Latest Alfa stirs the senses

There is a saying that goes along the lines of: you are not a true car enthusiast if you haven't owned an Alfa Romeo at some stage in your life.

How true that is I have no idea, but I can tell you the alfitsi can’t see past the badge and will have you believe nothing else.

And of course a car like the 4C is going to bolster this argument, as it is a stunning and very emotionally appealing machine. Add to the equation lightweight and decent power with razor-sharp handling driven through the rear wheels and you have a technically adept vehicle.

Climbing in and out the car is no easy or sociable occasion. Sliding in is easier than clawing your way out and I can assure you that unless your better half is a race car driver, he or she will not be impressed by the effort expended on this seemingly simple task.

Once in, though, you feel rather cocooned in a good way – but getting properly comfortable takes some doing for taller drivers like me, as the seat does not quite offer enough adjustment. The pedal box also sits off to the left-hand side of the footwell.

You are not going to find a ton of luxury inside the 4C. You get air-con, an aftermarket-looking radio that really didn’t do a great job and you are going to have to do without power steering.

But fire up the 4C with the conventional key, no push-button here, although everything else is – including the operation of the six-speed TCT dual clutch gearbox – and you start to forgive this car for some of its shortcomings.

The four-cylinder 177kW/ 350Nm 1 742cc turbocharged engine barks into life and offers all the right noises.

And it moves. The 0-100 km/h sprint comes up in five seconds, the quarter mile is done in just more than 13 seconds, the 1km at 214 m/h and the top speed is 252km/h.

Straight line, however, is not what this car is about. In fact, at high speed you need to treat this car with respect. This car wants to be driven hard around corners. Here it will see off any competition from other road cars of similar capacity or power.

We have been told our allocation for South Africa is only 30 cars per year and the 30 for this year have all been spoken for already. So regardless of what we say about this car being a flawed everyday option, it will be snapped up by Alfa Romeo enthusiasts and will most likely become a classic.

I enjoyed my time in the 4C mostly because I drove it like I stole it. I was, however, quite happy to get out of it and return to something a little more subdued.

The Alfa Romeo 4C is sold and serviced through seven dedicated dealerships countrywide: Gary Green Auto and Century City (Cape Town), Arnold Chatz Cars (Johannesburg), McCarthy Wonderboom (Pretoria), NMI (Umhlanga), Maritime Motors (Port Elizabeth) and Spesbona in Windhoek (Namibia).