2018 Alfa Romeo 4C Coupe

It's a rare thing that a car manufacturer's flagship model is also its smallest, but that is the way of things with the Alfa Romeo 4C, a tiny mid-engine sports coupe that serves as the halo car for this Italian brand.

If you're not up on the ins and outs of the auto industry, Alfa made a long-awaited return to North America with this car (and its Spider convertible sibling, covered in a separate buyer's guide entry) in 2015. Since then, Alfa has added the Giulia sedan and Stelvio crossover to its lineup, but the 4C remains the most desirable member of the family.

News for 2018 is limited to a couple of optional appearance items, including a front fascia with carbon fibre vents and an interior done in black leather with yellow stitching.

Otherwise, the 4C is unchanged, powered once again by a turbocharged four-cylinder engine whose 1,750 cubic centimetre displacement Alfa curiously translates to 1.75L rather than 1.8L as is standard practice in the industry. Regardless, it makes an impressive 237 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque that gets funneled to the rear wheels through a six-speed twin-clutch automatic transmission.

The 4C is lighter than a lot of the cars it competes with on price and so extracts a lot of performance from what doesn't sound like all that much engine. As far as direct competition, the Lotus Elise is the closest thing we can think of, and it's even lighter thanks to that British company's obsession with boosting performance by cutting weight rather than adding loads of power.

Alfa Romeo's own weight-saving techniques include the use of a carbon fibre structure melded with an aluminum chassis which contributes to a claimed 4.1-second 0-100 km/h acceleration sprint, which makes it about as quick as the more powerful and heavier Porsche 718 Cayman.

A standard DNA Pro drive mode selector works on the engine and transmission, but is also tied into a dual-mode exhaust system that opens things up in its performance-biased settings for a more aggressive engine note but quiets things down in its more restrained modes. There's no power steering, but in exchange for the extra effort required to point the 4C where you want it to go you get fantastic steering feel.

Despite its small size, the 4C can accommodate adults over six feet in supportive seats that encourage exactly the kind of driving this car looks like it was made for. And while the cabin may be comfortable enough to spend a decent amount of time in, this car is really about the drive: infotainment is limited to a straightforward sound system with Bluetooth connectivity and not much else. The gauge cluster is a slick LCD affair, but the air conditioning system is all manual with old-school rotary controls. Niceties like navigation and a backup camera aren't available even as options.

Despite its exotic looks and sports car pedigree, the 4C's fuel consumption estimates are 9.7/6.9 L/100 km (city/highway), which makes it easy to justify this little car as a daily driver.