4C - Where are we with prices right now?
Discussion
4everblue said:
Morning all, thought I'd jump in with my observations of the 4C having owned a 2014 Launch Edition for a little over 3 years before sadly letting it go a few months ago.
I managed to persuade the wife to let me get one and have three months to decide whether to keep it and sell my integrale or let the Alfa go. I had read and watched all the reviews and didn't want to sell the Lancia beforehand then regret it because the 4C wasn't up to standard. well, I kept the two for over three years, yes, I know, she is VERY understanding lol. However she started making noises about the garden and house needing doing so I made an arrangement with a sports car company located in the Cotswolds to sell it on a SOR basis. It went up at £40k with 37 coming back to me. It had 13k miles on it, full Alfa or AW history, the geometry "fix", although I have to be honest and say I didn't really notice a massive difference, Alfa red with those beautiful gunmetal five spoke alloys.
The car had a fair amount of interest but the garage owner wasn't keen on their part x's. This kind of defeated the object of him having the car as he said he could do more for me as he could take a part x, if he didn't want to sell it on it could always have gone onto someone else in the trade but anyway, it went unsold for over 2 months.
I had it back and took a few pics before putting it on AT for £37k. Within two days it was sold to a really nice guy, for £35k.
I loved the car, I absolutely loved it. Having a giallo Evo 2 and the 4C was beyond a dream for those three years. I used it as much as I could, for a third car and found the little niggles more than easy to accept given everything else it offered.
Over 31mpg from the day I bought it, +50 on a motorway run, cheap tax, very reasonable insurance, think it was around £60 a month, fully comp 5000 miles age 48 clean licence. The attention it got was unreal, and it was all positive attention. I've driven Ferrari's and been in Lambo's and they can sometimes attract negativity but the cute little Alfa just melted everyone's hearts, I mean would you just look at it?? Mechanically it let ne down with a flat battery once which was replaced under warranty, apparently it was the wrong size.. And there was a squeak from the front suspension which was completely replaced under warranty again, thankfully! It returned a while back and no one, specialist or factory could pinpoint it and it was out of warranty so I was reluctant to just go at it gung ho and replace everything so took it to ATS to put it on their bumpy road machine. Still couldn't find out where it was coming from but they gave everything a drink of the old faithful WD40 and it disappeared as easy as that. Apart from that, it never let me down. Yes teh steering is a little heavy at low speeds but literally 2-3 mph and above and you're off, and it really isn't that heavy anyway, it's hardly a big, heavy car after all. Tramlining is an issue, and can catch you out if you aren't on the ball but it's not an arm on the window kind of drive anyway, with a car such as this you should be focussed at all times so when it does happen, and it will, you can easily bring it back. Reminded me of the old Uno and Punto Turbo's
I had back in the day lol.
If you've got one, respect to you, they are the most fun you can have for the money in my opinion and when you add in the feeling owning a beautiful little car like this gives you, it's a no brainer.
I lost £6k in my three years, £6k! And after all this time prices seem to be just as strong as before so if you did go out and get one now, I'm sure you would be looking at the same, if not even less depreciation in the same time period. I mean come on, how much is a 240bhp carbon fibre tubbed sports car worth? It has to +£30k all day long. And even if prices do begin to fall as a result of the B word which I won't mention here, there are far more less entertaining ways of dropping a few pounds. My buddy bought a RR Sport SVR 15 months ago and that has shed £20k in that time, and that doesn't include running costs, which are considerable, that is purely depreciation.
And for the record, everywhere we went, no one looked at his £90k 4x4, they only had eyes for the little red beauty.
Right then, sorry or the rambling, back to the rugby.
Here's the car, a film maker contacted me asking if he could ake a short film of it, for free. That's the kind of thing 4C ownership gets you.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWHpeYk2WkI
Awesome post - agree with every word, loved the video and hanging onto my Spider as I can.I managed to persuade the wife to let me get one and have three months to decide whether to keep it and sell my integrale or let the Alfa go. I had read and watched all the reviews and didn't want to sell the Lancia beforehand then regret it because the 4C wasn't up to standard. well, I kept the two for over three years, yes, I know, she is VERY understanding lol. However she started making noises about the garden and house needing doing so I made an arrangement with a sports car company located in the Cotswolds to sell it on a SOR basis. It went up at £40k with 37 coming back to me. It had 13k miles on it, full Alfa or AW history, the geometry "fix", although I have to be honest and say I didn't really notice a massive difference, Alfa red with those beautiful gunmetal five spoke alloys.
The car had a fair amount of interest but the garage owner wasn't keen on their part x's. This kind of defeated the object of him having the car as he said he could do more for me as he could take a part x, if he didn't want to sell it on it could always have gone onto someone else in the trade but anyway, it went unsold for over 2 months.
I had it back and took a few pics before putting it on AT for £37k. Within two days it was sold to a really nice guy, for £35k.
I loved the car, I absolutely loved it. Having a giallo Evo 2 and the 4C was beyond a dream for those three years. I used it as much as I could, for a third car and found the little niggles more than easy to accept given everything else it offered.
Over 31mpg from the day I bought it, +50 on a motorway run, cheap tax, very reasonable insurance, think it was around £60 a month, fully comp 5000 miles age 48 clean licence. The attention it got was unreal, and it was all positive attention. I've driven Ferrari's and been in Lambo's and they can sometimes attract negativity but the cute little Alfa just melted everyone's hearts, I mean would you just look at it?? Mechanically it let ne down with a flat battery once which was replaced under warranty, apparently it was the wrong size.. And there was a squeak from the front suspension which was completely replaced under warranty again, thankfully! It returned a while back and no one, specialist or factory could pinpoint it and it was out of warranty so I was reluctant to just go at it gung ho and replace everything so took it to ATS to put it on their bumpy road machine. Still couldn't find out where it was coming from but they gave everything a drink of the old faithful WD40 and it disappeared as easy as that. Apart from that, it never let me down. Yes teh steering is a little heavy at low speeds but literally 2-3 mph and above and you're off, and it really isn't that heavy anyway, it's hardly a big, heavy car after all. Tramlining is an issue, and can catch you out if you aren't on the ball but it's not an arm on the window kind of drive anyway, with a car such as this you should be focussed at all times so when it does happen, and it will, you can easily bring it back. Reminded me of the old Uno and Punto Turbo's
I had back in the day lol.
If you've got one, respect to you, they are the most fun you can have for the money in my opinion and when you add in the feeling owning a beautiful little car like this gives you, it's a no brainer.
I lost £6k in my three years, £6k! And after all this time prices seem to be just as strong as before so if you did go out and get one now, I'm sure you would be looking at the same, if not even less depreciation in the same time period. I mean come on, how much is a 240bhp carbon fibre tubbed sports car worth? It has to +£30k all day long. And even if prices do begin to fall as a result of the B word which I won't mention here, there are far more less entertaining ways of dropping a few pounds. My buddy bought a RR Sport SVR 15 months ago and that has shed £20k in that time, and that doesn't include running costs, which are considerable, that is purely depreciation.
And for the record, everywhere we went, no one looked at his £90k 4x4, they only had eyes for the little red beauty.
Right then, sorry or the rambling, back to the rugby.
Here's the car, a film maker contacted me asking if he could ake a short film of it, for free. That's the kind of thing 4C ownership gets you.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWHpeYk2WkI
Thank you !!
Just read this news. Wondering how much this is going to affect the 4c resale value? https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/alfa-r...
Historically, Alfa Romeo has shown glimpses of brilliance between periods of crisis and mediocrity. I strongly believe the 4C and Giulia QF are the current jewels before they descend into a sea of electric SUV banality in partnership with Peugeot.
Buy either now and they are nailed on future classics. Forget about short term resale values.
PS - I'm biased as I have both :-)
Buy either now and they are nailed on future classics. Forget about short term resale values.
PS - I'm biased as I have both :-)
Edited by BlackPorker on Friday 8th November 10:13
Looking to get in a Spider by Q1 next year, couple questions.
Where's the bottom of the market? It seems there are basically 0 early cars out there for sale, everything is 16 onwards and yes a glut of these 50th anniversary cars. I do like all the extras the anniversary gives, the leather dash really lifts the interior but none of them have Teledials? Can't believe anyone would buy one new without them tbh! Iconic. Do they all have race suspension? Hard to tell and I can't find an original Brochure anywhere.
It looks to me the anniversary cars are commanding a ~4k premium at the moment, which seems a bit excessive. Any recent buys had good negotiations? A regular Spider at 35k or an Anniversary at 37k feels about right to me (16/66/17, <15k).
Is there any easy way to tell if it's had the Alfaworks treatment without getting it on a ramp?
Is Cruise Control retrofittable? I can't believe the amount out there without Cruise despite it being a no cost option?
Where's the bottom of the market? It seems there are basically 0 early cars out there for sale, everything is 16 onwards and yes a glut of these 50th anniversary cars. I do like all the extras the anniversary gives, the leather dash really lifts the interior but none of them have Teledials? Can't believe anyone would buy one new without them tbh! Iconic. Do they all have race suspension? Hard to tell and I can't find an original Brochure anywhere.
It looks to me the anniversary cars are commanding a ~4k premium at the moment, which seems a bit excessive. Any recent buys had good negotiations? A regular Spider at 35k or an Anniversary at 37k feels about right to me (16/66/17, <15k).
Is there any easy way to tell if it's had the Alfaworks treatment without getting it on a ramp?
Is Cruise Control retrofittable? I can't believe the amount out there without Cruise despite it being a no cost option?
Edited by Chris1712 on Friday 8th November 10:45
Edited by Chris1712 on Friday 8th November 10:45
Chris1712 said:
Hard to tell and I can't find an original Brochure anywhere.
Original 4C Coupe and 4C Spider price list here:https://www.alfaromeo.co.uk/content/dam/alfaromeo/...
4C Coupe brochure here:
https://www.jordanscars.co.uk/pdf/4c%20coupe.pdf
4C Spider brochure here:
https://www.jordanscars.co.uk/pdf/4c%20spider.pdf
Edited by BlackPorker on Friday 8th November 12:38
Chris1712 said:
Looking to get in a Spider by Q1 next year, couple questions.
Where's the bottom of the market? It seems there are basically 0 early cars out there for sale, everything is 16 onwards and yes a glut of these 50th anniversary cars. I do like all the extras the anniversary gives, the leather dash really lifts the interior but none of them have Teledials? Can't believe anyone would buy one new without them tbh! Iconic. Do they all have race suspension? Hard to tell and I can't find an original Brochure anywhere.
It looks to me the anniversary cars are commanding a ~4k premium at the moment, which seems a bit excessive. Any recent buys had good negotiations? A regular Spider at 35k or an Anniversary at 37k feels about right to me (16/66/17, <15k).
Is there any easy way to tell if it's had the Alfaworks treatment without getting it on a ramp?
Is Cruise Control retrofittable? I can't believe the amount out there without Cruise despite it being a no cost option?
Anniversary cars all came with the 18/19 inch spoked wheels, personally I much prefer the teledial wheels too.Where's the bottom of the market? It seems there are basically 0 early cars out there for sale, everything is 16 onwards and yes a glut of these 50th anniversary cars. I do like all the extras the anniversary gives, the leather dash really lifts the interior but none of them have Teledials? Can't believe anyone would buy one new without them tbh! Iconic. Do they all have race suspension? Hard to tell and I can't find an original Brochure anywhere.
It looks to me the anniversary cars are commanding a ~4k premium at the moment, which seems a bit excessive. Any recent buys had good negotiations? A regular Spider at 35k or an Anniversary at 37k feels about right to me (16/66/17, <15k).
Is there any easy way to tell if it's had the Alfaworks treatment without getting it on a ramp?
Is Cruise Control retrofittable? I can't believe the amount out there without Cruise despite it being a no cost option?
Edited by Chris1712 on Friday 8th November 10:45
Edited by Chris1712 on Friday 8th November 10:45
lawrywild said:
It's not news. Not sure why it's only hitting the press now since we've known they were stopping/have stopped production quite a while ago. Doubtful to have any effect in the short term.
I thought back in 2018 the news was to only stopping the 4C coupe production but continue with the Spider? And today's news is about suspending the entire 4C model?yschean said:
I thought back in 2018 the news was to only stopping the 4C coupe production but continue with the Spider? And today's news is about suspending the entire 4C model?
That sounds correct. Alfa never updated the emissions to Euro6c or d so they had to stop European production before september 2018 (coupé and spider). But they kept the Spider in production for the USA and probably the rest of the world. Maybe even some "Competizione" coupés for the rest of the world. I've seen 2019 news articles for Australia for example.Chris1712 said:
Looking to get in a Spider by Q1 next year, couple questions.
Where's the bottom of the market? It seems there are basically 0 early cars out there for sale, everything is 16 onwards and yes a glut of these 50th anniversary cars. I do like all the extras the anniversary gives, the leather dash really lifts the interior but none of them have Teledials? Can't believe anyone would buy one new without them tbh! Iconic. Do they all have race suspension? Hard to tell and I can't find an original Brochure anywhere.
It looks to me the anniversary cars are commanding a ~4k premium at the moment, which seems a bit excessive. Any recent buys had good negotiations? A regular Spider at 35k or an Anniversary at 37k feels about right to me (16/66/17, <15k).
Is there any easy way to tell if it's had the Alfaworks treatment without getting it on a ramp?
Is Cruise Control retrofittable? I can't believe the amount out there without Cruise despite it being a no cost option?
Unless it's a launch edition (which was coupe only) you're after, not sure why you'd want an earlier car. The leather dash only came from 2016 onwards and makes the interior much nicer. Cruise and parking sensors were only no cost options after 2016 I think, prior to that you had to pay.Where's the bottom of the market? It seems there are basically 0 early cars out there for sale, everything is 16 onwards and yes a glut of these 50th anniversary cars. I do like all the extras the anniversary gives, the leather dash really lifts the interior but none of them have Teledials? Can't believe anyone would buy one new without them tbh! Iconic. Do they all have race suspension? Hard to tell and I can't find an original Brochure anywhere.
It looks to me the anniversary cars are commanding a ~4k premium at the moment, which seems a bit excessive. Any recent buys had good negotiations? A regular Spider at 35k or an Anniversary at 37k feels about right to me (16/66/17, <15k).
Is there any easy way to tell if it's had the Alfaworks treatment without getting it on a ramp?
Is Cruise Control retrofittable? I can't believe the amount out there without Cruise despite it being a no cost option?
Edited by Chris1712 on Friday 8th November 10:45
Edited by Chris1712 on Friday 8th November 10:45
It would almost certainly be cheaper to purchase the teledial alloy set (roughly £800-1000) brand new and fit to a anniversary car.
Thanks everyone, fantastic information 
.
It's a shame the leather dash coincides with the 'luxury' car tax rise, an extra £265 every year tax for nothing.
Is there any truth to the Spider not having the motorway drone/resonance? Is it only at certain speeds or basically anything over 70? What's the dB for the Racing Exhaust? I will definitely be taking it on track.
. It's a shame the leather dash coincides with the 'luxury' car tax rise, an extra £265 every year tax for nothing.
Is there any truth to the Spider not having the motorway drone/resonance? Is it only at certain speeds or basically anything over 70? What's the dB for the Racing Exhaust? I will definitely be taking it on track.
lawrywild said:
Unless it's a launch edition (which was coupe only) you're after, not sure why you'd want an earlier car. The leather dash only came from 2016 onwards and makes the interior much nicer. Cruise and parking sensors were only no cost options after 2016 I think, prior to that you had to pay.
It would almost certainly be cheaper to purchase the teledial alloy set (roughly £800-1000) brand new and fit to a anniversary car.
It's more to try and gauge residuals tbh. If a 2014 is worth X and a 2016 Y I can take a good guess as to what happens for the next 2 years if I bought a Spider.It would almost certainly be cheaper to purchase the teledial alloy set (roughly £800-1000) brand new and fit to a anniversary car.
As it stands I get a good feeling from the residuals wise, but it's a big unknown! Online calculators are completely useless with niche cars, AutoTrader reckon a 2014 with 30k on it is worth £21000 trade! Doubt it somehow.
Chris1712 said:
Thanks everyone, fantastic information .
It's a shame the leather dash coincides with the 'luxury' car tax rise, an extra £265 every year tax for nothing.
Is there any truth to the Spider not having the motorway drone/resonance? Is it only at certain speeds or basically anything over 70? What's the dB for the Racing Exhaust? I will definitely be taking it on track.
No, that's cars from April 2017. Mine is 66 plate from Sep 2016 and it has leather dash and lower tax . It's a shame the leather dash coincides with the 'luxury' car tax rise, an extra £265 every year tax for nothing.
Is there any truth to the Spider not having the motorway drone/resonance? Is it only at certain speeds or basically anything over 70? What's the dB for the Racing Exhaust? I will definitely be taking it on track.
103dba static with race exhaust. The drone is the same on coupe and spider, no difference. It drones at about 2500rpm, above that (85mph plus) it doesn't drone as much but the engine and road noise is naturally louder anyway.
Edited by lawrywild on Friday 8th November 17:24
Chris1712 said:
It's more to try and gauge residuals tbh. If a 2014 is worth X and a 2016 Y I can take a good guess as to what happens for the next 2 years if I bought a Spider.
As it stands I get a good feeling from the residuals wise, but it's a big unknown! Online calculators are completely useless with niche cars, AutoTrader reckon a 2014 with 30k on it is worth £21000 trade! Doubt it somehow.
Yeah autotrader tells me mine is worth F all. It's not accurate. As it stands I get a good feeling from the residuals wise, but it's a big unknown! Online calculators are completely useless with niche cars, AutoTrader reckon a 2014 with 30k on it is worth £21000 trade! Doubt it somehow.
There isn't much difference in values between 2014-2016, it's more spec and mileage sensitive than age.
lawrywild said:
The drone is the same on coupe and spider, no difference. It drones at about 2500rpm, above that (85mph plus) it doesn't drone as much but the engine and road noise is naturally louder anyway.
I don't agree with that at all. Suggest maybe you had a blown flexi on the spider if it was droning like that as it's one of the symptoms. The spider is far more civilised exhaust wise on the motorway. Unless the roof is off and then its noise is cranked up to 11!Edited by lawrywild on Friday 8th November 17:24
Wow 103dba, that’s loud. Anyone do a slide on silencer for track days? Or do I have to change to something quieter?
The yellow Spider at Alfa Bedford has just dropped to 35995, seems quite keen but I can’t help but think they must be Red
Edit: apparently a silencer clamped on one side brings it under 100db which is good enough.
The big question for me is the 50th anniversary worth the 3-4k premium? The carbon roll hoop looks absolutely incredible....
The yellow Spider at Alfa Bedford has just dropped to 35995, seems quite keen but I can’t help but think they must be Red
Edit: apparently a silencer clamped on one side brings it under 100db which is good enough.
The big question for me is the 50th anniversary worth the 3-4k premium? The carbon roll hoop looks absolutely incredible....
Edited by Chris1712 on Friday 8th November 19:51
Chris1712 said:
Wow 103dba, that’s loud. Anyone do a slide on silencer for track days? Or do I have to change to something quieter?
The yellow Spider at Alfa Bedford has just dropped to 35995, seems quite keen but I can’t help but think they must be Red
Edit: apparently a silencer clamped on one side brings it under 100db which is good enough.
The big question for me is the 50th anniversary worth the 3-4k premium? The carbon roll hoop looks absolutely incredible....
I can confirm that if you clamp a muffler on one side only this does work and will get you down to about 96db from memory.The yellow Spider at Alfa Bedford has just dropped to 35995, seems quite keen but I can’t help but think they must be Red
Edit: apparently a silencer clamped on one side brings it under 100db which is good enough.
The big question for me is the 50th anniversary worth the 3-4k premium? The carbon roll hoop looks absolutely incredible....
Edited by Chris1712 on Friday 8th November 19:51
As my car has now gone I have a muffler available if anyone needs it.
_Superleggera_ said:
I don't agree with that at all. Suggest maybe you had a blown flexi on the spider if it was droning like that as it's one of the symptoms. The spider is far more civilised exhaust wise on the motorway. Unless the roof is off and then its noise is cranked up to 11!
I'm not aware of any difference in parts. The spider has the flat rear deck and won't be as loud in the cabin as the coupe since sound won't reflect off the angled rear glass, but that doesn't mean it isn't droning at the same rpm range. The resonant frequency is exactly the same. Bear s**ts in the woods, etc.Chris1712 said:
Wow 103dba, that’s loud. Anyone do a slide on silencer for track days? Or do I have to change to something quieter?
The yellow Spider at Alfa Bedford has just dropped to 35995, seems quite keen but I can’t help but think they must be Red
Edit: apparently a silencer clamped on one side brings it under 100db which is good enough.
The big question for me is the 50th anniversary worth the 3-4k premium? The carbon roll hoop looks absolutely incredible....
I'm not certain, but the yellow one at Bedford could be the same one I went to see about 2 years ago. I don't think they've ever sold it. It's not a tidy car at all. That was the first 4C I ever drove, and it convinced me that I wanted one - just not that particular car.The yellow Spider at Alfa Bedford has just dropped to 35995, seems quite keen but I can’t help but think they must be Red
Edit: apparently a silencer clamped on one side brings it under 100db which is good enough.
The big question for me is the 50th anniversary worth the 3-4k premium? The carbon roll hoop looks absolutely incredible....
Edited by Chris1712 on Friday 8th November 19:51
Gassing Station | Alfa Romeo, Fiat & Lancia | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff