RE: Alfa Romeo 4C: Review

[V6Alfisti]

kambites said:

If that does turn out to be the case, it makes you wonder how much of service schedules is engineering driven and how much marketing.

Personally I expect Alfa were playing on the safe side seeing the car more as a track car and thus they thought it will be redlined for all of those 4.5k miles and wanting to see it more often to make sure it was in fine fettle.

Given the standard Giulietta 1.8tbi is on a 21k mile service, I think 12.5k miles sounds sensible and they might even change the oil characteristics due to the change in 'use'. There are many factors that I suspect we are not aware of.

[V6Alfisti]

Kolbenkopp said:

Yup, that's their style. Makes one wonder if the cam belt change interval is going to be halved again at some point . Lovely, lovely car though.

they do have a bit of a reputation for moving the interval goal posts.

Still can't believe how excited I am about this car, I think it is because it seems to be a genuinely fun/innovative car at what is a quite an achievable figure!

[otolith]

Do Americans still change their oil very frequently?

[pilchardthecat]

As above, the rumour is that the short interval was not related to the oil/engine, but more to do with them keeping an eye on the carbon bits and the various nuts and bolts holding it together
Will see what the contract says when they call me up

[otolith]

I was just thinking that shorter service intervals might have been expected for the US market. Look at this schedule for Audi;

http://www.audiusa.com/content/dam/audiusa/Documen...

Oil change at 5000 miles and then every 10,000 miles thereafter. Aren't most European Audis on 20k mile services?

[Stuart J]

Has anyone got any pictures of a car with a UK front number plate fitted, It will be interesting to see how that blends in

[Kolbenkopp]

otolith said:

I was just thinking that shorter service intervals might have been expected for the US market. Look at this schedule for Audi;

http://www.audiusa.com/content/dam/audiusa/Documen...

Oil change at 5000 miles and then every 10,000 miles thereafter. Aren't most European Audis on 20k mile services?

Ah, interesting. Could be Alfa do this to please the natives?

20k for the Euro models sounds right. I think that's the effect of pressure from fleet managements, plus stuff like running costs statistics (ADAC does one which is pretty popular). The A2 TDI can even go up to 30k between oil changes (in "LongLife" service mode). Would not do that though, with the small cost of an oil change....

[pilchardthecat]

Stuart J said:

Has anyone got any pictures of a car with a UK front number plate fitted, It will be interesting to see how that blends in

That is an interesting point - where does it go!?

[GTRene]

best way is to blend it in a sort of sun-stripe sticker/band top of the front windshield/glas inside

that way nobody can steal it...its always in sight but not causing drag anymore so also good for less cw drag means less fuel

[pilchardthecat]

GTRene said:

best way is to blend it in a sort of sun-stripe sticker/band top of the front windshield/glas inside

that way nobody can steal it...its always in sight but not causing drag anymore so also good for less cw drag means less fuel

Is that allowed?

Other option is one of the flexible ones that contours with the bodywork.... also not sure on the legality of those

[kambites]

pilchardthecat said:

Is that allowed?

Other option is one of the flexible ones that contours with the bodywork.... also not sure on the legality of those

I think the rules way that the numberplate must be "as close to upright as reasonably possible" or something along those lines.

[GTRene]

don't know if such would be allowed, but it should be...
its better for the environment too (good excuse ;-))

also its always clean behind your front screen and can't fall of etc etc

something like this but then of course better blend in the sun visor band I just made a simple example (not handy with photoshop)

[pilchardthecat]

GTRene said:

don't know if such would be allowed, but it should be...
its better for the environment too (good excuse ;-))

also its always clean behind your front screen and can't fall of etc etc

something like this but then of course better blend in the sun visor band I just made a simple example (not handy with photoshop)

It might work on one side, just above the front intake thingy, offset such that it doesnt cover the centre grille

[GTRene]

you see a lot of cars having some writing or name in those sun band, must be some new idea to bring your licence plate info nicely put into/on such sun band. (just an example)

[Lowtimer]

Sorry, not legal. The number plate must be attached to the front of the car, not behind the windscreen.
See section 6 of this:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/pdfs/u...

On a classic, something like an E-type or Elan, you can still use stick-on bonnet mounted ones because their use was allowed at the time the vehicle was first registered.

[V6Alfisti]

Shamelessly stolen from AO

[crostonian]

That's all well and good but Italian front plates are almost half the size of ours.

[Kolbenkopp]

Well its not going to look very pretty, but I see no reason why one could not fit bigger plates in the same spot as long as AR supply an appropriate holder.
Alternatively, I found that thick heavy duty Velcro sticker work well, at least for German plates (fairly soft aluminium that can be shaped a bit).

[errek72]

Planning to use the Italian size plateholder and 'shrink' the Belgian plates -must be one of the biggest worldwide- onto it. Hoping that will raise less suspicion than a small sticker. Although the latter is still an option I guess.

[k-ink]

I'd look into getting some custom plates made up to fit inside that aperture, rather than bolting a larger frame outside of it. There are places advertising "Show plates" if you google. Easy enough to find online.