Toyota Supra vs Alfa Romeo 4C

What's the difference?

The Toyota GR Supra GT is a superb sports car that’s relatively easy to live with in the city even with the manual gearbox and incredibly fun to drive out where the roads are free from traffic.

Not only is the GT great for the price compared to rivals but it’s the pick of the Supra range.   

People might wonder if there’s a reason to buy an Alfa Romeo 4C. It has some great dollar-for-dollar competitors - the Alpine A110 does most of the things the Alfa does, but in a more polished way. And then there’s the Porsche 718 Cayman, which is a considerably more, well, considered option.

But there is no doubt the 4C stands alone, a sort-of cut-price alternative to a Maserati or Ferrari, and nearly as rare to spot on the road as those cars, too. And just like the rollercoaster at Luna Park, it’s the sort of car that’ll leave you wanting another go.

Perhaps it’s just me but I think the Supra looks exactly how it should look - like a Hot Wheels car.

Seriously, how good does the back view look? I love the spoiler that angles up like a crazy ski jump and the tail-lights integrated underneath it.

I love the huge rear hunches swollen like they’ve been stung by an enormous wasp. Check out the roof - see how it’s curved? And that bonnet with the vent above the wheel arches, I love the styling of every millimetre of this car.

But my neighbour doesn’t. I pulled up and said, “How good does this look?” And he gave me this stare like I was bonkers.

I don’t know, maybe you and I have the same excellent taste, but if there’s anything I hate it's anything that’s boring.

To me the BMW Z4 ‘twin’ is getting very close to the boring end in the styling department. 

Talking of BMW, the Supra's interior is very BMW from the indicators stalks to the media system and climate control set-up.

It’s a modern and minimalist cabin… if only there wasn’t a cupholder right where my elbow goes. That’s a good place to stop and talk about the Supra GT’s practicality. 

Slap a Ferrari badge on it, and people would think it was the real deal - a pint-sized performance hustler, with all the right angles to get plenty of glances.

In fact, I had dozens of punters nod, wave, mount ‘nice car mate’ and even a few rubber-neck moments - you know, when you drive past and someone on the footpath can’t help but forget they’re walking, and they stare so hard they might well collide with the upcoming lamp-post. 

It really is a head-turner. So why does it only get an 8/10? Well, there are some elements of the design that make it less user-friendly than some of its rivals.

For instance, the step-in to the cabin is enormous, because the carbon-fibre tub sills are huge. And the cabin itself is pretty tight, especially for taller people. An Alpine A110 or Porsche Boxster are much more amenable for day-to-day driving… but hey, the 4C is markedly better than, say, a Lotus Elise for ingress and egress.

Also, as smart as it still looks, there are elements of Alfa Romeo design that have moved on since the 4C launched back in 2015. The headlights are the bit that I dislike most - I had a real thing for the spider-eyes lights of the launch edition model.

But even if it isn’t unmistakably Alfa Romeo, it’s unmistakably a 4C. 

The good news is that if you’re tall like me (189cm) and mainly legs then you’ll have more than enough legroom and headroom because the footwells are impossibly deep and the seats can be lowered to what feels like ground level.

Actually, you are almost at ground height in this car so the bad news if you’re as tall as me you’ll probably have to crawl out of the car on all fours.

The cabin of the Supra doesn’t do the storage space thing well. Sure there are two cupholders but their location is the same place my elbow frequents while changing gears and resting.

The wireless phone charging area is good and easy to access, but the door pockets are as thin as post box slots so if it’s letters you’re storing there you’re in luck.

If it’s anything thicker than that you’ll be left looking around for a place to put your purse or wallet and end up throwing it in the phone charger space if the passenger seat is taken.

You could always ask your co-pilot to hold onto your things which reminds me to tell you that the Supra is a two-seater only. There are no back seats, and there’s no option to have back seats.

If you’re looking for a sports car with rear seats (although space will be limited) for the same money then there’s the Audi A4 45 TFSI and at an even lower price is the Ford Mustang GT.

If you look over your left shoulder while in the driver’s seat of the Supra GT you’ll see into the boot -  there’s no wall separating the cabin from the cargo area. This is handy for throwing a school bag in as I did for my son on the morning drop off, but also means your items may make an unexpected visit to the cockpit if you stop suddenly.

The boot is large for a sports car at 296 litres (VDA) and it managed to fit our large CarsGuide suitcase with space to spare as you can see in the images.

You can’t get into a car this small and expect a lot of space.

The dimensions of the 4C are tiny - it’s just 3989mm long, 1868mm wide and only 1185mm tall, and as you can see from the pictures, it’s a squat little thing. The Spider’s removable roof could be great for you if you’re tall.

I’m six-feet tall (182cm) and I found it to be cocoon-like in the cabin. You feel almost as though you’re tying yourself to the tub of the car when you get into the driver’s seat. And getting in and out? Just make sure you do some stretches beforehand. It’s not as bad as a Lotus for ingress and egress, but it’s still hard to look good clambering in and out of. 

The cabin is a cramped space. There’s limited head room and leg room, and while there is reach and rake adjustment for the steering wheel, the seat only has manual slide and backrest movement - no lumbar adjust, no height adjust… almost like a racing bucket. They’re hard like a race seat, too. 

The ergonomics aren’t terrific - the controls for the air-con are hard to see at a glance, the buttons for the gear select take some learning, and the two centrally-mounted cup holders (one for your double-shot mocha latte, the other for a hazelnut piccolo) are inconveniently positioned exactly where you might want to put your elbow. 

The media system is rubbish. It’d be the first thing to go, if I bought one of these, and in its place would be an aftermarket touchscreen which would: a) actually let you pair to Bluetooth; b) look like it was from sometime after 2004; and c) be more fitting for a car of this price tag. I’d upgrade the speakers, too, because they’re poor. But I can totally understand if those things don’t matter, because it’s the engine you want to hear.

The materials - aside from the red leather seats - aren’t great. The plastics used are similar in look and feel to what you find in second-hand Fiats, but the sheer volume of exposed carbon-fibre does help you forget those details. And the leather pull straps to close the doors are nice, too. 

The visibility from the driver’s seat is decent - for this type of car. It’s low, and the rear window is small, so you can’t expect to see everything around you at all times, but the mirrors are good and the forward vision is excellent.

Look, no-one considering an Italian sports car is likely to be wearing their common sense hat, but even so, the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider is an indulgent purchase.

With a list price of $99,000 plus on-road costs, it isn’t affordable. Not considering what you get for your money.

Standard inclusions consist of air conditioning, remote central locking, heated electric door mirrors, leather sports seats with manual adjustment, a leather-lined steering wheel, and a four-speaker stereo system with USB connectivity and Bluetooth phone and audio streaming. It’s not a touchscreen, so there’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and there’s no sat nav… but the thing about this car is going the fun way home, so forget maps and GPS. And there’s a digital instrument cluster with a digital speedometer - believe me, you’ll need it.

The standard wheels are a staggered set - 17-inch at the front and 18-inch at the rear. All 4C models have bi-xenon headlights, LED daytime running lights, LED tail-lights and dual exhaust tips. 

Of course, being the Spider model, you also get a removable soft top and you know what’s neat? You get a car cover included as standard, but you’d want to put it in the shed, as it takes up a bit of boot room!

Our car was even further up the pay scale, with an as-tested price of $118,000 before on-roads - it had a few option boxes ticked. 

First there’s that beautiful Basalt Grey metallic paint ($2000), and those contrasting red brake calipers ($1000).

Plus there’s the Carbon & Leather package - with carbon-fibre mirror caps, interior bezels, and a stitched leather instrument cover panel. It’s a $4000 option.

And finally, the Racing Package ($12,000), which includes a staggered set of 18-inch and 19-inch wheels with a dark paint finish, and those wheels are fitted with model specific Pirelli P Zero tyres (205/40/18 up front, 235/35/19 at the rear). Plus theres the sports racing exhaust system, which is awesome, and a racing suspension setup. 

You’re looking at a Supra that could be the peak of its model evolution because since the generation’s arrival in 2019 Toyota has increased the power of the 3.0-litre turbo-petrol in-line six-cylinder from 250kW to 285kW (torque remains the same at 500Nm) and introduced a six-speed manual. 

This 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-petrol is the only engine you can have with the Supra, there are no four cylinders or V8s - now there’s an idea. 

Toyota says the 0-100km/h time for the GR Supra with the manual gearbox is 4.4 seconds and 4.1 seconds for the automatic which comes with a ‘launch control’ feature.

Of course, all Supras are rear-wheel drive.

The Alfa Romeo 4C is powered by a 1.7-litre turbocharged petrol four-cylinder engine, which produces 177kW of power at 6000rpm and 350Nm of torque from 2200-4250rpm. 

The motor is mounted amidships, and it is rear-wheel drive. It uses a six-speed dual-clutch (TCT) automatic with launch control. 

Alfa Romeo claims a 0-100km/h time of 4.5 seconds, which makes it one of the quickest cars at this price point. 

Toyota says the 3.0-litre six-cylinder straight-six turbo-petrol engine in the Supra GT paired with the six speed manual gearbox should use 8.9L/100km after a combination of open and urban roads.

I did a week’s worth of city commuting and then a couple of hundred kilometres on country roads, but no motorways and the trip computer told me I was averaging 10.3L/100km.

Not bad for a big engine in a car tuned for performance, driven by a big kid who feels like he’s playing with somebody else’s toys.  

Premium 95 RON fuel is recommended, although 'standard' 91 is acceptable. A 52-litre fuel tank translates to a theoretical range of around 580km, dropping to approximately 500km using our real-world number.

Claimed fuel consumption for the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider is rated at 6.9 litres per 100 kilometres, so it’s no miser.

But, impressively, I saw real-world fuel economy of 8.1L/100km, over a loop that included urban, highway and ‘spirited’ driving on twisty roads.

Ah, but what about living daily with a manual? As a car enthusiast most of the cars I’ve owned have been manuals and I’ve rarely cursed them because I love to drive.

But there were times when they were a pain, such as in traffic, or in traffic on steep streets and in traffic in shopping centres. Did I mention in traffic, also?

But on the nice roads with bends and dips, hills and sweeping corners, hairpins and twisty parts in places without traffic, then all is forgiven. 

And so it goes with the manual version of the Supra. 

Making life easier in the Supra GT is a clutch pedal without much travel so you don’t feel as though you’re at the gym doing a one-sided leg press.

I found the shifts themselves, while short, to be less than smooth. At first, I thought that the clunky changes might have been because the gearbox hadn’t been run in yet, but the odometer was saying 7500km, so this could just be the nature of the gearbox and after a few days I became used to it.

The rev-matching feature of this gearbox is a nice touch, especially on those sporty drives when you change into a gear and you’re thrown straight back into the power band again.

Superb balance, great steering with a nose which points exactly where you want it to and that magnificently smooth turbo-petrol in-line six posting all its meaty grunt to the rear wheels just behind your shoulders makes for a sports car that’s fun, talented and quick.

Good brakes (348mm ventilated rotors with four piston calipers at the front and 330mm discs with single piston calipers at the rear) and grippy Michelin Pilot Supersport tyres (255/40 fr - 275/40 rr) complete a great package. 

A ride that’s still comfortable over bad Sydney roads and surprisingly good visibility made the Supra easy to live with in the city, from parking to school drop offs.

Yes, used it each day for the school run with my older child and the grocery shopping. 

I said that it’s like a rollercoaster, and it really, truly is. The air doesn’t quite rush through your hair as much, sure - but with the roof off, the windows down and the speedometer constantly edging towards licence suspension, it’s a real hoot of an experience.

It just feels so tight - the carbon-fibre monocoque chassis is rigid and super stiff. You hit a cats-eye and its all so sensitive, you could mistake it for having hit an actual cat. 

Alfa Romeo’s DNA drive modes - the letters stand for Dynamic, Natural, All Weather - is one of those proper examples of this type of system done well. There’s a marked difference between how these different settings operate, where some other drive modes out there are more sedate in their adjustments. There’s a fourth mode - Alfa Race - which I didn’t dare sample on public roads. Dynamic was enough to test my mettle. 

The steering in Natural mode is lovely - there’s great weighting and feedback, super direct and incredibly in touch with the surface below you, and the engine isn’t quite as zesty, but still offers tremendous response on the move. 

It’ll be a difficult choice between this and Alpine A110 and a Porsche Cayman

The ride is firm but composed and compliant in any of the drive modes, and it doesn’t have adaptive suspension. It is a stiffer suspension setup, and though the damping doesn’t change in Dynamic mode, if the surface is anything but perfect you will tram-track and twitch all over the place, because the steering feels even more dialled in. 

In Dynamic mode the engine offers amazing response when you’re at pace, building speed incredibly and before you know it, you’re in licence loss zone.

The brake pedal requires some firm footwork - just like in a race car - but it pulls up strongly when you need it to. You’ve just gotta get used to the pedal feel. 

The transmission is a good thing at speed in manual mode. It won’t overrule you if you want to find the redline, and it sounds tremendous. The exhaust is exhilarating!

With roof on and windows up there’s very noticeable noise intrusion - lots of tyre roar and engine noise. But remove the roof and drop the windows and you get the full effect of the drive experience - you’ll even get some "sut-tu-tu” wastegate flutter. It doesn’t even matter that much that the stereo system is so rubbish.

At normal speeds in normal driving you do need to be considerate of the powertrain because it is finnicky and slow to react at times. There’s notable lag if you’re gentle on the throttle, both from engine and transmission, and the fact peak torque doesn’t come on song until 2200rpm means there’s lag to contend with. 

It’ll be a difficult choice between this and Alpine A110 and a Porsche Cayman – each of these vehicles has a very different character. But for me, this is the most go-kart like and it is, undeniably incredibly involving to drive.

You’re in the wrong spot if you want the latest in safety technology. Sure, it’s at the cutting edge because it has an ultra strong carbon-fibre design, but there’s not much else happening here.

The 4C has dual front airbags, rear parking sensors and an alarm with tow-away protection, plus - of course - electronic stability control. 

But there are no side airbags or curtain airbags, there’s no reversing camera, there’s no auto emergency braking (AEB) or lane keep assist, no lane departure warning or blind spot detection. Admittedly - there are a few other sports cars in the segment which lack safety smarts, too, but 

The 4C has never been crash tested, so there’s no ANCAP or Euro NCAP safety score available.

Toyota covers the GR Supra GT with its five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km and is capped at $415 per service.

The warranty is the industry standard in terms of time and kilometre length, and the capped service prices are very reasonable - a lot more affordable than a car with a prestige badge on the bonnet, too.

If you’re hoping that a ‘simple’ car like the 4C will mean low ownership costs, you might be disappointed in this section.

The Alfa Romeo website service calculator suggests that over 60 months or 75,000km (with service intervals set every 12 months/15,000km), you will have to fork out $6625 total. For a breakdown, the services cost $895, $1445, $895, $2495, $895.

I mean, that’s what you get when you buy an Italian sports car, I suppose. But consider you can get a Jaguar F-Type with five years of free servicing, and the Alfa looks like a rip-off. 

The Alfa does, however, come with a three-year/150,000km warranty plan, which includes the same cover for roadside assist.