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"We made one big mistake when we tested the European-spec 4C a few months back: We didn&amp;#039;t weigh it. So we don&amp;#039;t know just how much weight the car has gained on its journey across the pond (it&amp;#039;s not 350 lbs as you might have read elsewhere. Alfa&amp;#039;s original claims of a 2000-lb car were for the 4C with no radio, no air-conditioning, and knowing the Italians, no transmission.). But at least we now know what the US-spec 4C weighs: 2437 lbs with the base wheels and no muffler. RELATED: First Drive - Alfa Romeo 4C (Euro-Spec)  The next question: Is the ostensibly heavier US-spec car slower?  Quick answer: Nope. Here are the numbers.      Alfa 4C Acceleration   4C Euro   4C USA Spec                 1 foot rollout   0.3   0.3   seconds     Rolling 5-60   4.7   5.4                 0-10 mph   0.3   0.3       0-20 mph   1.0   1.0       0-30 mph   1.6   1.6       0-40 mph   2.4   2.3       0-50 mph   3.2   3.1       0-60 mph   4.2   4.2       0-70 mph   5.4   5.5       0-80 mph   7.0   7.0       0-90 mph   8.8   8.8       0-100 mph   10.8   10.7       0-110 mph   13.4   13.3       Quarter mile   12.9 @ 107.8   12.8 @ 108.2            The better news is that the US-spec 4C drives just as well as the Euro car. It&amp;#039;s been a few months since I drove the Euro car, but without driving them back to back, I can say you won&amp;#039;t notice any changes in body control, in steering heaviness, anything. It remains one of the most enjoyable experiences you can have behind the wheel of a modern car. COMPARISON TEST: Alfa 4C vs. Porsche Cayman vs. Lotus Exige No surprise, there, given that it weighs 1000 lbs less than, say, a BMW M235i. And though it suffers from having an automatic transmission, the dry dual-clutch unit is so quick in its responses that it feels like a Ferrari. The unassisted steering is transcendent\u2014the US car had even more feel than the Euro-spec car I drove last year. Now that the Lotus Elise is gone from our shores and Porsche has gone with electric power steering, the 4C joins Aston Martin&amp;#039;s cars and the Ferrari F12 at the top of the list for steering feel.  The first 500 4Cs to arrive will be $69,695 Launch Edition cars, loaded with extra equipment like the big wheels (which add surprisingly little weight and seemingly do nothing to ruin the ride) and the track-package suspension. They also come with a different front fascia with side air vents that we don&amp;#039;t particularly care for. Given the eventual target of 1200 4Cs per year, it&amp;#039;ll be a while before you can get your hands on a base ($55,195) 4C. As far as I&amp;#039;m concerned, the only options the car needs are the sport exhaust, bi-xenon HID lights ($1000), and if you like the way they look, the big wheels. (They&amp;#039;re drop-dead gorgeous.) The turbocharged 1.7-liter four sounds amazing with the optional &amp;quot;sport exhaust,&amp;quot; whereby Alfa charges you $500 to remove the muffler. It&amp;#039;s deep, throaty, and you hear the turbocharger spooling up just off idle. And of course you get the requisite fireball-down-the-header when you shift. Brrrraaaap! With the silencer, you focus more on the prodigious turbocharger noises in the cabin. It&amp;#039;s very Bugatti: you hear more turbo noise than anything else. Playing with the throttle to get the perfect wastegate chatter becomes the name of the game. READ MORE: What happens when you hand a yokel the key to a Ferrari 458 Speciale? But in the Sport Exhaust 4C, you&amp;#039;re playing with the throttle to get as much noise as possible, period. The direct-injection four does a great imitation of a Ferrari flat-plane V8. Though with only 6500 rpm on tap, you&amp;#039;re always wishing, acoustically, for more revs. But certainly not speed. Or fun. Or good looks. Incidentally, the 4C looks far better on the road than it does in pictures\u2014so please withhold your judgment until you see one in motion. You&amp;#039;ll think it&amp;#039;s a Ferrari at first until you see how teensy small it is.  On the road, the 4C rides better than you&amp;#039;d expect, and its carbon-fiber monocoque transmits less road noise than others. The seats aren&amp;#039;t particularly supportive (or comfortable), and the interior has trouble accommodating very large humans. But this is a tiny sports car. It&amp;#039;s not a GT\u2014and almost every other supposed sports car on the road has morphed into a big, fat GT. (Hey Cayman, I&amp;#039;m talking to you.) That Porsche is an epic car to drive at the limit, with balance and composure never seen before in this history of the automobile. The 981 Boxster and Cayman are capable of incredible speed and deliver it with equal measures of comfort, sophistication, and refinement. But when you&amp;#039;re just driving normally, no fun. The 4C is the opposite. It&amp;#039;s not particularly comfortable, its interior is certainly not sophisticated, and it&amp;#039;s not particularly refined. At the limit, say on a racetrack, it displays none of the Porsche&amp;#039;s all-neutral, all-the-time handling magic. Sure, the Alfa generates just as much grip, but it falls too easily into understeer. It&amp;#039;ll rotate slightly with a quick lift of the throttle, but the 4C just doesn&amp;#039;t like to be sideways\u2014it&amp;#039;ll pull itself back into line. The lack of a limited-slip differential (and the shockingly high engine location) means it&amp;#039;ll just spin its inside tire if you try to hold a power-slide. And then the brake-based &amp;quot;Q2 differential&amp;quot; (read: nothing more than traction control) will grab that spinning wheel, pulling the rear end back into line. The 4C just doesn&amp;#039;t have enough grunt to hold a third-gear power slide.  So there&amp;#039;s the rub: At the limit, the Cayman is a vastly superior vehicle. At anything less, the Cayman is like driving a video game simulation of what the world&amp;#039;s perfect sports car might be. Meanwhile, the 4C is an absolute screaming, laugh-out-loud riot. The Alfa has, like, no trunk space. You can fit a duffle bag in the back but nothing up front (the hood doesn&amp;#039;t even open.) It has no interior storage binnacles, no glovebox, and the aftermarket radio both sounds like crap and is difficult to use. It has manual HVAC controls that feel like they&amp;#039;ve come from a 1980s Daihatsu. And you have to place a key in a socket to start the car. Sometimes, it works. Sometimes, you have to pull it out and try again. Sometimes the door chime is quiet, sometimes it issues a 102-dB blast to your cochlea that&amp;#039;ll practically knock you unconscious. And thank God for it. As enthusiasts, we&amp;#039;ve all forgotten what a sports car is supposed to be. The Cayman ain&amp;#039;t it. It, like the 911, is now a lovely GT car. The Corvette is swathed with leather and cruise control and gloveboxes galore\u2014with an awesome V8 and mind-blowing handling to match. But it&amp;#039;s not delicate and light and batshit fun. The 4C marks not only the return of the Alfa Romeo brand to the United States market, but also the return of the Sports Car. A car whose flaws are charm; whose fun outweighs speed; and that you definitely, positively don&amp;#039;t want to drive every day. But will\u2014because you just can&amp;#039;t stop laughing. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/first-drives/reviews/a8147/2014-alfa-romeo-4c-first-drive-review-us-spec/>