Decisions, decisions...Exige S or Alfa 4C?
Discussion
Hey all, was lucky enough to get my hands on an Exige S for a day.. what a machine. Absolutely awesome car and in my mind every inch a junior supercar. It's basically down to either this or an Alfa 4C as my next car. I know the 4C has had generally mixed reviews (to be kind) but it still has some appeal.. I need to drive one ASAP and see for myself but i think the Lotus will be hard to beat.
Made a video of my impressions if you're interested, click here to see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af5SAD5FWOo
Made a video of my impressions if you're interested, click here to see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af5SAD5FWOo
Edited by jackpe on Friday 5th May 13:14
I loved the 4C when it was launched and thought it was a perfect mini supercar but would be the car to enjoy at 9/10's without being at 150mph+.
In the flesh it left me a bit disappointed to be honest. The dash felt very low rent and the carbon inside looked a very poor finish. Hardly the end of the world on those points but it looked a lot more stunning outside than inside. That said, the Exige could be slightly guilt of the same.
It's a very tough call between them I must say but I think the Exige pips it for me, although the later 4C is allegedly a lot better?
In the flesh it left me a bit disappointed to be honest. The dash felt very low rent and the carbon inside looked a very poor finish. Hardly the end of the world on those points but it looked a lot more stunning outside than inside. That said, the Exige could be slightly guilt of the same.
It's a very tough call between them I must say but I think the Exige pips it for me, although the later 4C is allegedly a lot better?
Here are my thoughts, just my personal opinion. - I’m coming to this as an existing Exige V6 owner for the last 3 ½ years. My son & I test drove a 4C 4 weeks ago at the Millbrook proving ground on a calm sunny dry day around the alpine track / high-constant speed circuit and the mile straight.
We spent the morning hooning around in both a coupe & spider to compare performance accompanied by a professional racing or ex-racing driver as a passenger. We were allowed to use dynamic/natural/all-weather modes but not the 4C’s race mode.
My initial impressions were favourable to driving the 4C, e.g. the launch control down the mile straight 0-60-0 and then 0-100-0 was impressive in a straight line. – I maxed it out to around 135mph my son got up to 150 – very stable no real drama. It’s comfortable / easy to get in and out of compared to an Exige but rear visibility is worse in my opinion than the Exige V6. However, I came away feeling the day-to-day road experience would be behind what I have already in the Exige. Two things stood out that would irritate me, first the steering feel just wasn’t as good as the Lotus this was evident on the alpine circuit as there are many sections of fast / slow A-B type road surfaces. Secondly, the turbo lag although not huge is there and you do notice it, some of this can be cancelled out with the fastish automatic gear changes but it would niggle me. On a positive note I’m sure it would be cheaper to run on fuel – my Exige returns 25-27 MPG – road use only the 4c should be much better.
I’d say go and get an extended test drive, if your spending that much money you’d need at least 1-2 hours to really get it.
We spent the morning hooning around in both a coupe & spider to compare performance accompanied by a professional racing or ex-racing driver as a passenger. We were allowed to use dynamic/natural/all-weather modes but not the 4C’s race mode.
My initial impressions were favourable to driving the 4C, e.g. the launch control down the mile straight 0-60-0 and then 0-100-0 was impressive in a straight line. – I maxed it out to around 135mph my son got up to 150 – very stable no real drama. It’s comfortable / easy to get in and out of compared to an Exige but rear visibility is worse in my opinion than the Exige V6. However, I came away feeling the day-to-day road experience would be behind what I have already in the Exige. Two things stood out that would irritate me, first the steering feel just wasn’t as good as the Lotus this was evident on the alpine circuit as there are many sections of fast / slow A-B type road surfaces. Secondly, the turbo lag although not huge is there and you do notice it, some of this can be cancelled out with the fastish automatic gear changes but it would niggle me. On a positive note I’m sure it would be cheaper to run on fuel – my Exige returns 25-27 MPG – road use only the 4c should be much better.
I’d say go and get an extended test drive, if your spending that much money you’d need at least 1-2 hours to really get it.
Hi all
I owned an Alfa 4C LE coupe for 12 months and around 8 thousand miles, I've also owned an Elise, test drove for an hour an exige S and just bought an evora 400.
So I'm well in the wheelhouse of being able to answer this question.
the brief answer is Exige S.
the long answer as to why is......
Both cars are very focused, impractical and a slight effort to use on a daily basis, however you'll find the Exige more practical to use on a daily basis, boot space is about the same however the 4C is severely lacking in interior storage space, is a bit noiser inside and in my opinion only slightly better to get in and out of.
Reliability on the 4C was, to put it frankly, dire. Mine had the pitstop programme which was supposed to sort the chocolate ball joints on the front suspension, but it didn't. in the end I had 5 front suspension rebuilds in 12 months, in all it spent 2 months off the road getting the suspension fixed.
The battery tray and some of the pipes/cables were quite badly damaged by a leaking battery caused by a defective mount.
the boot leaked and started to go mouldy.
the paint was applied so thinly that the front after 8k miles looked quite pebble dashed.
the driving experience is woeful, you buy these cars to have fun, but due to its wayward nature you just didn't want to take it out for a drive on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the wandering steering is a real issue on these, when coupled with the (fast) boosty engine, you just couldn't make 'smooth' progress, this was exacerbated by the width of the thing. this meant down a B road the car would be wondering around the road under braking, then mid corner you couldn't really balance the throttle as you didn't know how boosty it wanted to be and then on corner exit you'd be concerned about making sure your between the lines. The whole thing just became a stress in all honesty.
when compared with an Exige it all becomes apparent how far away the Alfa is in all honesty. If your comparing an elise S with a 4C id still say Elise S, however its not really playing the same games in the same leagues as the Exige. The exige is superior in all metrics you can apply to this type of car, Speed, tactility, fun etc...
Saying that however I did enjoy the 4C, its a very emotive car, its is very pretty and the boosty nature of its power delivery in both sound and feel makes it very characterful! You put your foot down, there's an old school whoosh from the turbo and then bang! I also liked the farty noise it made on upshifts!
it also had a good feeling on a track, the wayward steering was not as apparent and It did have a pointy nose if driven well, which meant tail out antics were possible, if not entirely predictable.
I owned an Alfa 4C LE coupe for 12 months and around 8 thousand miles, I've also owned an Elise, test drove for an hour an exige S and just bought an evora 400.
So I'm well in the wheelhouse of being able to answer this question.
the brief answer is Exige S.
the long answer as to why is......
Both cars are very focused, impractical and a slight effort to use on a daily basis, however you'll find the Exige more practical to use on a daily basis, boot space is about the same however the 4C is severely lacking in interior storage space, is a bit noiser inside and in my opinion only slightly better to get in and out of.
Reliability on the 4C was, to put it frankly, dire. Mine had the pitstop programme which was supposed to sort the chocolate ball joints on the front suspension, but it didn't. in the end I had 5 front suspension rebuilds in 12 months, in all it spent 2 months off the road getting the suspension fixed.
The battery tray and some of the pipes/cables were quite badly damaged by a leaking battery caused by a defective mount.
the boot leaked and started to go mouldy.
the paint was applied so thinly that the front after 8k miles looked quite pebble dashed.
the driving experience is woeful, you buy these cars to have fun, but due to its wayward nature you just didn't want to take it out for a drive on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the wandering steering is a real issue on these, when coupled with the (fast) boosty engine, you just couldn't make 'smooth' progress, this was exacerbated by the width of the thing. this meant down a B road the car would be wondering around the road under braking, then mid corner you couldn't really balance the throttle as you didn't know how boosty it wanted to be and then on corner exit you'd be concerned about making sure your between the lines. The whole thing just became a stress in all honesty.
when compared with an Exige it all becomes apparent how far away the Alfa is in all honesty. If your comparing an elise S with a 4C id still say Elise S, however its not really playing the same games in the same leagues as the Exige. The exige is superior in all metrics you can apply to this type of car, Speed, tactility, fun etc...
Saying that however I did enjoy the 4C, its a very emotive car, its is very pretty and the boosty nature of its power delivery in both sound and feel makes it very characterful! You put your foot down, there's an old school whoosh from the turbo and then bang! I also liked the farty noise it made on upshifts!
it also had a good feeling on a track, the wayward steering was not as apparent and It did have a pointy nose if driven well, which meant tail out antics were possible, if not entirely predictable.
Richard-G said:
Reliability on the 4C was, to put it frankly, dire. Mine had the pitstop programme which was supposed to sort the chocolate ball joints on the front suspension, but it didn't. in the end I had 5 front suspension rebuilds in 12 months, in all it spent 2 months off the road getting the suspension fixed.
The battery tray and some of the pipes/cables were quite badly damaged by a leaking battery caused by a defective mount.
the boot leaked and started to go mouldy.
the paint was applied so thinly that the front after 8k miles looked quite pebble dashed.
Wow that's bad for a new car. I've done 12000 miles with no issues, the boot carpet had been re-fitted as it was becoming detached from one edge where the tail-gate catch is and I've had one rear wheel re finished under warranty as the diamond cut surface was starting to delaminate. I've had 2 new rear tyres but still on the original brake pads and discs.The battery tray and some of the pipes/cables were quite badly damaged by a leaking battery caused by a defective mount.
the boot leaked and started to go mouldy.
the paint was applied so thinly that the front after 8k miles looked quite pebble dashed.
mario328 said:
Richard-G said:
Reliability on the 4C was, to put it frankly, dire. Mine had the pitstop programme which was supposed to sort the chocolate ball joints on the front suspension, but it didn't. in the end I had 5 front suspension rebuilds in 12 months, in all it spent 2 months off the road getting the suspension fixed.
The battery tray and some of the pipes/cables were quite badly damaged by a leaking battery caused by a defective mount.
the boot leaked and started to go mouldy.
the paint was applied so thinly that the front after 8k miles looked quite pebble dashed.
Wow that's bad for a new car. I've done 12000 miles with no issues, the boot carpet had been re-fitted as it was becoming detached from one edge where the tail-gate catch is and I've had one rear wheel re finished under warranty as the diamond cut surface was starting to delaminate. I've had 2 new rear tyres but still on the original brake pads and discs.The battery tray and some of the pipes/cables were quite badly damaged by a leaking battery caused by a defective mount.
the boot leaked and started to go mouldy.
the paint was applied so thinly that the front after 8k miles looked quite pebble dashed.
I can imagine the car will be light on its brakes as its a light car in general and the brakes are big for the weight, I thought the brakes after run in were very good actually, just the fact the car would wonder around on the brake peddle made me lose all confidence
they replaced my boot carpet and the liner carpet due to the mould, after they fixed it was ok going forward.
I should add, the choice between an exige or a 4C is a nice problem to have!
Thanks guys... I've not yet driven a 4c but all the comments here have been helpful and largely in line with what I'm expecting. A scanner in the works might be an Evora 400- I will drive one soon and it might have the combination of driver satisfaction and usability im after. The Exige is just mega but im unsure if I could live with it day to day
A dilemma I had about a year ago.
Change my Exige V6 Roadster for a 4C coupe?
Loved (still do) the look of the Alfa, and whilst the Exige has several shortcomings, the Alfa had more.
Main points for me were the awful farting noise on the upshift, I couldn't get comfy, the tram lining (which I know can be fixed) and the fact that it wouldn't fit comfortably in my garage, where an F80 M3, a 911 and my Exige all fit in ok.
I ended up buying another Exige (350 sport).
Change my Exige V6 Roadster for a 4C coupe?
Loved (still do) the look of the Alfa, and whilst the Exige has several shortcomings, the Alfa had more.
Main points for me were the awful farting noise on the upshift, I couldn't get comfy, the tram lining (which I know can be fixed) and the fact that it wouldn't fit comfortably in my garage, where an F80 M3, a 911 and my Exige all fit in ok.
I ended up buying another Exige (350 sport).
Edited by Jesus on Thursday 4th May 21:41
Exige every single time.
Although for a pure road car with no track use (it's too loud for almost all UK tracks) the Evora 400 is mega. I love my Exige but if I didn't do the odd trackday I'd change it for a 400 which is a better road car. As it is I'm trying to work out a way to have both.
Although for a pure road car with no track use (it's too loud for almost all UK tracks) the Evora 400 is mega. I love my Exige but if I didn't do the odd trackday I'd change it for a 400 which is a better road car. As it is I'm trying to work out a way to have both.
Hi
I have got a v6 exige roadster and also a 4c
Both very similar but very different, the exige is like an analogue watch while the 4c is like a digital one
The 4c's ride and steering is no worse than the exige on the same roads
I don't know which I would pick if I had to sell one
Both great fun And involving drives
Have fun choosing
M
I have got a v6 exige roadster and also a 4c
Both very similar but very different, the exige is like an analogue watch while the 4c is like a digital one
The 4c's ride and steering is no worse than the exige on the same roads
I don't know which I would pick if I had to sell one
Both great fun And involving drives
Have fun choosing
M
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