2015 Alfa Romeo 4C, Specification Review

The Alfa Romeo 4C is one of the more surprising new cars of 2015. A sports car with a carbon-fiber body, a mid-engine layout, two seats, a turbocharged four-cylinder and a dual-clutch gearbox, the 4C is as close to an exotic as you can get for about $55,000 base--which is why our colleagues at Motor Authority named it their Best Car To Buy 2015. Making perfect Italian sense, it's the car that's supposed to cue up buyers for a totally revamped Alfa lineup to come to the U.S. over the next few years.

Some of its primary competition includes the Porsche Cayman, the Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG, even the Chevy Corvette and Jaguar F-Type.

The 4C began life as a concept car at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011, and it's translated almost perfectly to reality. It's low-slung and outrageously sexy. Alfa says it's inspired by its Sixties racing efforts and the 33 Stradale, but it bears more than a passing resemblance to Ferrari's Dino, too. It's composed entirely of scoops, curves, cat-eyed side glass, round LED taillamps, and Alfa's trademark beaky overbite. Inside, there's a stark cabin dotted with red details, a flat-bottom steering wheel, and plastics textured to look like the road surface, intermingled with exposed carbon-fiber surfaces. The gauges are a 7-inch LCD display that changes color according to driving mode. 

Power comes from a direct-injected and turbocharged 1.7-liter four-cylinder engine, rated at 237 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. It's a raucous powerplant, better sounding outside than in, and there's just a touch of turbocharger lag. Each horsepower has only 10.3 pounds to accelerate, given the 4C's 2,495-pound curb weight, and acceleration is breathtaking, at 4.5 seconds to 60 mph. Top speed is set at 155 mph.

The rear-drive 4C comes only with a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and it works better than any manual might in the same circumstance. Alfa provides a “DNA” switch that changes shift and throttle pacing and gauge colors from dynamic (red), to natural (grey), to all-weather (blue).There's also the yellow-screen Race mode that turns off the stability control entirely.