just magnificent on the road: great pedal feel and even with 305mm front rotors you feel like you can brake deep into a turn the way you just can't in heavier machines. All Lotus and Caterham owners will understand this.
Pain in the-
Refinement levels sit mid-way between an Elise and a Cayman. Road noise isn't too bad, the motor is pretty raucous, but settles to an acceptable grumble when cruising at 85mph. Wind noise is well contained and I could happily drive the car for several hours if I actually fitted the seat properly. Now I'm loath to go in too hard on the seat, because it might just be me, but it gave me a very sore lower back and I just didn't get the lateral support I expected or needed. Let's see if anyone else has the same problem before suggesting this isn't anomalous.
The cabin is basic. This car had the optional air conditioning and a hi-fi which looks pretty RadioShack and I didn't bother trying. The dash readout is sci-fi TXT screen that perfectly fits the character and ethos of the car. As a driver I found it clear, informative and very funky.
On the track the 4C's personality is more rounded than I'd expected. Being light, mid-engined and short of wheelbase I expected something very agile and throttle sensitive - and so it is. There's a lovely, darting initial turn in, and some safety understeer if you try to carry too much speed, but you can trim the line very accurately with the throttle and brake impossibly late. On the standard P-Zeros grip is very good.
Playful
The motor doesn't shine like this though. You don't really appreciate the whump of torque in second and third gears and then it seems a bit slow to creep from 5,000rpm to 6,500rpm, but that's just the way with turbo fours. Except, it would seem, the A45 AMG. The gearshift is still impressive though, with no perceptible delay between pulling a paddle and feeling cogs change.
The unexpected part comes when you fling the 4C around, because it should be a right handful, and yet it isn't. You can back it into corners on a trailing throttle and use that torque to maintain some pretty glorious slides. There's no mechanical locking diff, only the Q2 braking thing that Alfa's used for a while. Again, Mr Pierallini says they're looking at doing one, but for me the car doesn't really need it. I loved driving the 4C on track, I suppose I just missed it having an engine that wanted to rev a little harder.
And so to the question everyone is now asking: would you have one over a Cayman? I'm not sure the question is actually valid having driven the 4C. The Cayman is a much more complete car, it does things the Alfa cannot, indeed it does things most other sports cars cannot, but the 4C is bubbling with an energy the Porsche can only dream of replicating. The 4C is dynamically exciting, fast and absorbing. It's a fine interpretation of how Alfa might re-enter the sports car market with a bang, and without directly competing with Porsche.
And I suppose that statement kind of answers my suspicions that the 4C would have been better had it not used an expensive carbon tub and instead used the cash on an exotic motor with more cylinders. That car would just have been a Cayman wannabe, the 4C is something more direct, something new.
It isn't for everyone, but I really, really enjoyed it. And I still can't handle the headlights, even in the optional carbon trim (which allegedly saves 1.5kg).
ALFA ROMEO 4C
Engine: 1,750cc 4-cyl turbo
Transmission: 6-speed dual-clutch auto (Alfa TCT), rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 240@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 258@2,200rpm
0-62mph: 4.5 sec (auto x.x sec)
Top speed: 161mph
Weight: 895kg (dry)
MPG: 41.5mpg (NEDC combined)
CO2: 157g/km
Price: £45,000 (before options)
En italiano