Alpine A110 2023 long term test
The darling of road testers is a delight to drive, but is it rounded enough to live with?
*Why we’re running it: *To see if the Alpine A110, one of the world’s best driver’s cars, can also prove sufficiently easy to live with for it still to make sense
-Month 1 - Specs-
-Life with an Alpine A110: Month 1-
*Welcoming the A110 to the fleet - 21 December 2022*
Can it really be five years since we first saw it? Half a decade since I first sat in an Alpine A110 and knew that today was going to be a different day before I was even out of the car park? It seems it can.
It’s fair to say the A110 has not exactly tumbled out of the showrooms in that time, despite as rapturous a reception in the motoring media as enjoyed by any new car that I can remember. Turns out that when the choice is between the most exquisite, balanced handling from a car designed to be as light and responsive as possible, or one with a posh badge on the nose, most people would rather have the Porsche.
As a thing to drive, it is their loss. I’m a huge Cayman fan, but you’ll only get the base model with its unlovely flat-four engine for this money, and while it’s more powerful, by the time its additional quarter tonne of avoirdupois is factored in, the two cars’ respective power to weight ratios are as near as makes no difference. And the Alpine is smaller and more delicate and just plain fun to drive.
But as a thing to live with? That’s what the next six months are about. So don’t expect me to spend that time gushing relentlessly over its on-limit handling or the deftness of its damping. There’ll be some of that, I’m sure, but what I really want to find out is whether an A110 works not just in theory and in the road testers’ fantasy realm of mountain passes and race tracks, but here in the real world.
I hope to have many great drives in it, but I know already I’ll have many bloody awful ones, too, sitting in heavy traffic, or simply tedious ones droning down the motorway, because that’s life. How will such a tightly focused car fare? If it does well, it will prove you really don’t need to compromise your driving pleasure; if it doesn’t, the A110 will go down as a wonderful idea that works far better in theory than in practice.
The car came to us in base spec, which used to be called ‘Pure’ but now, post its facelift this spring (which was scarcely a facelift at all), has no further nomenclature beyond ‘A110’. The options spend was modest (see box right), at around 4% of the purchase price, but had it been me ticking the boxes, I’d have dispensed with them all save the parking sensors.
What would I have chosen instead? Perhaps Thunder Grey paint in place of Alpine Blue, but that’s about it. No need for the big brakes on an 1100kg car, and not even I am sufficiently nerdy to crave the optional telematics pack, which can tell me the steering wheel angle I’m fairly sure I can see for myself.I would love the slim panniers that fit down the sides of the seat as somewhere to store stuff in the cabin because there’s precious little room elsewhere, but they don’t seem to be available any more.
A mate who had them on his pre-facelift car said they were a game-changer. And the jury is out on the comfort pack: I’d quite like the speaker upgrade it brings, but it’s the comfort seats with adjustable backs I’d covet most. The standard buckets, which only slide to and fro, may prove restrictive on long runs. The only slightly odd thing about the specification are the standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres.
They’re good enough boots for sure, but the next one up the range, the Pilot Sport 4 S, is the best all-round performance tyre I know, and I’ve tried them on cars as diverse as a Ford Focus ST and a Ferrari 296 GTB. There’s no way I can afford a set to try out for myself, but after winter, and if Renault and Michelin are happy, I’d be really interested to see what they brought to the party.
They are not an original equipment tyre for the A110 – though strangely the far more extreme track-focused Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 is – but in theory at least they should be perfect. For now, I’m just looking forward to getting to know the Alpine a little better, which shouldn’t take long. Regulars will remember I’ve just got out of a Mercedes S-Class, whose widgets and gadgets were still surprising me six months in. Technologically, the A110 is an abacus by comparison.
And that’s just fine. When people ask me what I like most in a car, the answer is very simple: it is to know what it is for. And it really doesn’t matter whether it’s a Caterham Seven, a Rolls-Royce Phantom or an original Mini you’re talking about. It’s what I liked so much about the S-Class and what I hope to feel about the A110. Either way, I’m looking forward to finding out.
*Second Opinion*
As the owner of an A110 of similar spec but a year older, I’m pretty sure Andrew’s going to find a lot of ‘living with’ positives, certainly as regards comfort and easy cabin access. The curiosity will be the car’s durability. Andrew does big miles, so I’ll be interested to see how he fares. My experience has been good, so far
*Steve Cropley*
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-Alpine A110 specification-
*Price new *£49,990 *Price as tested* £51,984 *Options* 18in dark grey diamond-turned Serac wheels £936, front and rear parking sensors £660, aluminium pedals £120, Alpine floor mats £110, blue stitching £90, blue Alpine logo on steering wheel £78
*Test Data: Engine* 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine *Power* 248bhp at 6000rpm *Torque* 236lb ft at 2000rpm *Kerb weight* 1103kg *Top speed* 155mph *0-62mph* 4.5sec *Fuel economy* 38.8mpg *CO2* 152g/km *Faults* None *Expenses* None
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