2015 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider: First Drive

What is it? 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider

Price range: $65,495 to $75,000+

Competitors: BMW Z4, Lotus Evora, Porsche Cayman

Alternatives: Mazda Miata, Scion FR-S, Subaru BRZ

Pros: Seductive design, nimble handling, exhilarating ride.

Cons: Grossly impractical, loud, uncomfortable over long distances, challenging at the limit

Would I buy it with my own money? Only if I had money to spare and needed a weekend toy, or had an unfailing love for Alfas.

Some cars you can’t wait to get into day after day. They’re pets as much as transportation, making you relaxed and comforted as you get behind the wheel.

The Alfa 4C Spider is not that car.

“Like fine art, you really have to understand it to appreciate it,” reiterated Reid Bigland, head of Alfa Romeo in North America, when talking about the Spider version at an event held in Carmel, Calif.

That’s one take. I’d say the Alfa 4C is more like a hot mess of a paramour you’re reluctant to commit to — immensely fun on the weekends, and a handful the rest of the week. It’s a third car for those who want a less practical but more visceral toy than a Porsche Cayman, with the styling cachet of a Ferrari at a fraction of the price. The soon-to-be-released Spider version starts at $65,495 (including destination), but its seductive curves and revealing bits of carbon fiber suggest an exotic double or triple that price.

Dynamically, the Spider moves with the same frenzied intensity as the coupe, and it weighs in at 2,487 pounds, only 22 more than the hard top. It still has a top speed of 160 mph—with or without a top—and can zip from 0 to 60 in 4.1 seconds, screaming all the way to the 6,500-rpm redline. Thanks to the carbon-fiber tub, there’s no compromise to chassis rigidity, either.

And like its coupe counterpart, you’ll either love or hate its driving quirks and tantrums. The unassisted steering feels like a lump of lead when parking, yet lightens up on the open road, providing plenty of feedback. You’ll need it too, because the 4C Spider requires your full attention — I got sweaty palms even when passing a slow SUV on the scenic roads of Big Sur, thanks to the bump steer and the angry, airy buzz from the engine mounted behind my skull. It also feels unhinged in situations that a BMW Z4 or some other stoic German nameplate would brush off. Slam on the amazingly strong, fade-free brakes and you’ll feel the rear end go light and become skittish. Cut into a corner aggressively, and the Alfa demands steering finesse so it won’t snap into oversteer around the bend.

Yet strangely it’s the eccentricities that make the machine such an addicting adrenaline rush. There’s no “comfort” mode in the 4C, and like a Miata or Lotus Elise it feels like you’re blazing around the track even at 40 mph. In my first couple of runs at the Laguna Seca racetrack, I took it easy so I wouldn’t be immortalized as “that guy” who slammed into a barrier on the famed corkscrew. Yet even at street-legal speeds I felt all my senses come alive. The boosted 1.7-liter, 237-horsepower engine always screams like it’s on full tilt, even if you happen to be below its peaky power band, like when I was lagging at 3,000 rpm on turn 6, leading up to the Rahal Straight.

But unlike iconic analog machines like a Miata, there isn’t an immediate connection to the car. There’s a learning curve to master it, to know when it’ll kick out and when the tires will dig in with loads of grip. But it communicates enough to get you there. The snappy six-speed dual-clutch transmission shifts effortlessly, even if lacks the hands-on feel of a great manual. As you begin to understand the 4C’s character, it bends more and more to your will, like a quick but stubborn race bred horse. Even if you never master it, the 4C sends your heart racing at 7/10ths of its limits. Few sports car can manage that in this age of technology-driven performance, and tuning that aspires to remove all feel from the road underneath.

But is it worth spending the extra 10 grand on a Spider? I’d say so; without a roof over your head, it no longer feels like a carbon-fiber tomb, and offers no sacrifices to speed or handling. You won’t get much sound from the feeble stock Alpine stereo in any body configuration, and the wind only just catches the back of your head even as you roar past 100 mph.

As polarizing as the 4C is, nobody can call it boring or ordinary. With almost too much personality, it’s the antithesis to a clinically perfect German car. And for a company trying to reestablish itself on these shores, this hand-built, small-production car is exactly what Alfa Romeo needs—because as with relationships, there are plenty of people that will take the plunge no matter the pain. The heart wants what it wants.