Alfa Romeo presents the convertible we’ve all been waiting for, the new 4C Spider Design Preview.
[Not a valid template]We’re wondering if there’s such a thing as ‘too gorgeous’. We ask because Alfa Romeo has just released official images of the 4C Spider Design Preview, which makes the 4C – hardly a duffer to begin with – yet more beautiful. And yet more experiential. Observe…
‘A car that brings the driving experience into even sharper focus by allowing the sounds and sensations of performance to fill the cabin and stir the driver’s soul still further’.
Though still a prototype a present, the convertible 4C is due to hit the production line in 2015. Among the key elements of the new design – aside, obviously, from the chopped roof – are carbon fibre rollover bars, yet more low-density SMC (Sheet Moulding Compound) where once there was a rear window, and an Alfa debut in the shape of a new dual-stage central exhaust system with titanium and carbon tailpipes by Akrapovic. And for added eyebrow raising, other customers on the Italian marque’s books include MotoGp and World Superbikes.
Power once again is drawn from the four-cylinder, all-aluminium, 1750 Turbo Petrol engine, which drives the rear wheels via a six-speed, dual dry-clutch Alfa TCT transmission. Remarkably, thanks to the stiffness of the 4C’s carbon fibre monocoque, performance figures are roughly the same. The convertible hitting 0-100kph in 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 250kph. There’s that 40:60 front-to-rear weight distribution playing it’s part.
Listen very carefully and you may be able to hear crankandpiston’s James Davison – who went to Italy to watch the 4C being put together – snapping his keyboard in half and cursing that he is not in Geneva today. Sometimes there really is such a thing as ‘too gorgeous’.
