Alfa and the NY Car show
05-06-2014, 07:07 PM
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Alfa and the NY Car show
Just got back from NY, went to the big car show, and saw the new Alfa AND read the new comparison between it and a Cayman S in the "June" Road & Track, pp 82-9. Oddly, no new GTS at the show. Maybe Porsche doesn't yet have one to display?
First the car show Alfa . . .
It's very small, looking like a micro supercar, but as such, not fooling anyone. Dash looks cheap. No comments from the Alfa people about what happens if Alfa goes under (they might), nor why we should have faith in the reliability of the new Alfa when there are no data and Alfa's reliability history in the past was beneath dreadful. (Please don't respond if you had the one reliable Alfa on planet earth. I'm sure there's an ugly slim young Swedish woman with long blond hair out there too somewhere, but why dwell on it?)
Now for R&T:
They called the Cayman S "sublime."
They called the Alfa's dashboard plastics ". . . woeful. The heating controls are particularly bad, moving the cables with the slop and imprecision of a Seventies AMC."
They called the Alfa's rear visibility "appalling."
When ordering the "Racing Pack," [you won't believe this], the Alfa comes with no muffler. R&T couldn't believe it either.
In regard to the Alfa's steering . . . "On anything less than marble-smooth flooring, the steering is so messed up, it feels like you're walking a pack of dogs through a butcher shop."
"The Porsche comfortably asserts its superiority in a straight line, its 325 hp and 272 lb-ft more than a match for both its rivals [Alfa and Lotus]." With PDK and Chrono they got a 0-to-60 time of 4.0!!!!! (So, as usual, Porsche's figures are a too conservative, as R&T doesn't make their numbers up.)
"But it's not merely the kick in the back that makes working the Cayman's engine so satisfying. No, it's the noise, a cultured yawp to the [Alfa] four-banger's thrashy wail. . . In the naturally aspirated Porsche, that response is instant, and in a manner that a forced-induction engine can't hope to offer." Hm. So much for the next iteration of the Cayman, undoubtedly also be a turbo 4-cylinder (though my dealer thinks they may still have a flat 6 for the S and GTS).
Unlike the Alfa, "Porsche has proved style and substance can live cheek by jowl. . . . the 4C [Alfa] and the Cayman aren't rivals at all. One is an automotive EpiPen [a fast- but short-acting injection of epinephrine used to jolt people dying from anaphylaxis back to life], a five-minute shot of thrashing metal to wake you from the somnambulance of modern day driving. . . the Cayman has a depth of character few cars at this price level can match."
Favorite R&T quote (far upper left, page 84): "Two strippers and a dancer. Unlike the Alfa . . and the Elise. . . , the Cayman's beautiful on the inside."
Also, from the NY Show . . . at least to my eyes, the new C7 has that flashy American too-big, too-overweight, too unpolished, long-hood-proudly-emphasizing-that-the-motor-is-in-the-wrong-place look that goes perfectly with a car that overcomes obstacles with the same tired solution as always--cubic inches. Incredibly, the Corvette still has one cam in the block with push rods, one intake and one exhaust valve per cylinder, and in some other ways is technologically coming from the dark ages. That said, for the lousy $54K it costs and with 0-60 of a claimed 3.9 seconds (!), the Corvette has got to be the best sports car deal of modern times.
Fortunately Cayman people can afford better, though let's face it, buck for buck the Corvette makes the Cayman overpriced. That said, R&T said they wouldn't have been shocked to find the Cayman costing TWICE as much as the Alfa (which goes for $54K). Interestingly, R&T didn't complain about Cayman prices (except of course for the usurious add-ons) but did complain about the cost of the Alfa, given it's unpolished nature.
BTW, they had a real 918 at the show--as the young people say, "awesome." And they had the new Targa--first good looking Targa ever, in my opinion. Great show. Fun R&T comparison, "on the newsstands now" as they say . . . .
First the car show Alfa . . .
It's very small, looking like a micro supercar, but as such, not fooling anyone. Dash looks cheap. No comments from the Alfa people about what happens if Alfa goes under (they might), nor why we should have faith in the reliability of the new Alfa when there are no data and Alfa's reliability history in the past was beneath dreadful. (Please don't respond if you had the one reliable Alfa on planet earth. I'm sure there's an ugly slim young Swedish woman with long blond hair out there too somewhere, but why dwell on it?)
Now for R&T:
They called the Cayman S "sublime."
They called the Alfa's dashboard plastics ". . . woeful. The heating controls are particularly bad, moving the cables with the slop and imprecision of a Seventies AMC."
They called the Alfa's rear visibility "appalling."
When ordering the "Racing Pack," [you won't believe this], the Alfa comes with no muffler. R&T couldn't believe it either.
In regard to the Alfa's steering . . . "On anything less than marble-smooth flooring, the steering is so messed up, it feels like you're walking a pack of dogs through a butcher shop."
"The Porsche comfortably asserts its superiority in a straight line, its 325 hp and 272 lb-ft more than a match for both its rivals [Alfa and Lotus]." With PDK and Chrono they got a 0-to-60 time of 4.0!!!!! (So, as usual, Porsche's figures are a too conservative, as R&T doesn't make their numbers up.)
"But it's not merely the kick in the back that makes working the Cayman's engine so satisfying. No, it's the noise, a cultured yawp to the [Alfa] four-banger's thrashy wail. . . In the naturally aspirated Porsche, that response is instant, and in a manner that a forced-induction engine can't hope to offer." Hm. So much for the next iteration of the Cayman, undoubtedly also be a turbo 4-cylinder (though my dealer thinks they may still have a flat 6 for the S and GTS).
Unlike the Alfa, "Porsche has proved style and substance can live cheek by jowl. . . . the 4C [Alfa] and the Cayman aren't rivals at all. One is an automotive EpiPen [a fast- but short-acting injection of epinephrine used to jolt people dying from anaphylaxis back to life], a five-minute shot of thrashing metal to wake you from the somnambulance of modern day driving. . . the Cayman has a depth of character few cars at this price level can match."
Favorite R&T quote (far upper left, page 84): "Two strippers and a dancer. Unlike the Alfa . . and the Elise. . . , the Cayman's beautiful on the inside."
Also, from the NY Show . . . at least to my eyes, the new C7 has that flashy American too-big, too-overweight, too unpolished, long-hood-proudly-emphasizing-that-the-motor-is-in-the-wrong-place look that goes perfectly with a car that overcomes obstacles with the same tired solution as always--cubic inches. Incredibly, the Corvette still has one cam in the block with push rods, one intake and one exhaust valve per cylinder, and in some other ways is technologically coming from the dark ages. That said, for the lousy $54K it costs and with 0-60 of a claimed 3.9 seconds (!), the Corvette has got to be the best sports car deal of modern times.
Fortunately Cayman people can afford better, though let's face it, buck for buck the Corvette makes the Cayman overpriced. That said, R&T said they wouldn't have been shocked to find the Cayman costing TWICE as much as the Alfa (which goes for $54K). Interestingly, R&T didn't complain about Cayman prices (except of course for the usurious add-ons) but did complain about the cost of the Alfa, given it's unpolished nature.
BTW, they had a real 918 at the show--as the young people say, "awesome." And they had the new Targa--first good looking Targa ever, in my opinion. Great show. Fun R&T comparison, "on the newsstands now" as they say . . . .
