It all started with Bimmerfest 2018 ( blog about Bimmerfest on separate page )
This year my father decided to fly down to Los Angeles rather than drive one of his vehicles - 2013 BMW M3, 999 BMW M3 S54, 2004 BMW X3 and we would be driving my 2003 BMW M3 and girlfriends 1999 BMW M3 alongside his choice. So the dilemma of course was, what vehicle would he drive while visiting in LA ?
We thought an F10 M5 with the twin turbocharged 4.4L S63 V8 and double clutch transmission would be interesting, but nah... That is a bit large to truly enjoy on our planned drives through Angeles Crest… Not to mention he already has an E92 M3 and wouldn't really consider anything larger than that for our own collection. That also in turn ruled out the F80 M3/4 because we just simply aren't all that interested in the design of those cars, the exhaust note is not nearly as pleasing as the previous-generation M3's, and it would probably be too similar to his E92 for the driving experience. A Porsche 718 Cayman S maybe or possibly a manual transmission M2 ? I have experience with the 718 and thought it was truly a fantastic car and incredible capabilities. The torque from the new turbo flat 4 is addicting and it doesn't sound nearly as bad as people make it out to be. From the cockpit with the pedal to the floor, the pleasure I had taking that Cayman through the winding roads of the Malibu canyons made the exhaust note easy to forgive.
We ultimately decided that something much different from anything we were currently used to… Something much smaller, lighter (2315 pounds), and nimble would be exciting to experience. We decided on an Alfa Romeo 4C, an inline 4 turbocharged with 240 hp mated to an automatic transmission nestled into a carbon chassis.
The interior is minimalist, everything that you need, and nothing that doesn't add to the thrill and nature of driving pleasure. A shifter, a steering wheel and three pedals. I feel like the Lotus has an almost perfect interior where the Alfa also fell a bit flat. The leather lotus seats embroidered with EXIGE on the front exude style and racing class. I loved the design and aesthetics of the seats, visually very pleasing, however, unless you're about twice as wide as I am ( 6'2 at 175 lbs ) then you're probably not going to fit very snug these seats... I was sliding all over the place around some of the technical corners on ACH. The lumbar support was also quite stiff and uncomfortable for me. I do not recommend long drives in this car even though the owner drove it from Florida to California, how, I am unsure, but they did it so hats off to them!
In the end, both of these cars are lightweight, small mid-engine sports car that put you directly in the driver's seat. They are both cut from the same cloth but different in many ways. The Alfa tries to keep some luxuries with leather here and there within the carbon while the Lotus is unapologetic in its raw and stripped out feel. Between the two, my experience in the Lotus was certainly far more engaging in the right way and the best lightweight sports car experience I've had. The Alfa left me feeling a bit uneasy at speed, I wanted to explore it on the track but, ACH was the next best thing to take the full loop from start to finish and around 150 miles of incredible twisty roads. I believe that if the alfa had power steering and offered a manual transmission it would come much closer to the experience I had in the Lotus and would be a fantastic car in the segment. The automatic unfortunately watered down the experience and left me quite disappointed with its slow and lackluster shift speeds. It felt like a true slushbox and did not add to the sporty feel you would expect from a car like this. We need more raw and exciting vehicles like the exige and its unfortunate that Alfa chose to hold back from fully executing this lightweight sports coupe formula.
First impressions on the road were quite