Lap Time: 3:08.8
Base Price: $60,895
As-Tested Price: $69,445
237 hp | 2475 lb | 10.4 lb/hp
Few recent new cars have created as much excitement as the 4C, and rightfully so. It is a genuine carbon-fiber Italian exotic, a mid-engined mini-Ferrari with a spartan interior and a roughness around the edges. And it doesn’t cost more than your house.
The lack of mechanical aids—it has unassisted steering and barely boosted brakes—translates into a rewarding track car. Get a corner wrong and your inner Enzo (like your id, only with better hair) wills you to do it smoother and quicker.
Curb serrations jackhammer the steering wheel, tugging at arm and shoulder muscles as you strain to work the Nautilus machine in your hands. This would be more enjoyable if the wheel’s stitching didn’t dig into your fingers. Some exotic-car owners wear gloves while handling their pride; in this car, second skins are a necessity.
The 4C’s brake pedal is firmer than any other car’s at this year’s event, and it provides a workout, too. The car reacts to every ounce of force added to the pedal. Trail-brake into a corner and the rear rotates nicely; trail-brake too much and the otherwise-neutral chassis swaps ends, as we found out twice in Horse Shoe.
We were expecting slightly quicker lap times. Maybe it was the unmuffled exhaust that is part of the sensory pummeling in this car, but after looking at some key specs (237 horsepower, 10.4 pounds per horsepower), the 3:08.8 time seemed right on target. The Alfa is practically tied—just 0.4 second quicker—with the 2006 Lotus Elise, which also saddled each of its horses with 10.4 pounds. The one feature notably missing from the Alfa is a limited-slip differential. Without it, the 4C’s 1.7-liter turbo four spins the inner-rear wheel on VIR’s slowest corners, such as Oak Tree and when exiting Spiral.
This car is tuned for ten-tenths drivers living ten-tenths lives. Doing anything less than going for it makes the heavy steering, bump steer, and rowdy, raspy engine feel like unacceptable burdens given the car’s price at the top of our LL2 class. Porsches get it done with more refinement if less flair. Whether you think the Alfa is crude or a plastico fantastico, there isn’t a cheaper way to take an Italian on a track date.
How the Plastic Stacks Up
The Alfa Romeo 4C is one of only five cars in the history of Lightning Lap with a carbon-fiber tub. Of those, it’s by far the most affordable and delivers the most speed per dollar at 128.4 mph/$100,000. It’s possibly the only way the 4C trumps the 918:
Tony Quiroga is a 20-year-veteran Car and Driver editor, writer, and car reviewer and the 19th editor-in-chief for the magazine since its founding in 1955. He has subscribed to Car and Driver since age six. "Growing up, I read every issue of Car and Driver cover to cover, sometimes three or more times. It's the place I wanted to work since I could read," Quiroga says. He moved from Automobile Magazine to an associate editor position at Car and Driver in 2004. Over the years, he has held nearly every editorial position in print and digital, edited several special issues, and also helped produce C/D's early YouTube efforts. He is also the longest-tenured test driver for Lightning Lap, having lapped Virginia International Raceway's Grand Course more than 2000 times over 12 years.
K.C. Colwell is Car and Driver's executive editor, who covers new cars and technology with a keen eye for automotive nonsense and with what he considers to be great car sense, which is a humblebrag. On his first day at C/D in 2004, he was given the keys to a Porsche 911 by someone who didn't even know if he had a driver's license. He also is one of the drivers who set fast laps at C/D's annual Lightning Lap track test.
Eric Tingwall holds degrees in mechanical engineering and journalism, a combination he pursued with the dream of working at Car and Driver. While living his dream, he has cut car parts in half, driven into a stationary dummy car at 50 mph, lapped Virginia International Raceway in the hottest performance cars, and explained the physics behind the wacky, waving, inflatable, flailing-arm tube man.
