Alfa Romeo 8C/Spider

[veXon]

ili ti 32400 polovnih
tisincina i ne offuj temu

[speedfreak968]

Prelep i jedinstven automobil... imati ga znaci imati mesto u svetloj istoriji automobilizma... Kada bih bio bezobrazno bogat 8c je automobil koji bi uvek pre izabrao nego bilo koji drugi egzoticni - super automobil... 8c ima najbolje od oba velika Italijana (Ferrari + Maserati) + onu Alfinu jedinstvenost zahvaljuci kojoj i od najboljeg napravi josh bolje!

[Sasha]

Alfa Romeo 8C and Scarlett Johansson the perfect match

he UK’s prestige and performance motor show MPH ’07 has conducted a poll in order to determine the average persons perfect car and passenger, with the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and Scarlett Johansson coming up trumps – and who could blame the Brits for this outcome.

Scarlett received 23 percent of the vote and narrowly beat the recently crowned sexiest woman in the world, Jessica Alba (22 percent) to the passenger seat.

The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione beat the competition hands down, taking a decisive 30 percent of the vote. Closest rivals included the (until recently) worlds fastest production car the Bugatti Veyron (13 percent) and the Ferrari F430 (11 percent). All of which are planned to be on show at this year’s MPH Motor Show at London’s Earls Court and Birmingham’s NEC in November.

The crown for most popular male passenger was shared by Top Gear and MPH ’07 presenters Jeremy Clarkson (7 percent) and The Stig (7 percent), who were the victors over heartthrobs Lewis Hamilton (2 percent), David Beckham (1 percent), and Daniel Craig (1 percent) – which just goes to show that a good sense of humour can make up for ordinary looks…thankfully.

8c ih je sve oduvala , jedino bi umesto Scarlett izabrao Dzesiku Albu.

[Sasha]

[dekideki]

najzad prave slike. dosta vise photoshop-a!

[TOKYO]

Uff kako bih joj skinuo te felne!

[starac vujadin]

Sta ti je Deki, imas hiljade slika vec godinu dana svuda...Auto Bild je i vozio (doduse kao prototip)...a mislim Evo je vozio Spider 8c prototip...

Prva isporuka krajem godina, kada mozemo ocekivati i prve voznje produkcijske verzije.

[dekideki]

*skoro savrsene slike, kao da su iz photoshop-a a - nisu. dosta mi je amaterskih razmrljanih snimaka ili slika sa ljudima ko na nekom vasharu. pricam o slikama a konture auta (njegove definitivne) znam skoro napamet.

Sasha ti ces me bar razumeti, siguran sam lozis se na dobre fotke kao i ja.

[Friš75turbo]

E da mi je barem ovoliko od NJE!

[VOR75]

E pa Deki,

Ako se ti lozis na fotke ja se lozim na ovo sto je na fotkama. Ovako nesto treba prepakovati u jednu 75-cu, to bi bio kraj sveta . Bolestina. Uh reci su suvisne idem da gledam slike.

Pozdrav....

[Nigy]

[starac vujadin]

8c je predstavljen jednom broju novinara koji su imali prilike da isprobaju auto na test stazi u Baloccu. Automobili (koliko mogu da primetim) nisu slikani i nisu izvozeni van staze sto govori da neke stvari treba jos malo doraditi. Generalni utisak je vrlo dobar, ali ima par primedbi koje bi se mogle korigovati za ovo preostalo vreme pre pocetka isporuka...Ovo nisu testiranja, vec utisci iz voznje, tako da perfomanse nisu merene.

TOP GEAR

To any petrolhead reared on stories of classic Italian front-engined GTs, this car mercilessly pushes all the buttons.

It starts with a truly buxom body draped over 20-inch wheels wrapped in liquorice Pirellis. The interior's all carbon and aluminium and lovely Italian leather. And the lightweight materials extend to the structure - an all-carbon load-bearing skin over a steel punt.

There's a red-blooded 450bhp Italian V8 up front, and a six-speed paddleshift 'box in front of the rear axle. The chassis spec runs to big Brembos, a limited-slip diff and double-wishbones.

Bring it alive and it continues its barefaced playing to the gallery. The starter motor whirrs for a second or two, giving over to an explosion from the four tailpipes that rattles windows and has birds falling dazed out of the trees.

The rev-counter goes to 7,500. On the over-run, the exhausts cackle and spit like the fire under a hog roast.

The harsh suspension slaps every bump. The steering is weighty and direct. The cabin never stops reverberating with the barrel-chested roar of the V8 and its exhausts.

There's masses of grip, solid cornering balance, and if you're in the mood it'll happily smoke the rear tyres in hooligan tail-out slithering. It feels stiff-spined and sorted, a lot better handler than I'd expected given it borrows a fair few Maserati Quattroporte bits and I'm no great fan of the QP as a driver's car.

It's properly fast. The power arrives in stages, from mild below 3,000, through useful to 4,000, when you get a serious kick up the backside to see you on up to 7,500. The whipcrack cambiocorsa paddleshifts are entirely in character.

Only 500 8C Competiziones will be made and they're all pre-sold - even at a bruising £111,000. Alfa developed it in a hurry and it's easier, in low-volume production, to call harshness a 'character trait' than to refine it out, so the 8C is a surprisingly hardcore machine.

Don't be misled by the luscious matching leather luggage set. It's loud and punishing and hard to see out of at busy junctions. It's not a GT or a commuter, it's for giving your veins an octane-boosted buzz on a Sunday morning thrash. And for driving slowly past plate-glass windows to see (and hear) the reflection.

In fact, my only objections are to what it stands for rather than to how it goes. As its vaguely retro looks might hint, it doesn't do a whole lot to advance the art of the supercar. In fact, a Corvette has the legs of it at half the money.

The really sad thing is it isn't at all relevant to the rest of Alfa's line-up. Even the name represents a bit of grandstanding: 8C is eight cylinders and Competizione is race, but it won't race, it just looks and sounds like it's calling in favours from Alfa's racing history. It's a bit cynical and manipulative.

But I'm a sucker for Italian petrolhead history and it's manipulated me good and proper. Clattering through an opening S-bend sequence, leaning on the outside wheels, opening the taps of that hair-erecting V8 - yes, it was one of 2007's highlights.

[starac vujadin]

4CAR

It has been a long wait, 15 years to be precise, since Alfa Romeo's last limited edition supercar, the SZ, disappeared for good. In that time there have been some quick Alfas, some good-looking Alfas but not one that truly deserves the one title that was once the birthright of every product from the Torinese firm: that of the true driver's car. The 8C Competizione is here to change all that.

But before we're consumed by the release of one-and-a-half decades of pent-up frustration and become overwhelmed with enthusiasm for what appears to be one of the most exciting Alfas ever, let alone of the modern era, let's first see what we're dealing with.

The 8C is named after a famed 30s Alfa sports racer and simply means it has eight cylinders. You may see it as cynical brand exploitation or regard it as simply the revival of an evocative name from the past.

What the name does not reveal is just how little Alfa Romeo there actually is in the 8C. Its shape is the work of Fiat's in-house Centro Stile design studio, while the platform it sits on is an abbreviated version of that used by the Maserati Quattroporte. It's built by Maserati, uses a Maserati engine (which is actually assembled by Ferrari), a Maserati paddle-shift gearbox and even Maserati suspension.

Does any of this matter? To the 500 who have already slapped down £30,000 deposits, ensuring this limited-edition supercar sold out long before anyone even drove one, almost certainly not. When the time comes - and deliveries start in early 2008 and last for two years - each will willingly pay around £111,000 for their 8C in exchange for being able to drive one of the most distinctive, evocative and just plain beautiful cars on the road.

It's quick too, not least because its trim 1,585kg shape is cannoned down the road by a 4.7-litre V8 turning 450bhp at 7,000rpm. The engine is a derivation of the 4.2-litre motor used by all current Maseratis and while its use in the Alfa is unique for now, it will soon be popping up under Maserati bonnets too.

Where it differs from the Maserati and, indeed, any production car from the Fiat Group, including Ferrari, is that its svelte, preposterously gorgeous body is made entirely from carbon fibre. Not only does this save an estimated 80kg, it also substantially lowers the car's centre of gravity. The central core of the car is steel and related to that used by Maserati for both the Quattroporte and GranTurismo, but it has been cut and shut to shorten its wheelbase and, in this regard at least, it is unique.

The 8C is a strict two-seater and the combination of siting the gearbox between the rear wheels and an 88-litre fuel tank means boot space is near enough non-existent. There is, however, a substantial ledge behind the seats for which Alfa Romeo will happily sell you some tailored luggage.

The cockpit itself is largely successful. The thin bucket seat holds your body well, all the controls look and operate like quality items and the view down the bonnet to the gently jutting wings is highly evocative. Only the ugly instruments and horrible central electronic readout spoil the sense of occasion.

It is impossible to guess how well a largely hand-built, limited-edition model like the 8C will withstand the rigours of long term life in the everyday world. Historically standard production Alfa-Romeos have tended to languish towards the bottom of customer satisfaction surveys and it is tempting to tar the 8C with the same brush.

However, the two cars that were available at the launch felt mightily well screwed together, with a complete absence of the creaks and rattles you might think were almost inevitable in such a car. Alfa appears to have realised that while people may accept cars designed down to a standard when paying less than £20,000, when you're asking over five times that amount, this has to be reflected in construction standards.

And the quality of the materials used is simply outstanding. The paintwork is exceptional, while the interior is a sea of leather, milled aluminium and real carbon fibre.

It is impossible to guess how well a largely hand-built, limited-edition model like the 8C will withstand the rigours of long term life in the everyday world. Historically standard production Alfa-Romeos have tended to languish towards the bottom of customer satisfaction surveys and it is tempting to tar the 8C with the same brush.

However, the two cars that were available at the launch felt mightily well screwed together, with a complete absence of the creaks and rattles you might think were almost inevitable in such a car. Alfa appears to have realised that while people may accept cars designed down to a standard when paying less than £20,000, when you're asking over five times that amount, this has to be reflected in construction standards.

And the quality of the materials used is simply outstanding. The paintwork is exceptional, while the interior is a sea of leather, milled aluminium and real carbon fibre.
It is impossible to guess how well a largely hand-built, limited-edition model like the 8C will withstand the rigours of long term life in the everyday world. Historically standard production Alfa-Romeos have tended to languish towards the bottom of customer satisfaction surveys and it is tempting to tar the 8C with the same brush.

However, the two cars that were available at the launch felt mightily well screwed together, with a complete absence of the creaks and rattles you might think were almost inevitable in such a car. Alfa appears to have realised that while people may accept cars designed down to a standard when paying less than £20,000, when you're asking over five times that amount, this has to be reflected in construction standards.

And the quality of the materials used is simply outstanding. The paintwork is exceptional, while the interior is a sea of leather, milled aluminium and real carbon fibre.

Driving

The simple truth is we don't know, because Alfa Romeo refused to let us drive the car on the road, restricting its activities instead to its Balocco test track. We're always suspicious of car manufacturers that prevent journalists from trying cars in their natural environment, but given that the 8C's ride quality was extremely firm, and bordering on the harsh even on Alfa's ultra-smooth track, we think we know why. Quite how it will cope with a typical British back road remains to be seen.

However you can't accuse Alfa of is pulling its punches with this car: it looks like a hard-edged performance machine and that is exactly how it behaves. This is no cruise-to-the-Med Grand Tourer, but a true supercar that demands a lot of its driver if it is to be driven properly.

Perhaps predictably. the Ferrari/Maserati engine provides the 8C's finest hour. For a start it sounds fabulous: outside it's loud, symphonic and glorious, but from within its voice is a magnificently malevolent snarl as you accelerate and a wonderfully evocative assortment of pops and bangs from the exhaust as you lift off the gas. None of this just happens: it's all been manufactured in sound chambers, but when you hear it, you'd not have it any other way.

Performance
And if you push the Sport button, not only does the engine become louder and the gearshift time halve to 0.2sec, the throttle also becomes more responsive to the touch of your foot. Get it right and it will hit 62mph in 4.2sec and keep going all the way to a claimed 181mph though, if it matters, Alfa says its real top speed is at least 186mph.

The gearchange is a reasonable example of its type. The upshifts are quite smooth if you lift off the gas and it blips the throttle for you on down changes. But while that 0.2sec change time might sound quick, it's light years away from what Alfa's colleagues at Ferrari are achieving with similar hardwear: a 599GTB is twice as quick to shift as the 8C, the Scuderia over three times faster... An automatic programme is fitted but, like auto modes on all manual gearboxes with electronic actuation, it's still a less than satisfactory arrangement.

But great Alfa Romeos have never kept their strengths for the straight line. Anyone who has driven anything from an Alfa 75 to an old Giulia Super or GT Junior will know their real magic lies in the way they come alive in the corners. Does the 8C do this? Bluntly, no.

It gets all the basics right: the steering is quick, the tyres grip tenaciously and, so long as you keep the stability systems engaged, it'll never throw you at the scenery. What it lacks is subtlety, those nuances of feel that distinguish a car that's great to drive from one that's merely good. Crucially, the steering offers very little feedback and, if you push the chassis to the limit, you find that while it is quite easy to guide the 8C into a corner, as you start to accelerate away, the nose is too willing to slide wide of your intended line. Aim to bring it back on course with a bootful of throttle and it will kick the tail out with some savagery. You can, of course, always leave the electronics connected and it will look after you, come what may, but this is a meant to be a highly focused driver's car and many owners will want to feel how it behaves when driven in a manner commensurate to that billing.

How many airbags would expect in an Alfa-Romeo costing over £100,000? If you answer is more than two, you're in for a disappointment. There is no crash test data available but there's no reason to suspect the 8C with its carbon and steel underpinnings would crash with less than total integrity.

Hopefully however, that scenario will be avoided by the ESP systems that even incorporate a special wet setting for adverse weather conditions.

Alfa quotes a combined fuel consumption figure of 17.9mpg, which is worse even than a Ferrari Scuderia and, in real life, unlikely to be unapproached by anyone other than the most saintly of owners. We'd bet on 12-14mpg from an 8C being driven as its maker intended.

It's also going to expensive to service, not least because there will be only four dealers in the whole of the UK capable of looking after it. And every one of them is a Maserati dealer.

As we've already said, we don't hold out much hope for the ride quality of the 8C, but in all other regards, it's likely to prove an able ground-coverer.

The thin bucket seats are among the best we've come across and the driving position is near enough faultless for drivers of all sizes. There's also head and leg room aplenty.

Best of all, the 8C is also surprisingly civilised when it wants to be: switching off the Sport button reduces exhaust noise to a distant hum while wind and road noise is admirably muted.

With only 41 8Cs coming to the UK in the next two years, we expect their values to not only stand still, but actually to rise. We can quite see people paying thousands over the odds to get one because it's not as if any more will be available, although Alfa Romeo has said it will build a further 500 Spider versions once the coupe has ceased production.

Nor do we think that its left-hand drive only configuration will affect its residuals. With a car this gorgeous, scarce and quick, it's going to remain a highly desirable commodity for the rest of its life.

[starac vujadin]

Motor Trend (USA)

Alfa Romeo exited the American market with a whimper in 1994. But they're planning to come back, next year, with a roar -- the roar of a 450-horse, race-tuned Ferrari-made V8.

The Alfa Romeo that left America was a traumatized, slow-selling, troubled company, plagued by poor quality and underachieving cars. The Alfa that reenters is now stronger, its cars more stylish; it's now a brand that offers a genuine alternative to rival (read German) European premium automobiles. Plus it has an extraordinary and beguilingly beautiful new flagship, the 8C Competizione. It's this car, with both Ferrari and Maserati blood flowing in its veins, that leads Alfa Romeo's charge back to America.



In 2008, the 8C starts appearing in Maserati dealerships. Eighty-four out of the total build of only 500 cars are coming to America; only Italy (86) gets more. By 2009, a proper U.S. Alfa dealer network starts to open its doors, selling a range of cars including a face-lifted version of the latest Spider, the Brera coupe and the 3-series-rivaling 159.

For a brand new car -- production has only just commenced in Maserati's Modena factory in northern Italy -- the 8C has been a motor-show fixture for over four years. It debuted at the 2003 Frankfurt show, previewing a delightful mix of '60s Alfa styling cues leavened with modern technology. The production version is little changed. The name also evokes a richer period for Alfa. The 8C 2300 of the 1930s was probably Alfa's finest prewar sports car, while the Competizione moniker harks back to the 6C2500 Competizione in which Juan-Manuel Fangio competed in the 1950 Mille Miglia.



The engine is the 4.7 liter Maserati V-8, familiar in the Quattroporte and new GranTurismo, but bigger in bore and stroke, crowned by new Alfa-developed heads and, with 450 horses, more powerful too. Some of the suspension and platform underpinnings are also Maserati borrowed, which is why the 8C is made in a Maserati factory not an Alfa Romeo one. As with all new-generation Maseratis, the engine comes from Ferrari, and is related to the V8 from the F430. So the 8C represents the first firm collaboration between three of Italy's greatest (all Fiat owned) sports car manufacturers: never before have we seen such an Alfa/Ferrari/Maserati "hybrid."

The 8C then is an uncharacteristically upmarket Alfa. At about $240,000, it's the most expensive Alfa road car ever: a Ferrari-priced Alfa. Think of it as a halo vehicle, the perfect high-profile flag-waver and ambassador for Alfa's U.S. market re-entry -- the perfect beacon, too, to remind lapsed European owners that Alfa's star once again shines bright

We drive it in Italy, at Balocco, Alfa's (and Fiat's) private test track, midway between Milan and Turin in Italy's rich industrial north (apart from the West Coast of the USA, probably the single market of the world most likely to buy the 8C). Our test car is painted scarlet Italian red and it sits, low and lovely, long sculptured nose clothing the tuneful (and what a tune!) V-8 engine. In proportion, it's not dissimilar to the 1960s Ferrari GTO -- long nose, short cabin, short tail, all wrapped in a body of graceful curves and gorgeous detailing. The body looks somehow to be made from aluminum: the traditional Italian curves, the wrought-from-metal craftsmanship. But it's actually high-tech carbon, saving weight (about 200 pounds says Alfa), yet losing nothing in beauty.

You clamber down into the low cockpit, carbon and leather and bright alloy, through those little lightweight carbon doors, and settle behind the small leather-rimmed, alloy-spoke steering wheel. Feel the alloy paddle shifts with your finger tips (carbon shifters are extra). Right lever for up, left for down. It's a six-speed gearbox, the same sequential manual change from the outgoing GranSport Maserati Coupe and the manual version of the Quattroporte.



The seat is a carbon shell lined in leather. It's fore-aft and rake adjustable -- both done manually -- and is firm with little cushioning. Feel the bolsters kiss your hips and torso. A conventional three-point seat belts welds you to the chair.

The engine, fired by an alloy starter button, snarls into life with a high-revving baritone V-8 roar. It's an engine that likes to rev and delivers its best when you work it hard, all the way up to the 7600-rpm cut off. Push the Sport button on the carbon center console and the note changes -- even more of a race snarl, a Formula One yowl.

Note the lovely alloy -- and it's real aluminium alloy -- on the dash, center console and door trims. It's a classy cabin, an expensive cabin, a true Italian sports car cabin that celebrates both craftsmanship and driving passion. Engage first on the paddle shift and the car does a little hiccup forward. Accelerate and the clutch automatically engages a little jerkily and you're away. In Sport mode, gears are shifted in only 0.2 sec (0.4 sec in normal non-Sport mode); in Sport mode the throttle response is also sharper, more urgent.

First impression is how absolutely normal this car feels. That's perhaps a little disappointing. It's simple to drive, no drama, no fuss. There is even a normal automatic shift mode, if you can't be bothered to play. The steering is sharp but quite lifeless with none of that interactive drama and flavor that distinguishes the steering of a Ferrari.

Accelerate hard and your back is pushed back hard into the carbon shell of the seatback and the engine growls (in that gruff V-8 baritone) with greater anger. Snick-snick: You flick up through the gearbox. Zero-to-60 takes just over four seconds, the standing quarter mile only 12.4 seconds. Keep going and the Alfa won't stop accelerating until 182 mph.

The steering feels lifeless, but it's sharp and linear; and handling, at least on this Fiat test track, is excellent. The front 20-inch tires turn in with precision, body roll is eerily absent, and there's little tire squeal as the 8C sweeps through the S-bends and fast, sweeping corners. Those vast cross-drilled and ventilated discs wipe off speed quickly and fade-free.



Push harder, into the "zone" that separates the great cars from the merely very good, and the 8C still feels crisp and fluent and beautifully throttle responsive (especially in Sport mode). The short wheelbase helps the agility. So does the 49:51 weight distribution, due mostly to that Maserati-like rear transaxle. Forget those Maserati genes though: This 8C is much sharper, much more the racer, than the leisurely if beguiling Quattroporte or GranTurismo. At full chat, riding the curbs, pushing hard, the steering kicks and loads just a little, and the dynamic fluency that so distinguishes the 911 GT3 and F430 are absent. But for a front-engine sports car, the agility and poise are excellent.

The ride is firm -- what do you expect? -- and the tire noise loud. No matter, that superb engine noise, which serenades through its rev range, silences the slap of rubber.

Few cars, this side of a Ferrari, offer a more special driving experience; no car short of a V-12 sounds better; and not many fast cars are easier to drive hard. Add the striking styling -- what street sculpture! -- and here is an Alfa to covet and enjoy. Here is also an Alfa set to reacquaint Americans with one of Europe's fastest growing and most improved car brands. And if the 8C comes with a lot of help from Maserati and Ferrari, we don't suppose too many customers will complain.

[speedfreak968]

Excellent read!