2015 Alfa Romeo 4C: Live And Direct

There are a couple of ways to re-introduce yourself to the Canadian market if you're an Italian automaker that's been sitting on the sidelines across the Atlantic for most of the past two decades.  If you're Fiat, for example, you can attempt to appeal to the masses by way of an inexpensive, retro-styled subcompact - the Fiat 500 - and work on building a foundation from the ground up.

If you're Alfa Romeo, however, it might be a better idea to start near the top.  This appears to be the philosophy adopted with the introduction of the 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C as the sharp point of the spear aimed at North American sports car fans from all the way over in the Old Country.  Intended to sell in limited numbers, the Alfa Romeo 4C counts exclusivity alongside its attention to raw driving passion and inescapably beautiful styling as the primary weapons in its arsenal.

• Also: Changes For The Next Alfa Romeo Spyder
• Also: What FCA Has In Mind For Detroit

Not For Everyone

It's also important to point out what the 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C is not, and that's 'accessible.'  This is a sports car that's intended to appeal to a very limited portion of the high performance market, and one doesn't have to look much farther than the tight confines of its carbon fibre tub to understand why.  It's not all that easy to get in or out of the 4C, and once you're sitting behind the wheel you begin to notice little things like the inability to recline your seat, the utter lack of adornment on the dash, and the business-like feel of the Alfa Romeo's cockpit.  Think of it as the anti-Porsche Cayman: a car that trades away mainstream civility in favour of the monk-like rewards that stem from the dedication to austerity.

But For Those Who Get It…

Reinforcing the hardcore image portrayed by the 4C's spartan accommodations is its steering, which lacks any power assistance and which takes a respectable amount of convincing when changing the coupe's direction at parking lot speeds.  Fortunately for Alfa Romeo, there exists a cadre of enthusiasts in North America who absolutely understand the stripped-down formula presented by the 4C, and who are actually excited to get behind the wheel of a coupe that's 'missing' a power steering system.

The benefits of the 4C's barebones approach become immediately apparent once underway, as the car's willingness to follow your hand as it rotates the flat-bottomed steering wheel is both immediate and laden with feedback.  The carbon fibre chassis, linked at each end to an aluminium subframe, is just as communicative, transmitting road surface detail at a resolution too often dialled-out by more luxury-laden sports cars.

Right-Sized Engine

A great deal of the 2015 Alfa Romeo's nimbleness can be attributed to its lightweight design, which barely crests 2000 kilograms in base form.  This same platform is also blessed with a mid-engine layout, which means that there's an angry turbocharged four-cylinder motor sitting directly behind the driver.  Displacing 1.75 litres and, when matched with the available 'sport' (read: muffler-less) exhaust system punching well above its weight, sonically, the 4C's only available power plant delivers 237 horses and 258 lb-ft of twist with only the slightest detectable lag off of the line.

That miniscule hesitation is more likely linked to the car's dual-clutch automated manual transmission, a gearbox that is best enjoyed via the steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters that come standard with the Alfa Romeo, but which can also be set to '1' or 'R' (Drive and Reverse) for fully-automatic operation.  There's also an 'N' setting for the tranny, but no Park button, which means you've got to pay attention to the handbrake before you leave the car for the night.

Steel-Stringed Marionette

As a fan of traditional manuals, I was worried that I might find myself taken out of the game by the 4C's high-tech autobox, but it turns out that it's exceptionally well-matched with the car's rev-happy four-cylinder.  After the first few kilometres behind the wheel I quickly forgot the absence of a third pedal and began to run the 1.75-litre mill all the way up to the redline, having to twitch my right index finger quickly to avoid slamming into the limiter on my way to the next ratio.  The vehicle's throttle response and shifting speed can been sharpened by selecting 'Dynamic' from the 4C's D/N/A drive mode system (with the other two letters representing 'Normal' and 'All-Weather), and match perfectly with the taut suspension system sitting underneath the coupe's low-slung floor.

The brakes, on the other hand, alarmed me on more than one occasion with their stiff, no-give pedal: the Alfa always stopped, but it took several miles of convincing before I could give them my full trust.

The One Percent

The 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C is a revelation in the sense that it proves it's still possible to build a gorgeous and fully-modern sports car without having to inject its chassis with Novocaine in order to satisfy safety regs or phantom customer profiles.  There are no corners cut with the 4C to keep its pricing relatively affordable in the sports car pecking order, but it's important to realize that there's also been no real effort made to 'civilize' the coupe's day-to-day demeanour: the Alfa wants to dance every time you wedge yourself behind the wheel, and it's not subtle about reminding you as to the reasons why it was built.  Personally, I adored the frank manner in which the 4C made its case, as this type of direct personality is rare on the current automotive landscape.  If you're the kind of person who worries about looking silly extricating themselves from a car's cockpit at the local country club, however, then maybe you'd do better in a Porsche showroom.