Twas the night before...your 4C was available to pick up...!
Discussion
Not felt like this for bloody years!!! Proper kid at Xmas time 
Rather surprisingly it even feels more exciting that I actually have wifely permission for this one!
The only downer is that sensible head on says I have to work tomorrow and really should wait till Saturday to pick the car up after dropping the Pork back at home. But sensible head is a poopoo head and thinks we should all be in bed by 10pm after drinking only water and eating kale.
Rather surprisingly it even feels more exciting that I actually have wifely permission for this one!
The only downer is that sensible head on says I have to work tomorrow and really should wait till Saturday to pick the car up after dropping the Pork back at home. But sensible head is a poopoo head and thinks we should all be in bed by 10pm after drinking only water and eating kale.
Only way anybody is getting this car away from me is if I'm dead or they offer me a 6C.
Amusingly enough the wife found my copy of our 8C Big Red Book at the weekend and I started to idly flick through it. It seems so antiquated now! The 139,000Euro price at that particular time (it changed on an almost monthly basis) equally amusing, esp considering how compromised the car was and how eventually, lazy that Alfa were with the vehicle. Anyone know if Damian D is still involved with Alfa?
Oh and 41.2mpg across the 200mile commute from the south west to Oxfordshire this morning in the worst that weather and the M5/4/A34 could throw at us. Love this thing already!
So then, initial thoughts on the car after driving it 250 miles home today.
1. 70mph is genuinely economical in the car. About 40mpg from my rough working out - buggered if I know how to look at the mpg trip yet.
2. 75-88ish leptons is the no go area if you dont wish to be deafened on a steady state cruise.
3. Rest your foot on the floor just off the throttle whilst on cruise at 75leptons and it deadens the drone to acceptable. (ish)
4. The Alpine isn't that s
t. Radio worked fine and I managed to get bluetooth working just fine with the phone and make a call to darkest Devon.
5. You can drive the car in one hand just fine with it resting on the window sill and the left hand at idle down on the cup holder. The car jiggles a bit in the "truck" line but its no real biggie.
6. Its an Italian driving position in trying to misalign you but nowhere near as bad as anybody who has owned '70s Ferraris, Lancias, Alfas, Maseratis will remember!
7. The seats look/feel sensational.
8. That carbon fibre weave is just sexual. It just is. Dont bother trying to argue or justify anything here, simply accept that bare naked structural carbon fibre is what Sophia Loren would have worn if she was a car.
9. The sun glass rear screen is stupid. There is already little visibility, which muppet decided to reduce it further by making it so dark to see through? (Or am I missing something here?)
10. Those 3 buttons for the menu stuff are sodding hard work and dont make sense as you can only see most of the stuff when the engine is off??
11. The TCT screen largely works fine except trying to display info that you want, when you want it - see point 10.
12. The gearbox is lovely on full throated quick changes. In fact I love the speed of it. It is a little clunky at other times. But mostly I love it.
13. That exhaust is fking annoying at the most useful cruising speed.
14. The exhaust being fking annoying at useful speeds doesn't matter "too" much as 90 leptons is her natural cruising speed and its lovely there.
Thats the dull stuff out of the way. Now the interesting bits...
fk me this is a good product! The has to be the best kept secret in the car world and dear God thank you Alfa for fking up the first production road cars Quite frankly Ive just stolen this car for what I paid and all because those initial reviews have basically meant the cars can only be sold at cost. Result £400 with Jamie will sort any waywardness but meh, well y'all shouldnt have been turned into a bunch of fannies by Porsche and Lotus. Some of us come from TVR If a car isn't trying to actively kill you then its a piss boring day from Blackpool to Brescia!
1. 70mph is genuinely economical in the car. About 40mpg from my rough working out - buggered if I know how to look at the mpg trip yet.
2. 75-88ish leptons is the no go area if you dont wish to be deafened on a steady state cruise.
3. Rest your foot on the floor just off the throttle whilst on cruise at 75leptons and it deadens the drone to acceptable. (ish)
4. The Alpine isn't that s
t. Radio worked fine and I managed to get bluetooth working just fine with the phone and make a call to darkest Devon. 5. You can drive the car in one hand just fine with it resting on the window sill and the left hand at idle down on the cup holder. The car jiggles a bit in the "truck" line but its no real biggie.
6. Its an Italian driving position in trying to misalign you but nowhere near as bad as anybody who has owned '70s Ferraris, Lancias, Alfas, Maseratis will remember!
7. The seats look/feel sensational.
8. That carbon fibre weave is just sexual. It just is. Dont bother trying to argue or justify anything here, simply accept that bare naked structural carbon fibre is what Sophia Loren would have worn if she was a car.
9. The sun glass rear screen is stupid. There is already little visibility, which muppet decided to reduce it further by making it so dark to see through? (Or am I missing something here?)
10. Those 3 buttons for the menu stuff are sodding hard work and dont make sense as you can only see most of the stuff when the engine is off??
11. The TCT screen largely works fine except trying to display info that you want, when you want it - see point 10.
12. The gearbox is lovely on full throated quick changes. In fact I love the speed of it. It is a little clunky at other times. But mostly I love it.
13. That exhaust is f
king annoying at the most useful cruising speed.14. The exhaust being f
king annoying at useful speeds doesn't matter "too" much as 90 leptons is her natural cruising speed and its lovely there.Thats the dull stuff out of the way. Now the interesting bits...
f
k me this is a good product! The has to be the best kept secret in the car world and dear God thank you Alfa for fking up the first production road cars Quite frankly Ive just stolen this car for what I paid and all because those initial reviews have basically meant the cars can only be sold at cost. Result £400 with Jamie will sort any waywardness but meh, well y'all shouldnt have been turned into a bunch of fannies by Porsche and Lotus. Some of us come from TVR If a car isn't trying to actively kill you then its a piss boring day from Blackpool to Brescia!Spend a bit more with Jamie and get the exhaust changed , it will be money well silent . Beyond that as your review shows it's a very personal things as to what you like and don't like, but it certainly has personality . One thing you missed were the brakes , once you get used to the car try them in anger and you will wonder why so many cars just don't stop quickly, absolutely incredible .
And then get out and drive it and get to know it and you will find how great the chassis really is, don't be scared to push on as it's very forgiving, they really want to be driven and unlike traditional alfas they don't break.
Re economy , yes amazing , were in Spain , ok mainly motorway coming down through Europe but including the drag from Hampshire to the tunnel and cruising at an indicated 95 on the motorways here so far it's showing 35.6 average , playing in the mountains today so I can see that dropping somewhat but have to agree it's embarasingly good
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do mine
And then get out and drive it and get to know it and you will find how great the chassis really is, don't be scared to push on as it's very forgiving, they really want to be driven and unlike traditional alfas they don't break.
Re economy , yes amazing , were in Spain , ok mainly motorway coming down through Europe but including the drag from Hampshire to the tunnel and cruising at an indicated 95 on the motorways here so far it's showing 35.6 average , playing in the mountains today so I can see that dropping somewhat but have to agree it's embarasingly good
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do mine
Edited by Stuart J on Tuesday 26th September 06:03
200 mile commute from Devon to Oxford @ ave of 60mph in the worst that UK morning traffic and weather that could be thrown at us and she returned 41.2mpg. I nearly wet myself laughing at that.
Ah yes, the brakes. Grabby may be an understatement. Never come across a brake pedal with so much retardation in their first 1/4" of travel !
Ive found out how to do the menu screen at last! Of course it was the button on the windscreen washer stalk! Obvious!
Oh and that whole boot release thing is going to piss me off soon I think. Has anybody put any thoughts together of automating something or doing something with a release catch on the boot itself?
And why does the cruise control increment in 1.5mph ?
So good to be back in an Italian motor
Ah yes, the brakes. Grabby may be an understatement. Never come across a brake pedal with so much retardation in their first 1/4" of travel !
Ive found out how to do the menu screen at last! Of course it was the button on the windscreen washer stalk! Obvious!
Oh and that whole boot release thing is going to piss me off soon I think. Has anybody put any thoughts together of automating something or doing something with a release catch on the boot itself?
And why does the cruise control increment in 1.5mph ?
So good to be back in an Italian motor
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