2020 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider Safety and Reliability

There's an age-old Italian saying that goes la morte mi trovera vivo. Translated, it means "death will find me alive". That sums up Alfa Romeo's attitude towards safety in the 4C Spider, which is to say, you'd better hold on and hope for the best. Neither the NHTSA or IIHS has put the 4C Spider through its paces.

There is honestly not a lot to write about here. Alfa offers the bare minimum to make the 4C Spider legal to drive on American roads. The first port of call is the driver; Alfa hopes that owners will know how to control the 4C. After that, it's left up to the Alfa DNA Pro drive mode traction control system, a set of performance brakes, and a hope in hell. The five airbag system includes a driver knee and front side airbags, and there's a reverse camera with rear parking sensors included as well.

Whoever said that Alfa Romeos are unreliable is probably correct, but not so in the case of the 4C, which shows very un-Alfa like levels of reliability. The 4C range of cars has not been recalled once: impressive for a turbocharged Alfa Romeo. So it won't break down on you, and it comes with a decent warranty as well. Alfa Romeo will cover its 4C Spider with a four-year/50,000-mile basic warranty, a 12-year corrosion protection warranty, a four-year/50,000-mile drivetrain warranty, as well as four years of roadside assistance.