Logic doesn’t take up any room. It’s thought. However, there’s still no space for it in a sports car comparison, such as the one below that Motor Trend conducts between the Audi TT S and the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider.
Sure, you can argue the TT S makes more power, and has a nicer interior and more refinement than its Italian competitor. You can also say it has a lower price. Those are all good points, but they come from your brain.
Sports cars are about emotions, how they make you feel. You can tell from the grins on Jason Cammisa’s face in the footage what sort of emotional effect the 4C Spider has on him. Its sound, its wonderful lack of power steering, its perfect flaws. Those all add up to a win – and not just that of Alfa over Audi. It’s a win of heart over head.
I haven’t yet driven the TT S, but I know how the Alfa makes you not care about how chintzy its switchgear is or how much of a pain in the ass it is to maneuver around a parking lot. You just want to stash its fabric lid in the pencil box of a trunk, fire up the obnoxiously loud turbo four, and fling it into every corner you can find. You feel the urge to run its tank dry as you build boost and use it to destroy the rear tires. You might lose your mind, but it already lost to your heart anyway – the second you got behind the Alfa’s flat-bottom wheel.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
