Alfa Romeo Back After 19 Year Absence - Have You Been Tempted To Run One Through The Paces Yet?

Sorry to say "No". Despite loving the brand having owned a 1968 Duetto from new, new model a weekend toy and price does not justify purchase versus other performance car options. Would test drive one for fun but not buy one. Challenger Hellcat, Mustang 350, and Corvette Stingray all more fun and practical for the money.

If it were priced at $25K rather than $55K this might have been a brilliant move. I don't think that an Italian Fiero with an Edsel face is the car that is needed to relaunch Alfa Romeo.

Had it been aimed at the Toyota GT86 / Genesis Coupe / Mustang price point--as an Alfa--it would have sold gangbusters.

Priced like a Porsche with Alfa's long since faded sports car credibility, it simply was not the genius move.

A Giulietta sedan with a Brera face at Verano/ILX/CLA/GLI/A3 pricing would have been a smarter move along with a Giulia sedan in the Lexus ES/Acura TLX size and price range. Both cars exist (Dart/200). Follow it with an Alfa crossover (Cherokee), sell them through Fiat or Chrysler dealers and the relaunch would be a success.

Alfa needs to be the near-premium (Acura/Subaru/Volvo/Buick/Lincoln) brand in the FCA world.

A Cayman/Boxster competitor should be a Maserati. Maserati is FCA's premium nameplate.

The 4C will die once the handful of overzealous Alfisti pay $20K over list to get one.

After that there will be steep discounts.

Another time I actually agree with MDarringer! This car is at the wrong price point. Maybe 35K it would be something special. I do think something for 35-45 with nice styling and BMW 1-2 series performance would be something that could steal the marketplace. Theres nothing really special anymore in that space for looks-performance.

The manager of the local Alfa store here in San Diego told me an offer was turned down for one by the owner of the dealership for $15k OVER sticker. They want $25k over.

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I believe it. People who gotta have it immediately are idiots. Cars depreciate from list price not sales price. Paying over list only increases your depreciation hit. Paying under list decreases your depreciation hit, but you still get hit.

Cars of this segment are jewelry and the jewels are always changing. Paying over list lets you wear the jewels sooner, but everyone knows you're a wanker for paying over the top to get it.

I pre-ordered a 15 Mustang GT with every possible option because (1) I could and (2) I'd have it below list at dealer cost. On the waiting list, I was ahead of #1. The keys were in my hands only a couple of days when a guy in a Lowes parking lot asked if he paid list plus 10 would I sell.

My answer was yes.

A friend of mine owns an interest in a Maserati dealership so I got to see the 4C at a dealer preview. I found the build quality worthy of a TVR (not a compliment) and saying the car is not suited for daily driving is being polite. The 4C's 4 cylinder wheezes and the gearbox is not smooth in my opinion. It would have been a great $30K product because that what it feels like it's worth.

I am not a Porsche fan, but this is Cayman money and the Cayman isn't a wheezer at all. I'm betting the Cayman is also the better handler. Ditto Mustang 2.3T, GT, 350, Corvette, 370Z, and so on.

I'd wager that if Scion could throw a turbo on the FRS and give it a modicum of suspension tuning to get rid of the tail happiness and thereby improve grip, I'd bet the Scion could kill the 4C for half the price.

having a maserati my (first italian car ) its got its share of glitches and problems. if i want to do something outside the ordinary bmw, benz, lexus, id just go for porsche next time.
the 4c looks great, but i cant have a daily driver thats a headache ..

Which Maserati do you have?

My father-in-law has a Ghibli and--knock on wood--it's been rather problem free and certainly nothing that's sidelined him.

He gave me his Qporte (the previous one not the current one) because the depreciation was so steep that it was pointless to talk trade. He said if I could sell it I could keep the cash.

I drove it a while from Bakersfield to Newport Beach and back then sold it a few months later to a guy that just had to have a Maserati.

That Qporte not entirely trouble free, but nothing serious. Window regulators and the motors for the power windows liked to fry themselves. You always knew when too. You'd send the window up. It would go up, stop, but the motor would keep motoring on destroying the wind mechanism before frying itself.

I found it amusing. I kept spare parts in the trunk.

Didn't Alfa sell the 8C Competizione in the US in 2008? Granted, it was almost $300k, but there were about 100 copies that came here.

LOL Shh! Be quiet, YOU! Don't inject the truth into FCA's fantasy that the 4C is the grand return!

I thought the same thing, but assumed the 8C was brought here in dribs and drabs as a track car.

Googled just now and nope...it's street legal and was indeed brought here.

So this is the great return after the great return and departure...

Good catch.

Here is the thing. This car at 55 grand is priced right because they are making so few of them. So really these cars are going to go to true
Alfisti's. It's too bad that some dealers are gouging. Further the way
this car is set up it not meant to be an everyday car. The passenger seat is uncomfortable, no power steering, weak A/C, poor radio quality,
poor trunk capacity, uncomfortable ride. A lot of these things could be addressed if Alfa wants more volume. However they would have to lower the price at that point. You wonder if Alfa can really make any money on a carbon fiber produced chassis and body at the price they are selling at. Older Alfa's were not always the most reliable. However, when they were operating as they should they were everyday cars. Yes they had weak A/C's but they rode comfortably, some had power steering, decent trunk space etc. So you can't really look at this car at any more than an Italian Lotus Elise. It's really meant for the race track or a limited weekend car. It will never compete or be compared to a Cayman. First you would never be able to buy a Cayman at 53 grand in your dreams.(more like 65 grand for a base car) Second it is a car that can be used every day. Alfa's mainstream models are the ones worth waiting for. For one they will be larger, more comfortable, have high performance 4 cylinder and Ferrari engineered V6 engines. They will be made in more volume. This alone will probably force dealers to discount.
You will never see a 25 grand Alfa. That market is for Fiat now. Alfa's will be positioned higher. However, a 4 cylinder 300 HP Giulia sedan could be priced in the mid 30 grand range. Who knows. I'm sure you will be seeing a market below 55 grand for a large majority of them. The cars over 55 grand will be lower volume cars.

Well, the problem with your rationale (as realistic as it is) is that Alfa wants to sell 150k units by 2018. Starting with a very niche product at a fairly lofty price (the higher trim level starts at $69k) probably isn't the smartest way to get your foot back into the US market and expect wider exposure for future products.

The irony is that appealing to true Alfisti is NOT NOT NOT the genius move. There are probably 17 Alfisti die hards out there and once they pay $100K for their Alfa Fieros, then what? Men of my fathers generation who were into cars have virulent reaction to Alfa Romeo. For them, they remember fuel injection that did not work, electrical components designed by Satan, abysmal build quality, and rust pre-installed and awaiting the buyer on the showroom floor.

BMW got it right with the Mini's introduction. Yes, there were American Mini fans of the original one, but not enough to sustain sales. BMW convinced people that a beloved icon had return and people who had never given Mini a thought were suddenly "Ministi" so to speak.

FCA should be convincing new buyers they are the Alfisti and that their beloved brand has returned. They clearly have not hired a marketing firm to oversee this. BMW had the marketing firm that drummed up anticipation and fervor for the Mini's relaunch in on the car as it was being created.

One more thing. Alfa decided to build this car with a carbon fiber chassis and a plastic GRP body. The only part that massed produced
in any decent volume is the engine(which is essentially shared with the Euro FWD Alfa Giulieta Clover leaf). Everything else is bespoke. I'm guessing that Alfa is losing money on every one it builds. (They might make some money on the launch edition perhaps).

The dealer network and the reliabilty along with all reviews I have read about them will kill/challenge Alfa greatly in the US. I would run one through it's paces (test drive)..

The current strategy if one wants an Alfa Romeo franchise is that you either have to be a Maserati dealer or be willing to take on a Maserati dealer. This is not going well for them. Investors are not ponying up and there are simply too few Maserati dealers to take it or Alfa mainstream as they need to be so as to have a solid business case.

Maserati's sales are not robust enough to gamble on building a stand-alone dealer--a requirement--and the 4C demonstrates to potential investors that Alfa has no mainstream products with which to make the gamble worth considering.

In my primary market there are vacant dealer spaces. FCA was not interested in putting Maserati into any of them and instead wanted new construction. Not gonna happen.