Five-Point Inspection: 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C

The 4C is impossible to ignore; one look and you’re practically guaranteed to be hooked like bored teen trapped in a room filled with black-tar heroin. The car’s got swooping scoops, impossibly wide fenders and a low-slung ride that puts you closer to the ground than if you were sitting atop a luge board. Did Michelangelo ever sculpt anything this beautiful?

In more ways than one, pictures don’t do this car justice. In fact it’s way smaller than you might expect. Stand next to a 4C and it’s like you’ve suddenly become a giant, sit in one and you magically feel a foot taller. This car is absolutely tiny and very low to the ground; its wheelbase is less than 94 inches and its overall height is a scant 46.6 inches. Predictably ingress and egress for all but the spriest individuals is a challenge. Still it’s hotter than a naked Kate Upton serving free beer and all-you-can-eat meat at a Brazilian steakhouse.

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The car is built around a very sturdy tub that’s crafted of lightweight and expensive carbon fiber. Unlike other vehicles Alfa’s implementation of this aerospace-grade material is purely functional, not merely a decorative appliqué designed to imply sportiness. Much of the shiny black weave is visible to the naked eye, running along the rockers and door posts. This is one of the 4C’s signature features.

Fibrous carbon helps cut unwanted mass. Appropriately North American variants of the car should check out at under 2,500 pounds. Apples to apples that’s a about 300 pounds heavier than the comparable European version. Blame additions like side airbags, an adjustable passenger seat and a beefed-up structure for that additional avoirdupois. These changes were required because of U.S. crash standards. Thanks, safety!

The 4C is propelled by a mid-mounted four-cylinder engine. Measuring an oddly specific 1.75-liters – a classic Alfa Romeo displacement – this turbo banger puts out 237 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. It’s matched exclusively to a quick-witted twin-clutch automatic transmission, TCT in Fiat/ Chrysler parlance. Sorry purists, a manual would have been difficult to package into a vehicle this low and small. Maybe next time.

Helping to up the output, this all-aluminum engine features things like direct fuel injection and variable valve timing for enhanced performance and greater efficiency. Boost provided by the turbo hits nearly 22 PSI.

Estimated fuel economy measures 24 miles per gallon in the city and 34 on the interstate, figures that translate in a combined score of 28 MPG.

For all of the 4C’s virtues we have one major bitch: time. We would have preferred spending the better part of a day evaluating this affordable Italian exotic but that just wasn’t in the cards.

Anyway, despite our miserly driving allotment we still got a fairly good impression of the car. Starting with the steering, it’s super direct with an almost one-to-one feel. Turn the tiller and it responds instantly. If you think MINIs feel like street-legal go-karts try the 4C on for size, it’s sharper than a samurai sword, if of course katanas were made in Modena, Italy from sheet-molded composite and carbon fiber.

SEE ALSO: Alfa Romeo Reveals First 86 North American Dealers

The steering is less ambiguous than the warning signs circling Area 51, the ones that authorize the use of deadly force. Likewise this car’s chassis is a willing accomplice in perpetrating on-road antics. Body control on a billiard table-flat autocross course is impressive but ride quality is unknown due to the smooth surface it was evaluated on. We suspect it’d be pretty stiff on anything but glossy surfaces.

The engine sounds snorty, especially for only having four cylinders, a configuration that’s almost always acoustically challenged. The optional sport exhaust really lets it sing and just like the Jaguar F-Type R Coupe it’s hard to believe it’s legal because of how loud it is.

Acceleration is deceptively quick. Thanks to an extremely favorable weight-to-power ratio of roughly 10.5 pounds per pony the 4C really moves. The engine feels nice and linear, though on a longer, higher-speed circuit turbo lag would probably be an issue. It doesn’t seem to spool up with the immediacy of other small, force-fed engines.

About the only real complaint we have about the way this car behaves is the brake pedal. It has a robotic feel to it bringing to mind a video game.

The 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C is (finally) scheduled to arrive at U.S. dealers in the third quarter of the year with a base price of $55,195 including destination.

It’s designed to be an accessible Italian exotic, a rip-snortin’ performance machine that average people can actually afford. At its price point this car really doesn’t have any direct competitors, though it will probably be cross shopped with autos like Porsche Cayman and Lotus Evora.

Maximum annual production is limited to about 3,000. This is because of the 4C’s hand-made carbon-fiber tub, which is complicated and takes time to make. North America’s allotment of that figure is only expected to be around 1,000, so act fast when they go on sale later this year, you won’t be disappointed.