Elise to 4C?

[MattyB_]

Anyone gone from an Elise (or Exige) to an Alfa 4C?

I'd pretty much discounted them, but I saw one the other day and now I'm massively considering it. I've currently got an S2 Elise which I'll be selling soon...I was planning to go for the Evora, but now I'm kinda smitten by the 4C.

Interested if anyone has, or thought about it then changed their minds?

As a cheeky aside, are there any 4C owners in the West Mids?

[DeejRC]

I suspect you will gain more from an Evora, bigger class of car, more GT'esque, etc. Elise/Exige to 4C is staying within the same class(ish) of vehicle as opposed to moving to a different type which an Evora would be.

Id ask yourself what are you changing for exactly?

[Armitage.Shanks]

I'd say drive a 4C first to see. Extra appeal is this is now a ceased production. Stopped me buying a GT4 but that was based on intended limited use and keeping my daily.

As an Elise driver you'll know what to expect but I think these on another level. Fit/finish is nowhere near Porsche standards and nor is the 'experience' of buying one from a Fiat dealer catering to a 'different customer base' than I'm used to. Alfa completely marketed these cars wrong but that said the car is somewhat unique.

[MattyB_]

Well, I'm on my 3rd Lotus - the problem is I find most of my driving is now on A-roads, and I'm finding this one (135 Sport) is too short geared - I'm also craving more power.

While I've also got the Evora and Exige Roadster in my sights, the Elise is hard to beat. Cheap to service, cheap consumables, low depreciation, good MPG, cheap tax. The problem is that the Evora and Exige Roadster move things up quite a bit in those regards and running costs are quite a bit higher.

So I went back to looking for a Elise 220, but 4C's aren't much more, and as I love my Alfa's, it seems like it ticks the extra power (and with longer gearing) while maintaining the low costs to boot.

Armitage, I'm off to view one soon, and hopefully drive. I agree with Alfa dealers, they're well known to be pretty useless, however I've got a good Alfa specialist who'll do the job for me

[Armitage.Shanks]

Hopefully the specialist will charge a lot less than the ridiculous price Alfa charge for annual servicing. I understand the 'bolt tightening' at 12k miles but question whether it's needed on a first service where most cars will probably have less than 3k on them? In which case it should just be an oil change and overall check but not costing c£800-£1100

[Stuart J]

Armitage.Shanks said:

Hopefully the specialist will charge a lot less than the ridiculous price Alfa charge for annual servicing. I understand the 'bolt tightening' at 12k miles but question whether it's needed on a first service where most cars will probably have less than 3k on them? In which case it should just be an oil change and overall check but not costing c£800-£1100

Bolts relax tension with age, not miles so the first service is essential, I've heard talk of cars only getting oil & filter as miles were low so its a case of buyer beware

Alfa workshop are £500 for the first service & almost certainly know more about the 4C than any dealer

http://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk/alfa_4C_servicing.sh...

They will also remap it for you

[MawsleyCarValeting]

I’ve had 3 Elises last one was a 111r which I had for 12 years and loved it. But I needed a change so went for a 4c Launch Edition 2 years ago. It’s a fantastic car not as communicative as the lotus but still very good and much more of an occasion to drive. Oh and people love it.