What's An Alfa Romeo 8C Actually Like To Drive?

There’s no denying that the 8C looks and sounds gorgeous. But, not all road testers were fond of the way it drove upon release. Some labelled its on-the-limit handling as “eratic,” and there was one high-profile review from a certain chap called Jeremy that likened the 8C’s drive to that of a Mustang.

So, it’s interesting to see the car revisited, some 10 years on from its debut, courtesy of Matt Farah taking a drive in an 8C owned by Afshin Behnia of Petrolicious. It’s worth watching the whole thing (partly down to the ridiculously good engine noise), but suffice to say Farah is much more favourable about the way the car drives than some were back in 2007, although it is worth pointing out this is a road-based test of someone’s pride and joy where the car is - understandably - not taken to the limits of grip.

10 years on, the 8C still sits quite strangely in the Italian firm’s history. It was the first rear-wheel drive Alfa in 15 years when it came out, although it wasn’t much of an Alfa at all. Power came from a 4.7-litre V8 jointly developed between Ferrari and Maserati, and it was the latter company that built the car in Modena. These things are even serviced by Maserati dealers: take it to your local Alfa garage, and they’ll have no idea what to do with it.

True Alfa or not though, it’s still a lust-worthy car, even now the company is finally starting to go back to rear-wheel drive with its mainstream machines.