Incoming - Alpine A110

[DJW]

Picked this up today.  Only limited time in the car in rush hour, wet roads and running car in.

Initial thoughts are very compliant ride , great noise from engine and exhaust, decent gearbox, interior feels special with great seats and all the mod cons on dash soundsystem etc,  light steering but still communicative, feels like it will have some real grunt .  Love the look of the car, especially rear three quarters.  Will have better feedback tomorrow on dry roads. 

Gut feel is this is a hybrid equivalent of an Evora and an Elise/Exige.  Will feed back more as I drive it. 

Some phone snapshot for the mo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[2GOOD]

I spy a JCW Mini too! Back to the Alpine though, Litchfield took delivery of theirs a couple of weeks ago & it shouldn’t be long before they have some goodies available.

In fact it’s made to the ring today but still standard at the moment

Edited August 24, 2018 by 2GOOD

[Nathan Pitman]

Looks lovely. Would love to hear how it compares to the Evora as an every day driver. Cabin looks lush. 

[KennyN]

Congratulations, I like the spec.

[Trevsked]

Congrats, looking forward to hearing what it’s like once you start to press on.

 

Trevor.

[KAS-118]

Cross between Exige/Elise and an Evora 🤔 that would be an Europa then 😉

[DJW]

3 hours ago, 2GOOD said:

I spy a JCW Mini too! Back to the Alpine though, Litchfield took delivery of theirs a couple of weeks ago & it shouldn’t be long before they have some goodies available.

In fact it’s made to the ring today but still standard at the moment

Yep , replaced the missus’s JCW coupe with newer JCW hatch last week to keep her away from the Alpine   

[2GOOD]

Other half has a Cooper SD (170ps 2.0d) like your JCW hatch & she has to keep the keys away from me! It’s her 4th Mini & by far the nicest.

[geartox]

I like this car. I would like to test it on track. The car should have 100 hp more 🤣

[nello]

Nice - those seats look ace!

[2GOOD]

It is indeed a lovely car, thanks for bringing it in @DJW,some lovely little details in the design that i hadn’t noticed before, like the air intakes behind the windows & those rear lights. Look forward to full report before you chop it in for a 430 😀

[DJW]

Lol good to catch up.

Yep some nice details on car .  Some pics below of certain curves on car and other features that are some times missed in shots.

 

 

 

 

 

[DJW]

So with a couple of hundred miles under the belt it was time to open the car up a bit tonight as the roads were relatively dry.  Christ this car flies.  Did a 30 mile route on some country roads that have some pretty demanding bumps and camber changes and this car soaked it up and put down the power down no problems.  

After test driving a 718 Boxster for missus, I can without doubt say this car is faster and for the money much better specced,.  Definitely rides better than Porsche on non PASM suspension.  Also the exhaust makes a great sound.  

Defintely way better than Alfa 4C as well imho. 

I have no doubt there is no car that matches this car as a sports car package at around £50k.   Very few cars would keep up with it on twisty country roads.

I can honestly say for road use only if I could have the Alpine package in an Exige body, I would take it all day long over my current Exige.  And my Alpine is £52k all in.   Lotus really are missing a trick not having a lightweight 2 seater sports car that is comfortable, easy to get in and out of,  and has all the latest mod cons.   The auto box on the Alpine wipes the floor with the Exige IPS , although Evora 400 Auto is on par.  The seats in the Alpine would be so much better than the seats in the Evora 410.  

Hopefully Lotus will secretly buy one of these cars, disect it , take all the good bits then wrap it with the Lotus look and sprinkle with Hethel magic.  Would be one hell of a car if they priced it competitively.

So at the moment have a bit of a dilemma.  Prefer the looks of Lotus cars,  but the Alpine package is great value for money.  With only 130 cars in the UK I’ll be up front and say I’m tempted to flip it for a profit if available.  If not, keep a great car that will be a rare sight into 2019.   First world problems hey 

 

[Chillidoggy]

As a long-time Alpine admirer, I reckon this car looks the absolute business, and a gorgeous colour. Hopefully it’ll be a worthy successor to the previous models, and if I had a spare £50K, it would be top of my list.

Congratulations!

[Bravo73]

22 hours ago, DJW said:

Hopefully Lotus will secretly buy one of these cars, disect it , take all the good bits then wrap it with the Lotus look and sprinkle with Hethel magic.

You do know who developed this car, don’t you?

[DJW]

Caterham in conjuction with Renault ?

[Bravo73]

Yep. And Caterham was staffed by a lot of ex-Lotus engineers & designers at the time!

[Composite guru]

Nice choice. As much as French cars are normally not anywhere near the top of my want list, this car does take my fancy.

My Elise Cup featured alongside this car in July's Car Magazine and the journalist writing the article did say it was the closest car to driving a Lotus. The article featured the TTRS and the Cayman 718 too.

Strangely the porker came out top but I suppose that was the overall package.

Enjoy, its a great looking car.

[Chillidoggy]

All the Lotus GRP bodywork comes from France.

[TBD]

I've seen the car a few times and it obvious it was set directly against the Audi TT.

I find the looks a bit confusing, they very well copied the lines og the original but somehow when you see both it looks like an original A110 on steroids. 

[DJW]

On 24/08/2018 at 20:41, Nathan Pitman said:

Looks lovely. Would love to hear how it compares to the Evora as an every day driver. Cabin looks lush. 

So after 250 miles in the car I can 100% say this car could be used as a daily driver with ease.  In fact with the extra gizmos, screens, controls to hand etc it is more sensible than an Evora in that respect, with what appears to be decent mpg when not pressing on.   

The seats are very comfortable and supportive, the gearbox is great in auto or fun in manual mode, the sound system is much better than the Lotus.  Driving the car at night shows the lights are very good.  Wish I could say the same for the Exige 

Took the car for a 40 mile run today choosing some of my favourite local twisty roads.  The car is very playful at the limit , but still composed.  It really can be hustled along at some serious speed.    The word “fun” keeps coming to mind, so very similar to Lotus in that respect.   The passive suspension does a very good job of keeping the car planted even over the bumpy stuff. 

Very impressed still.  Enough to keep me away from Lotus though ?  Hmm that’s an interesting one.  I prefer the looks of my Exige for sure, and when I’m in the mood for a track session or fast blat it’s the car to take.  However there are days where I miss my Evora 400 for comfort  and the auto box.  

Where the Alpine is causing a bit of dilemma is it’s easily as comfortable as the Evora , but has the advantage of flicking to sports mode and using the paddles in manual mode to be as much fun as an Elise and not too far off an Exige on the road.  It really is a Jekyll and a Hyde car.  Just doesn’t have the Lotus looks though, albeit still a stunning car in its own rights.  

Either way great for petrol heads to have another choice in the market place and good for Lotus to have some competiton to keep them on their toes. 

[DJW]

6 hours ago, Composite guru said:

 

My Elise Cup featured alongside this car in July's Car Magazine and the journalist writing the article did say it was the closest car to driving a Lotus. The article featured the TTRS and the Cayman 718 too.

Strangely the porker came out top but I suppose that was the overall package.

Interesting result as the missus was considering a new Cayman 718.  The Alpine is definitely faster than the base Cayman, sounds much better and is higher specced at same price points.  Personally I think the Alpine is the better car, but can see why people will still be attracted to the German badge.

[andyj007]

basically the same price as an elise cup 250.. different cars or cars for different use granted

but   personally i think this just seems so much more of a complete  car for the money.. at that price point.. its really lovely.. 

it would be great if lotus had an equivalent to this  and the  other useable everyday sports cars  at that price point in the market right now..

i didnt realise they were making only 150 for the uk...  was kinda hoping might get one of these in couple of years time

 

[DJW]

That’s just the Premiere Edition.  They are producing the Pure and Legende which first owners will start to get the end of the year and anyone ordering one now will have 12-18 month wait. 

[electro_boy]

ohhh lovely car, hope you enjoy it, I love the way it looks and all extra bits of detail they have put into the body, the vents and bumps and grooves etc 😍

I think this is what the last gen Europa was supposed to be but seems as if Alpine / Renault have done a better job or certainly created a bigger hype about the car than the Europa?  I haven't tried a Europa or an A110 but the A110 appears to be causing more of a stir and getting more positive reviews than the Europa.