This is one of my older shoots, I was photographing this Alfa Romeo 4C back when the car was just shipped to the owner. This model is 299 out of 500. This is what the owner had to say after driving it a few months:

The 4C. Waiting was long and expectations high. It was worth it though, as Alfa has delivered a truly unique car.

After all the reports from different test drives I had a lot of question marks to straighten. How would the unassisted steering feel? Would it be too loud to live with? Would the suspension be too hard for less than perfect roads? Would it be properly put together?

Five minutes later all the questions were forgotten. Car is as solid as a rock, in a good way. Suspension is supple enough not to be annoying and to keep the wheels on the ground when ”road imperfections” would be a polite way of saying that the road is simply crap. And the noise… The noise is addictive. The upshifts are swift and accompanied by a sound that can’t be described in print. But I promise, you just want to hear it again and again!

The little turbo engine gives you a wave of torque to ride. 237 bhp is not an eye brow raising number today but paired with 900 kg it makes sense. Performance feels abundant up to say 150 km/h, further up reality catches up, also steering goes a tad light over 200 km/h, at least when the road is not really flat.

Do I miss a manual gearbox and a naturally aspirated engine? Not one minute. I’m happy Alfa threw all nostalgic ideas about ”sports cars” away and made the most modern hardcore driving machine they could. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Text by Johnny Linden

Johnny likes to race it at Nürburgring. His best time is 8:18 and here’s an onboard video: