[GoingTooFast]

Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to the 'power of lightness'... just WOOOOOOOOOW!!!

[GoingTooFast]

And, if you don't understand this or you do but don't care you shouldn't be allowed to talk about sports cars...

[GoingTooFast]

Shall I continue?!

[GoingTooFast]

If you so insist...


BIG ENGINE




SMALL TRUNK





Does it make any sense?! 340 hp, 1597 kg at best... 0 - 100 km in 5.3 s?!

Or... 495 hp, 1665 kg and 0 - 100 km in 4.3 s at best?!


Between the F-type's 196 liter boot space or the Alfa 4C's 110 liter boot space there isn't much space left for a single doubt among true sports car enthusiasts... Are you really one of them?!

[GoingTooFast]

Alfa Romeo's product plan remains a work in progress

Alfa Romeo's only new nameplate under firm development is a rear-wheel-drive roadster.

The car, due in 2015, will be built by Mazda in Hiroshima, Japan, along with the redesigned MX-5 Miata roadster.

The rest of Alfa Romeo's product plan has been continually revised since Fiat took a stake in Chrysler in 2009 -- and it remains a work in progress.

In July Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne reiterated that Fiat is working on future Alfa Romeo models, but the plans are "top secret."

Although Alfa Romeo's product plan has been revised many times, Marchionne has been unchanging in his opposition to selling Alfa Romeo to another automaker. Three years ago, Ferdinand Piech, chairman of Volkswagen AG's supervisory board, said that the German automaker was interested in Alfa Romeo.

Left without new volume products for almost three years, Alfa Romeo now is an almost Europe-only brand that sells only two nameplates -- the 2008 MiTo subcompact and the 2010 Giulietta compact -- in worryingly decreasing numbers.

Last year, Alfa Romeo's global sales declined to about 100,000 from 132,000 in 2011.

Fiat and Chrysler engineers are working on a rwd and all-wheel-drive platform for Alfa Romeo, Chrysler and Dodge cars. If approved, the new platform would help Alfa Romeo compete with German rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

But the new platform could delay by another one or two years the introduction of crucial new models such as the Giulia mid-sized sedan and a flagship sedan.

The platform also would underpin the replacements for the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger and Challenger.

Here is a summary of Alfa Romeo's current plan, although most of it is uncertain.

Subcompact: Alfa Romeo canceled plans for a U.S.-bound five-door variant of the current Europe-only three-door MiTo. Because of the worsening Italian and European markets, Marchionne put on hold plans to redesign the MiTo.

4C: Alfa Romeo is set to debut the U.S. variant of the 4C coupe in November at the Los Angeles Auto Show. A few units could be shipped by year end to fulfill Marchionne's promise to sell the car in the United States in 2013.

The United States will get 400 of the 1,000 units of the 4C Launch Edition, priced in Europe at 60,000 euros, or about $80,000 at current exchange rates. The 4C Launch Edition, unveiled in March at the Geneva auto show, features custom-made carbon fiber parts such as the headlight clusters and a rear spoiler.

The 4C is a baby 8C, with a lightweight carbon fiber chassis and a reinforced plastic body. The U.S. version weighs about 2,172 pounds, about 220 pounds more than the European version because of different requirements to meet federal crash standards.

The 4C is powered by an all-aluminum 240-hp, 1.8-liter gasoline engine with turbocharging and direct injection, combined with a Fiat-developed six-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Alfa Romeo is studying a roadster variant of the 4C coupe, the 4C Spider, with an easy-to-remove carbon fiber-reinforced plastic roof that is expected to arrive about a year later than the coupe.

Alfa Romeo said it plans to build 26,000 4C coupe and Spider units over seven years.

Giulietta: Alfa Romeo shelved plans to take the compact hatchback to North America when it is refreshed in 2014. Investments to make the Giulietta U.S.-compliant were considered too high to recover in the remaining life cycle of a model that launched in Europe in 2010. The United States could get the compact when the Giulietta is redesigned, but not before 2016 or 2017.

Giulia: The crucial mid-sized car, originally due in 2014 with underpinnings shared with the redesigned Chrysler 200 that debuts next year, has been put on hold again.

Alfa Romeo is evaluating whether to derive the redesigned car from a new rwd/awd platform that Fiat and Chrysler are studying, but this could delay the Giulia launch to the end of 2015 at the earliest.

The Giulia sedan -- and possibly a wagon -- are set to replace the slow-selling 159 sedan and Sportwagon models, which Alfa Romeo discontinued in May 2011.

Large sedan: Late last year, Alfa Romeo began working on a rwd large sedan. The model, a derivative of the Maserati Ghibli, was planned to reach the market as early as the end of 2014.

But this summer Alfa Romeo shelved the idea to use Maserati's underpinnings -- too expensive for Alfa Romeo -- and is looking at basing this new flagship on the new rwd/awd platform also planned for the Giulia. Timing of the model is uncertain.

Roadster: The two-seat roadster is due in 2015 in Europe and the United States. The car will be built at Mazda's factory in Hiroshima. The Alfa Romeo model will be a variant of the redesigned rwd MX-5 Miata.

The Alfa Romeo and Mazda models will have distinct styling and their own engines, the companies said. Alfa Romeo will use a 200-hp version of the 1.8-liter direct-injection turbocharged engine that debuts with the 4C.

Compact crossover: This is another model that has bounced in and out of Alfa Romeo's lineup. Now, the plan is to derive an Alfa Romeo variant from the single model that will replace the Jeep Compass and Patriot. The future and timing of the Alfa Romeo variant is unclear.

Mid-sized SUV: Alfa Romeo has been considering a sibling of the redesigned Jeep Cherokee, which Chrysler promises will enter U.S. showrooms in the third quarter. The original plan called for the Alfa Romeo variant to go on sale about a year later than the Jeep model, so in the second half of 2014, but the timing is unclear.

Large SUV: Alfa Romeo evaluated a plan to derive its own variant of the Maserati Levante, a large SUV that will share some underpinnings with the Jeep Grand Cherokee. While the Levante has been moved forward to 2015, Alfa Romeo's variant appears to have been canceled.

[GoingTooFast]

Alfa Romeo 4C's Targa version...

[GoingTooFast]

[GoingTooFast]

[GoingTooFast]

[GoingTooFast]

[GoingTooFast]

[GoingTooFast]

Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG Racing Series Concept

[GoingTooFast]

[GoingTooFast]

Alfa Romeo 4C is a 'masterpiece,' says Fiat product boss

Fiat's European product development head, Mauro Pierallini, believes the Alfa Romeo 4C roadster will be another "masterpiece" for the storied Alfa brand. The rear-drive, two-seat 4C will give Alfa an image boost when it goes on sale in Europe in September and in the United States a few months later. Pierallini talked with Automotive News Europe Correspondent Claire Bal about the car.

The 4C weighs 895kg, is 3990mm long and delivers 240hp from its 1.75-liter turbocharged direct-injection gasoline engine. Is the 4C an Italian version of the Lotus Elise?

• I cannot deny they have something in common, but the 4C is better than the Elise in many aspects: from a comfort point of view, for the handling characteristics, for performance. But the Elise was not our target. We built this car because it's in the Alfa Romeo DNA to create very small and light performance cars. I'm proud to say we made another masterpiece that will remain in Alfa's history.

What were the main challenges you faced when creating this car?

• First, we had to make the 4C very light. One requirement was to not go above the weight/power ratio of 4 kg per horsepower. Our engineering team cut any unnecessary gram. At first we wanted to use steel subframes in the front and in the rear of the carbon fiber chassis, but we learned it was too heavy so we used an aluminum frame.

Was it a challenge to work with nontraditional materials?

• Ferrari technicians helped us. We are not used to work with carbon fiber. Our only experience was with the Alfa 8C. We also conceived a low-density plastic body. The 4C was an extremely challenging project, both from a business point of view and because of the skills we had to acquire.

How much did you modify the Giulietta engine to use it in the 4C?

• It is completely different and 24kg lighter, mainly thanks to a new aluminum block. This is the first of a new family of performance engines dedicated to the Alfa Romeo brand.

Will the 4C for the U.S. be different?

• We had to respect different regulations. The car is about 100kg heavier because we had to add some aluminum inserts in the carbon fiber chassis. The U.S. crash test requires a different structure to absorb different impact forces. We also had to comply with rules covering the gasoline tank, the fuel lines and emissions.
  
  

Why is annual production of the 4C limited to 3,500?

• The carbon fiber chassis is our production bottleneck. This is the maximum that our supplier, Adler Plastic, can build. Otherwise, we would need to double the investment. We chose to use the traditional handcrafted 'pre-preg' process because it is the best. We are building the 4C in Maserati's plant in Modena. One of the 4C's distinctive traits is that it is a unique product, like a hand-made Italian shoe.

Tell us about the 4C's headlights.

• We wanted to do something different and we needed to optimize weight. In these headlamps you just have the lighting parts inserted in a shell. It's a simple and cheap solution. It's quite radical, I know, but if I had to design a racecar I would choose this solution.

How does the 4C drive?

• It's so fast! We drove the Porsche Cayman to make some comparisons. The Cayman is a very beautiful car, it has a great sound, but if you drive it slowly you could imagine you're sitting in a VW Golf. The 4C is completely different. You feel you are in a racecar. We also drove the 4C on our Balocco track with some Ferraris. In the straight line, the 4C only reaches a top speed of 260kph, but on the handling track its performances can be assimilated with those of a Ferrari. And thanks to the launch control, any driver could accelerate from 0 to 100kph in just 4.5 seconds.

[GoingTooFast]

The 220 pounds heavier and more robust Alfa 4C's american version... still, a LOT lighter than a big SRT8 Challenger 392 :

[GoingTooFast]

Test mules of what appears to be yet another two very lightweight beauty models from Alfa Romeo have been spotted in Serbia and shed some camouflage... if the Alfa 4C serves as an indication, can't wait to see them in person... without camouflage . Alfa is back no doubt:

[GoingTooFast]

Or better still, I can't wait to test drive them...

You see, I'm not like those guys that seat and wait for some other guy, the so-called reviewer, to tell them how good each model is after he tests it... I trust my feelings and, above everything else, I trust in the laws of physics when it comes to choose your partner!!! So, I'll pay to see for myself. Because you have to live with her to really know...

[Red Bread]

Spamming the spammer? What's next?!

[gonzo]

You are aware of the many Alfa dedicated forums available yes?
Beating this thread to death, day after day after day, has gotten extremely stale.

Check one of the ALFA forums out and join.


Take care.

[gonzo]

It has been on the tip of my tongue and finally it came to me.

Annie Wilkes .

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by gonzo

It has been on the tip of my tongue and finally it came to me.

Annie Wilkes .

Haha, awesome.

[gonzo]

Do you use fresh tomatoes and a little Spam in your meatloaf?