ALPINE A110
Vive la difference Alpine’s bold comeback coupe is a convention-defying dynamic masterpiece. By Ben Miller
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EERING THROUGH the screen and out across a rain-streaked blue front wing you spot the next half mile of onrushing road and wonder if perhaps you ought to slow down – the slim ribbon of tarmac is almost single-track and you’re at the top of fourth gear, the turbocharged four pulling this scant burden with conviction. The rain’s coming down so hard the wipers are working as hard as the Borg-Warner turbo inches from your back. But in the next few moments you must dump most of that speed and arc around a long left-hander without skating from the glass-like tarmac and meeting with the rocks beyond. Survive that and a bobsleigh run of twists and turns plunges down the grim, rain-streaked contours of the mountainside and on out of sight. Potentially scary stuff, then, unless you happened to be snuggled into the lightweight Sabelt bucket seat of the new Alpine A110, bum inches from the tarmac, wheel in your clammy palms and confidence sky-high despite less than an hour’s flying time in the car so far. For in the new A110 every road, particularly one as technical as
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this one, is a playground: every corner, however wet, knotted or evil, a quite exquisite pleasure. Off the throttle, your foot hits the brake pedal and what had, just moments ago, looked like a big ask instantly feels too easy. The pedal’s stroke is firm, without a millimetre of slack, and it’s plumbed to a Brembo system (320mm ventilated discs on lightweight aluminium hubs all round, four-piston front calipers) comically over-specified for a 1103kg, 249bhp coupe. You click down through third to second on the
Double wishbones eat into storage and engine bay space but the payoff is a peach of a chassis
satisfyingly tactile column-mounted shift paddles and, as the car slows, glance at your selected drive mode: Track, for fast shifts and a loose leash without foregoing ESC entirely. Ride the brake pedal as you start to turn and the Alpine’s clearly-telegraphed cushion of understeer is quashed almost immediately. The wheel sends the car’s nose into the corner without a trace of cause-and-effect delay. Mid-corner you feel everything, a constant stream of reassuring feedback rushing to your brain from the tyres, the wheel in your hands and the fabulous seat and forged aluminium double-wishbone suspension beneath your bottom. You sense that the modest, all-weather Pilot Sport 4s are just short of throwing in the towel and so, for no good reason, you add a little more lock, come off the throttle and feel the rear of the car drift fractionally wide. It does so in slow motion, like sprinting underwater. And as the exit finally opens out you’re already driving hard, the engine – delicate of delivery and perfectly responsive so long as you’ve at least 3000rpm dialled up – a keen ally in these potentially evil conditions. On you power, the car breezing over
U P AG A I N S T WORSE THAN Porsche Cayman GT4 But A110 as good as the 4-pot 718 Cayman BETTER THAN Alfa Romeo 4C Superior dynamics, better ergonomics
Low-drag shape looks fabulous but visibility through the rear screen is limited
WE’D BUY Alpine A110 Pity we’re too late for a Premier Edition car
Some Renault switchgear but the fundamentals are on point
At the car’s core is a ‘simplify and add lightcracked, frost-ravaged tarmac on its delicate springs as you power down through the twists ness’ philosophy inspired by the original A110. and turns, the centre-exit exhaust by turns (And, to be frank, Lotus.) The bonded and welded tub is an artful aluminium construction, blaring and burbling like a rally car’s. As a machine for the pursuit of unfettered as is the delicate and very pretty two-seat body. Alpine’s engineers deemed the driving hedonism the A110 knows packaging compromises imposed few rivals at any price. That Alpine by double wishbones front and rear has achieved this from a standing LOVE a worthwhile trade for their fine start (the last Alpine left the Dieppe Dynamic brilliance, camber control. Because the car is factory 22 years ago) is an astonishjoyous absence light (1103kg in Premier Edition ing feat but it’s no fluke. Instead the of flab form; less if you go for the cheaper A110 is testament to the power of a HATE Pure, which will ride on smaller clear brief and an engineering team Ordinary cabin, wheels and brakes) and low, the (lead by David Twohig; Mk1 Qashhigh price springs and anti-roll bars are dainqai, Renault Zoe) with the bravery VERDICT ty, like a Caterham’s. Because the to let Alpine’s past – notably the Focused on the wishbones and modest track width original A110, a rear-engined coupe important things dictated a cramped engine bay, the as handy in rallying as it was on the + + + + + A110 uses a small but punchy turbo road – inform the cars of its future.
four and, in turn, the modest power means the car can run lighter, more modest rubber. And because the A110 won’t be sold in North America, as a convertible (for the foreseeable future) or with a manual ’box, no contingency for these – and therefore no unnecessary weight – has been engineered into it. And so the weight keeps coming off: delicate little alloy hose clamps where steel would have done; delightful fixedback seats weighing just 13kg each; a modest 45-litre fuel tank because the car’s not thirsty, up front but behind the front axle line; lighter conventional dampers rather than adaptive units because the car’s modest weight doesn’t require iron-fisted suspension control. The A110 is the antithesis of bulky performance cars big on blunt power and grip but short on conversation and delicacy. The Alpine’s engine is not the main event, though it sounds good and pulls convincingly. No, the turbo four is the supporting actor in an Oscar-sweeping dynamic performance by a chassis that dares to be different. The A110’s cabin may be more £25k Renault than £50k Porsche but its fine ride, fabulous driving position and well-suppressed NVH make it a viable daily driver. And when the traffic thins out or you find yourself at Cadwell Park, the car’s dragonfly agility, precision steering and endless on-the-limit adjustability will have you driving and smiling until the fuel runs out. Bravo, Alpine. @BenMillerWords Alpine A110 Premier Edition > Price £52k (est, UK price yet to be confirmed) > Engine 1798cc 16v turbo 4-cyl, 249bhp @ 6000rpm, 236lb ft @ 2000rpm > Transmission 7-speed paddleshift DCT, rear-wheel drive > Performance 4.5sec 0-62mph, 155mph (limited), 46.3mpg, 138g/km CO2 > Weight 1103kg > On sale Now (deliveries spring 2018)
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