Alfa Romeo 4C Forums banner
41 - 46 of 46 Posts
Have been lurking the forum for a while, love the 4C ever since its release. I recently test drove a 4C spider and found it surprisingly easy to drive (the lack of power steering requires more effort only at slow speeds, once the car is moving it's not bad at all) and I love the design. I believe it will be an incredibly fun little car to take around canyons. So I have started shopping for one, but only signed up today for a question. From all the talks at cars and coffee in the past few years, I heard some owners described the car as having a lot of feedback at slower speed, but once it's up to speed the steering is too light and so it's a bit sketchy to drive. Some said it's very unforgiving (from short wheel base? skinny tires?) Most said it's probably the best driving machine they have and these guys have over a few mil dollars of cars in the garage. So dear owners, what's your impression of 4C's handling characteristics in comparison to some other cars? is it sketchy to drive at speed? particularly canyons and tracks. Is it a safe car for the average driver?
does it have snap oversteer like a s2000? vs stable modern porsches (cayman boxster 911s)? forgiving and playful like modern midengine ferraris? Appreciate any experience and insight into this from current owners
Edit: didn't realize there were 3 pages of great answers... Oh well.

Lol definitely NSFF (not safe for foolery)
It's no Diablo/1st gen Viper, but it's not what these owners you talked to said to you... Just a tire swap away from driving like the more stable midengines out there, and plenty more ($$$) you can do to make it bedrock stable.

Funny you mentioned the s2000 snap oversteer, and that's a pretty good reference if talking road mannerisms, as on track they are totally different animals. Early on driving these, when you out-turn/weight-load the tire grip, the limit is a sudden and sharp... This gets "tuned out" of you with more experience (and from the car tires, alignment, etc) with the 4c tho, and actually makes a better midengine driver out of you. Yes, there are details to this, but broadstrokes, that all you'll need to know.
 
My thoughts are that the factory alignment is not great for the typical driver. I had mine adjusted back to a small amount of toe in on the rear (0.06 per side), and minimal toe in on the front (0.02 per side). This allows slight adjustment during suspension travel without getting toe out. The factory tires are not good in my opinion either. I went to some tires that I have really enjoyed on other cars (Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 in 215/40-18 front and 255/35-19 rear). The car feels really good from the drivers seat, but is an absolute terror for passengers for some reason. The handling is great, but not as reassuring as an S2000 because there is not as much weight in the front wheels, so you don’t get that turn in ‘bite’ that you typically get on a front engined car. As noted, the best thing about the car is the fun factor at just about any speed.
 
41 - 46 of 46 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top