The Only ‘Ferrari’ You Can Get Into for $60,000

It’s a Choose Your Own Adventure for car nerds: “You peer down into the Italian sports car’s leather-lined cockpit. There’s no stick-shift lever. Do you run away, or stay and drive?”

Of course you choose to drive the 4C Spider, a targa-topped version of Alfa Romeo’s carbon-fiber-tubbed flagship. Executing a perfect heel-toe downshift is a moot point.

But find a twisty stretch of B-way—like Alder Springs Road through Northern California’s Mendocino National Forest—and that peaky, turbocharged four, stiff chassis, and unboosted steering delivers one of the most direct-to-adrenal-gland driving experiences you can get. Loud, sweet, raucous, darty. Just about perfect.

Do you shift at redline? Yes, you do. Always.