Alfa Romeo 4C vs Mercedes-Benz Esprinter

What's the difference?

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.

With the convenience of back-to-base charging the eSprinter would be well suited to last-mile logistics or other urban delivery roles, as its driving range is ample for many of these urban tasks with the added benefit of zero tailpipe emissions. However, at more than $100K it is a big spend (like its full-electric rivals) so only a thorough cost-benefit analysis can decide if it’s the right choice for your business.

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. 

This is a substantial vehicle riding on a 3665mm wheelbase and spanning almost 6.0 metres in length (5932mm) and more than 2.0 metres in width (2020mm without mirrors), yet it has a tight kerb-to-kerb turning circle of only 12.4 metres.

And with the optional High Roof as fitted to our example it stands almost 3.0 metres tall (2867mm), so drivers need to be conscious of this extra dimension when accessing underground loading zones, driving under height-restricted bridges etc.

Its rear-wheel drive unitary chassis features simple and rugged McPherson strut front suspension paired with a De Dion-style rigid beam/leaf spring rear axle, along with four-wheel disc brakes and electrically assisted power steering.

There’s prominent use of unpainted dark grey plastic in external areas where bumps, scrapes and wear are usually inflicted, including the grille, front bumper, hubcaps, doorhandles, door mirror shells, side bump-strips and rear bumper.

The cabin design is spacious, neat and functional, with unique instrumentation which replaces the traditional tachometer with a gauge that monitors driving efficiency. There’s also a digital info screen that displays average energy consumption, battery charge, estimated driving range, gear selection and more.

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.

With its hefty 2727kg kerb weight (largely due to the battery) and 4250kg GVM, the eSprinter has a sizeable 1523kg payload rating. It’s also rated to tow up to 2000kg of braked trailer but with its 5000kg GCM (or how much it can carry and tow at the same time) that big payload must shrink to only 273kg to legally tow its maximum trailer weight.

That’s only enough payload capacity to cater for the weight of a two-man crew and little more so it’s important to be aware of these numbers if you’re planning to tow this heavy (although we suspect few if any owners would do so).

The cargo bay with the High Roof option is enormous, with 2009mm from floor to roof allowing even tall people to stand without stooping. Its load volume is a cavernous 10.5 cubic metres.

The load floor, which is protected by a hard non-slip surface, is 3375mm long and 1732mm wide with 1350mm between the rear-wheel housings. This allow up to two Aussie pallets or up to four Euro pallets to be carried, secured using a choice of 10 load anchorage points which fold flush with the floor when not in use.

Cargo bay access is through a sliding kerbside door with a big 1260mm-wide opening and a pair of rear barn doors which can open to a full 270 degrees on each side to optimise access to forklifts and loading docks.

The walls and sliding door are neatly lined to roof height and large handles inside both door openings assist access. There’s also bright LED lighting plus handy storage pockets in each rear door.

Its spacious cabin provides a comfortable and efficient workspace. The fabric-trimmed bucket seats offer generous head and legroom for driver and passenger and the ample open floor space between them features a sturdy cradle in which to carry the charging cable (see image).

There’s also ample storage including a large bottle-holder and multiple bins in each door plus a full-width overhead shelf with a key-lockable security box and a central glasses holder.

The top of the dash has two cupholders on each side (so, four in total) plus a large compartment with clamshell lid in the centre equipped with a 12V socket and three USB-C ports. There’s another shelf in the lower dash on the passenger side, a quartet of cupholders in the centre console and yet another compartment hidden beneath the passenger seat.

The local eSprinter range, which does not include a cab-chassis variant, offers a choice of van-based models comprising the MWB (Medium Wheelbase) with 81kWh motor for a list price of $104,313 and LWB (Long Wheelbase) with 113kWh motor for $121,041. This six-figure pricing is in the same ballpark as full-electric large van equivalents from Ford (E-Transit) and LDV (eDeliver 9).

Our test vehicle, finished in standard 'Arctic White', is the smaller MWB/81kWh model equipped with the optional High Roof (option code DO3) which adds almost half a metre (489mm) to its external height and $2392 (ex GST) to its price.

Its work-focused standard equipment includes 16-inch steel wheels with 225/75 R16 tyres and a full-size spare, DRLs and side marker lights, sealed cabin bulkhead with central window, electric-adjustable truck-style exterior mirrors, heated driver’s seat and exterior mirror, prestige leather-rimmed steering wheel with multiple remote control functions, colour 5.5-inch driver’s information display, reversing camera, front/rear parking sensors and tyre pressure monitoring to name a few.

The cabin also has an electronic parking brake, electric air-conditioning and heating plus multiple USB ports and 12V sockets. The latest 'MBUX' multimedia system features a large 10.25-inch touchscreen as central command offering voice activation, digital radio, wireless Apple/Android connectivity and more.

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. 

The eSprinter is powered by a single electric motor producing 150kW of power and 400Nm of torque. It’s mounted under the rear floor where it drives the rear wheels through a single-speed transmission.

This compact motor-trans unit shares underfloor space with an 81kWh lithium-ion battery that provides the motor’s energy. This battery occupies most of the underfloor between the front and rear axles and features a slimline design to optimise ground clearance.

Drivers have a choice of three drive modes comprising 'Comfort', 'Economic' and 'Max Range', plus different levels of energy recuperation using steering wheel-mounted paddles that adjust the intensity of regenerative braking.

The electric motor also features a ‘boost’ function which temporarily increases power output when fast acceleration or overtaking is required. The eSprinter’s maximum speed is capped at 120km/h.

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.

Mercedes-Benz’s official driving range for the 81kWh eSprinter, based on combined WLTP testing, is up to 264km. When we collected the vehicle for our test, the battery was fully charged but the estimated driving range displayed was only 234km, or 30km less than the official figure.

The eSprinter’s towering height also stopped us accessing local charging infrastructure (located inside multi-storey car parks) so our test was conducted using the initial single charge. This included a mix of suburban and city driving best suited to electric van use and covered a total distance of 190km.

At the completion of our test, the dash display claimed average energy consumption of 29kWh/100km, with 25 per cent battery charge remaining and 63km of estimated range. So, based on these figures, the official WLTP range of up to 264km is credible.

The eSprinter comes standard with a Mode 3/Type 2 charging cable and the charging port is in the centre of the grille behind a spring-loaded flap displaying a three-pointed star badge.

Mercedes-Benz claims 11kW AC charging of the 81kWh battery from 10-80 per cent takes around eight hours while 115kW DC fast charging reduces that to around 32 minutes.

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.

There are large handles on the front door window frame and overhead shelf to assist climbing aboard, where you’ll find a comfortable and commanding driving position.

This is thanks to supportive seating (albeit with no lumbar adjustment), ample steering wheel height/reach positioning and a spacious footwell, combined with a clear rear view through the bulkhead window and along the sides thanks to large truck-style mirrors.

The leather-rimmed steering wheel feels nice in your hands, all major controls are easy to see and operate and the electric air-conditioning and heating systems are effective.

It’s a pleasant vehicle to drive as the most noise you hear is the tyres, given the near silence of the rear-mounted motor and drivetrain. The underfloor location of the battery also creates a low centre of gravity, which optimises handling with minimal body lean when cornering.

Unladen ride quality is excellent, enhanced by the weight of the battery which helps the suspension iron out bumps. And the electric motor’s 400Nm of torque provides energetic performance, with acceleration delivered in a smooth liquid-like surge.

Selecting the strongest regenerative braking not only optimises energy harvesting for the battery but also creates enough retardation to ensure mostly single-pedal driving (accelerator only) as the brake pedal is rarely required. This mode is also handy on steep descents.

To test its payload rating we forklifted 975kg into the cargo bay, which combined with our two-man crew equalled a total payload of 1155kg that was still comfortably below its legal limit.

The rear leaf springs compressed less than 30mm under this loading, leaving ample bump-stop clearance to ensure no bottoming out on our test route. The e-motor’s response was more subdued as you’d expect but it still hauled this payload with apparent ease.

Overall, the driving experience was hard to fault, apart from the vertical pillar between the fixed and sliding glass in the driver’s door blocking the outer third of the exterior mirror’s view, at least with the driver’s seat positioned far enough rearwards to suit my 186cm frame.

We also noted, when travelling at highway speeds on a windy day, that our test vehicle was prone to being moved within its lane by strong crosswinds, even though ‘Crosswind Assist’ is included in the active safety menu.

We suspect the High Roof option was responsible for this given the larger bodysides it creates and is something to be mindful of when driving in high wind conditions.

There’s no ANCAP star rating for commercial vans above 3.5-tonne GVM but the eSprinter did score the maximum Platinum grade in ANCAP’s Commercial Van Safety Comparison in 2024.

It comes standard with six airbags, active distance assist (can automatically brake and accelerate in traffic), lane-keeping, multiple blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, tyre pressure monitoring, reversing camera, front/rear parking sensors, crosswind assist and many more.

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.

Then eSprinter comes standard with a five-year/250,000km warranty including 24/7 roadside assist for the same duration. There’s also a separate eight years/160,000km warranty covering the lithium-ion battery.

Scheduled servicing is every 12 months/40,000km whichever occurs first. Capped pricing applies to the first five scheduled services totalling $1920, or an average of $384 per service. Pre-paid service packages offer additional savings.