Car Review: 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C - Dallasweekly
Our test car was small, real small. It was 157. 5 inches long, 73. 5 inches wide, and at 46. 6 inches, it wasn’t four feet tall. That meant we had to slide down into the 4C, almost like sliding into a not so shallow bathtub and then we had to leverage or climb our way out of the car. But it was worth it. The Alfa Romeo 4C was a palpitating piece of machinery. The car was a monocoque made of carbon fiber, a material that delivered stiffness and strength. Even the windshield and side window glass were 10 percent thinner for a weight savings of up to 15 percent. The two seats had carbon fiber and fiberglass reinforced composite frames. They had very nice cloth seat cushions and seat backs. Of course, the car had a manual tilt telescoping steering wheel. There was no power steering either and we realized that as soon as we tried to turn the flat bottomed steering wheel while the 4C was standing still. In other words, Alfa Romeo dumped the weight of a hydraulic or an electric power steering system. And the sheet metal, well, it was not exactly metal. Alfa Romeo said attached to the 4C’s monocoque were front and rear cell structures, roof reinforcements and an engine-mounting frame made from lightweight aluminum. Source: www.dallasweekly.com
