Alpine A110 owners
Discussion
FamousAfroJay]idered77 said:
Test drove a Pure on 18s with a sports exhaust yesterday for an hour with the wife in the passenger seat, evaluating as a potential daily driver... with the exception of Mr Murray’s new motor this is the only new car on sale today i’m genuinely interested in: car buying public it seems conditioned go look first at bhp and 0-60 times, maybe this car will start enlightenment thats it low weight , low weight and low weight that be the top 3 things to look for in a sports car 
I loved it. Ride is lovely, cabin very well finished (infotainment aside, but phone mount and waze / Bluetooth streaming is the way forward for most cars anyway!); and as a road car that might do the occasional track day... amount of power is just fine for me. Luggage space a bit compromised and fails the “one crash helmet and two sparco race bags” test that determines whether it can go with me for races ... but for normal weekends away two cabin style suitcases should fit fine. And the wife loves it ... and would drive it, making it a much less dangerous purchase!
Didn’t like the sports exhaust ... not sure any modern 4 pot can sound nice, so why bother i figure. Plenty of turbo lag too... but this is just reality today i figure, you can’t have a car that has low weight, meets emission standards, has some power, and stays NA. Back to backing it with my 93 NSX and its lovely exhaust was never going to be kind to the powertrain tho...
It’s a when not an if for me, main consideration are the wheels. I’d prefer 17s... I value ride quality a lot in a daily, and figure 17s must improve further still (plus i’ll bet that 1098kg figure is on 17s!) ... wife of course wants bigger wheels. Can’t find a single review of the
Nice to see you on here, It's Jason at Winchester Alpine. I have driven both back to back and the 17"s do give an ever so slightly more compliant ride but also give less steering precision. Most in your position go for the lighter weight Fuchs 18"s, a personal favorite and one of the main reasons I picked my car. Like I said to you when I saw you, I have been in this job almost a year and have only had one customer choose the 17"s.
Thanks Jason.... food for thought there, ideally would find a 17” car to try one day. Otherwise, depending on what day it is i change my mind which i’d go for I loved it. Ride is lovely, cabin very well finished (infotainment aside, but phone mount and waze / Bluetooth streaming is the way forward for most cars anyway!); and as a road car that might do the occasional track day... amount of power is just fine for me. Luggage space a bit compromised and fails the “one crash helmet and two sparco race bags” test that determines whether it can go with me for races ... but for normal weekends away two cabin style suitcases should fit fine. And the wife loves it ... and would drive it, making it a much less dangerous purchase!
Didn’t like the sports exhaust ... not sure any modern 4 pot can sound nice, so why bother i figure. Plenty of turbo lag too... but this is just reality today i figure, you can’t have a car that has low weight, meets emission standards, has some power, and stays NA. Back to backing it with my 93 NSX and its lovely exhaust was never going to be kind to the powertrain tho...
It’s a when not an if for me, main consideration are the wheels. I’d prefer 17s... I value ride quality a lot in a daily, and figure 17s must improve further still (plus i’ll bet that 1098kg figure is on 17s!) ... wife of course wants bigger wheels. Can’t find a single review of the
Nice to see you on here, It's Jason at Winchester Alpine. I have driven both back to back and the 17"s do give an ever so slightly more compliant ride but also give less steering precision. Most in your position go for the lighter weight Fuchs 18"s, a personal favorite and one of the main reasons I picked my car. Like I said to you when I saw you, I have been in this job almost a year and have only had one customer choose the 17"s.
FamousAfroJay]idered77 said:
Nice to see you on here, It's Jason at Winchester Alpine. I have driven both back to back and the 17"s do give an ever so slightly more compliant ride but also give less steering precision. Most in your position go for the lighter weight Fuchs 18"s, a personal favorite and one of the main reasons I picked my car. Like I said to you when I saw you, I have been in this job almost a year and have only had one customer choose the 17"s.
I'm quite surpised by that. As far as i know, most of customers prefer the 17s.@cidered77 : The rims size has to be decided carefully & i suggest you should test drive both.
Here is a link with with some owners' opinion (you need to google translate, though)
https://forum.alpinerenault.com/viewtopic.php?f=80...
You might find some rim size info/opinions if you do a search through that forum.
Sporky said:
I test drove a Legende with 18s, and did Piste Bleu at Goodwood with a PE on 18s, but bought a Pure with 17s.
First drive of the Pure was many months later though, so it's hard to compare with any certainty, especially as my first drive of the Pure it had the tyres at delivery/eco pressure which is significantly higher. That was solved by my second drive, and that definitely made a difference.
I think there may be a slight improvement in ride quality on 17s, but it's not like the 18s are bad. I think you'd need a back-to-back comparison to be sure, but given that the 17s are less expensive as well I don't think there's much to lose. If I was speccing mine again I wouldn't bother with the sports exhaust, and I'm not sure I'd have the upgraded stereo either. I would still have the mirror pack and the parking sensor/camera pack though.
I'm not keen on the sports exhaust on my PE - but that is pre particulate filter and therefore a tad louder as standard. If you listen to music I would go for the Focal audio - it produces really crisp clean sound and surprizing bass. But the subwoofer is a backward step imo being woolly. 17 vs 18 - from all I've read there is nothing wrong with 17s - but because they aren't popular (big wheel itis strikes again) they may affect resale. They are the lightest wheel combination - significantly so compared with the Seracs, but not much lighter than the Fuchs option.First drive of the Pure was many months later though, so it's hard to compare with any certainty, especially as my first drive of the Pure it had the tyres at delivery/eco pressure which is significantly higher. That was solved by my second drive, and that definitely made a difference.
I think there may be a slight improvement in ride quality on 17s, but it's not like the 18s are bad. I think you'd need a back-to-back comparison to be sure, but given that the 17s are less expensive as well I don't think there's much to lose. If I was speccing mine again I wouldn't bother with the sports exhaust, and I'm not sure I'd have the upgraded stereo either. I would still have the mirror pack and the parking sensor/camera pack though.
Edited by bcr5784 on Monday 17th August 08:44
DDg said:
As much as I approve of Alpine's "there's no need for spoilers if you design it properly" ethos, that little boot spoiler does look good...
Indeed. Interesting that Evo criticised the steering and slightly wayward handling of the stock car when pushing on. I think both are solved with the A110 upgrades (springs + geo setup), with the stock geo (toe) being described by the A110 guy (former head of Jaguar SVO dynamics) as "inexplicable".Olivera said:
Indeed. Interesting that Evo criticised the steering and slightly wayward handling of the stock car when pushing on. I think both are solved with the A110 upgrades (springs + geo setup), with the stock geo (toe) being described by the A110 guy (former head of Jaguar SVO dynamics) as "inexplicable".
Ferrari use front toe out too, so, while it's unusual it's not unique. I have yet to try David's settings (I had just had my geometry checked when he published them) so I was reluctant to spend quite a few more quid at that time. I'll certainly be giving them a try in the not too distant future. I believe that the A110S retains the same settings - but Alpine claim reduced sensitivity to sidewinds, which some complain about, as a result of their other mods. That said, my car, though quite delicate (which I like) is no problem at Autobahn speeds in even the windiest conditions I've experienced in the last two years.
Edited by bcr5784 on Tuesday 18th August 13:39
bcr5784 said:
If you listen to music I would go for the Focal audio - it produces really crisp clean sound and surprizing bass. But the subwoofer is a backward step imo being woolly. 17 vs 18 - from all I've read there is nothing wrong with 17s - but because they aren't popular (big wheel itis strikes again) they may affect resale. They are the lightest wheel combination - significantly so compared with the Seracs, but not much lighter than the Fuchs option.
I suspect I'll appreciate the stereo more once I start using the car more.On the wheel front I'm not hugely fussed by resale - I don't plan on ever selling it. If I remember correctly the 18s were around £750 for the Legende ones (bleagh), £950 for the Seracs, and £2500 for the Fuchs with the big brakes. That's a lot of money to have to make back at resale - who knows, maybe having the "rare and preferable 17s" will help on that front...
Finally had an extended test drive today (Pure with big brakes).
Very impressed with the car overall, the lack of weight being so evident in the way it behaves on road. It goes, stops and changes direction with urgency that only a lightweight can.
What is perhaps more impressive is how refined it is, the ride is spectacular and I tried to find the best potholes available. Tyre roar virtually non existent and wind roar a whisper as road speeds.
Loved the dual clutch box with different modes to the point I wouldn't want a manual if they offered one.
Just need decide on new vs used.
One thing I'm not sure about is the brakes, the big ones I tried were immense and I'm not likely track it. Do the standard ones feel as good in normal use?
Very impressed with the car overall, the lack of weight being so evident in the way it behaves on road. It goes, stops and changes direction with urgency that only a lightweight can.
What is perhaps more impressive is how refined it is, the ride is spectacular and I tried to find the best potholes available. Tyre roar virtually non existent and wind roar a whisper as road speeds.
Loved the dual clutch box with different modes to the point I wouldn't want a manual if they offered one.
Just need decide on new vs used.
One thing I'm not sure about is the brakes, the big ones I tried were immense and I'm not likely track it. Do the standard ones feel as good in normal use?
Sporky said:
I just bunged mine through one of the price comparison sites - can't remember which - once I'd given up on Flux.
I've got it down for 8,000 miles a year, which is about a hundred times what it's actually done so far. Also business use.
They've come out within a few quid of Direct line so it seems this is the rate, one of the joys of London living. Thanks for the heads up. I've got it down for 8,000 miles a year, which is about a hundred times what it's actually done so far. Also business use.
Edited by Sporky on Thursday 27th August 15:18
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