Alpine A110 owners

[footsoldier]

Looks great Manninger, and glad to hear it lived up to expectations

[Mannginger]

K800 RUM said:

I think a friend of mine saw you in Wales mannginger.

Do you remember seeing four guys, Caterham, yellow lotus mk1 Elise, another Lotus & an MGF. My friend said he was impressed by your car.

I did indeed, we met at the top of the A4069. Was a cracking road that and was lovely toc hat briefly with them about their cars. Think they were then joined by a Tuscan, Sagaris and Boxster as saw them flying up the hill as we were descending.

Unfortunately we couldn't stay for too long (just long enough for a double-flaked 99)! as wanted to try another road but that one didn't turn out anywhere near as fun (Devil's staircase)? There was also a chap with a motorbike taking pics ont he descent as well, be great to find him and see if he got any good pics

[Sporky]

I might be being a bit slow, but I noticed yesterday that on the Pistonheads front page, if you click the drop-down for "Make", Alpine are now listed under Popular Makes.

We've made it!

[footsoldier]

Sporky said:

I might be being a bit slow, but I noticed yesterday that on the Pistonheads front page, if you click the drop-down for "Make", Alpine are now listed under Popular Makes.

We've made it!

That's it, I'm out...too mainstream

[Sporky]

footsoldier said:

That's it, I'm out...too mainstream

I did find it mildly amusing the other day to find out that my Golf Alltrack is rarer in the UK than my Alpine A110.

[bcr5784]

footsoldier said:

That's it, I'm out...too mainstream

They've just upped production to 15 a day so they'll be common as muck before too long.

[Miserablegit]

Ah, I remember the good old days when there were 130 in the UK…

[MiseryStreak]

I saw my first A110 on the road on Sunday and it was blood orange! I was just coming back from a lovely drive around Sussex and it appeared from nowhere in my mirrors on the Dyke road roundabout.

Looked lovely in the metal, low and wide and menacing.

[Fudgie01]

Quick update for anyone needed a new set of wiper blades… As I previously commented on the laughable price of replacement blades via Alpine, I felt this rip off option wasn’t for me. So i decided to take a punt on some Amazon replacement rubbers at a cost of £15 and tackle the challenge of changing them myself. This proved rather simpler than expected, other than knifing off the top section of each rubbers plus giving the arms a good clean and lube before sliding in the rubbers, it was hassle free and job done in less than 20 mins.
With the down pours of the last couple of days the new rubbers have had plenty of time to bed in and are working a treat. So over £200 saved that will fund the new oem rear brake pads being fitted next month (no aftermarket rear pad options available at present it seems).

More updates to follow on the first MOT, front brake pad options, Life110 shift paddles and some other upgrades i have in mind!

[xondat]

MiseryStreak said:

I saw my first A110 on the road on Sunday and it was blood orange! I was just coming back from a lovely drive around Sussex and it appeared from nowhere in my mirrors on the Dyke road roundabout.

Looked lovely in the metal, low and wide and menacing.

Must've been me! What car were you in? Maybe I remember.

Got home tonight from our road trip (gone from 19 to 1380 miles!) - will write up some thoughts tomorrow

[K800 RUM]

Lots of press about the new Lotus Emira. What happened to simplify and add lightness? It is from 1400kg. Hope it sells well for them, a lot of investment has gone into the new manufacturing facility for their last petrol powered car.

[Miserablegit]

Fudgie01 said:

Quick update for anyone needed a new set of wiper blades… As I previously commented on the laughable price of replacement blades via Alpine, I felt this rip off option wasn’t for me. So i decided to take a punt on some Amazon replacement rubbers at a cost of £15 and tackle the challenge of changing them myself. This proved rather simpler than expected, other than knifing off the top section of each rubbers plus giving the arms a good clean and lube before sliding in the rubbers, it was hassle free and job done in less than 20 mins.
With the down pours of the last couple of days the new rubbers have had plenty of time to bed in and are working a treat. So over £200 saved that will fund the new oem rear brake pads being fitted next month (no aftermarket rear pad options available at present it seems).

More updates to follow on the first MOT, front brake pad options, Life110 shift paddles and some other upgrades i have in mind!

Fudgie- the Volvo v60 refills work - there are posts on the RAOC and FAR forums about them - much easier as it only requires the end to be trimmed. Same cost.

[biggles330d]

K800 RUM said:

Lots of press about the new Lotus Emira. What happened to simplify and add lightness? It is from 1400kg. Hope it sells well for them, a lot of investment has gone into the new manufacturing facility for their last petrol powered car.

I hope it sells well, it would be great to see Lotus get real traction in the market. With my A110 coming I did wonder how close the Emira might be and whether I'd wobble on my order but it turns out its bigger, heavier, more expensive and altogether a more 'serious' junior supercar that the Elise was. In my view the A110 is still sufficiently differentiated from both the Emira and Cayman et al for it to be a different, less serious, smaller and more playful sportscar. Thankfully no wobbles here, still very much looking forward to delivery day confident I've not made a regretful choice!

[craigjm]

K800 RUM said:

Lots of press about the new Lotus Emira. What happened to simplify and add lightness? It is from 1400kg. Hope it sells well for them, a lot of investment has gone into the new manufacturing facility for their last petrol powered car.

Not sure its going to compete with the A110 or the Cayman. Its bigger than a cayman and 4 inches wider than a Cayman so its really half way to a 911 in size difference. 1400kg is not unreasonable for that and the Evora was that kind of weight anyway. It looks like a fantastic product and if the quality is there then it will do well. Good luck to them. Geely has done a fantastic job with Volvo and it appears to be doing the same with Lotus.

[MiseryStreak]

xondat said:

MiseryStreak said:

I saw my first A110 on the road on Sunday and it was blood orange! I was just coming back from a lovely drive around Sussex and it appeared from nowhere in my mirrors on the Dyke road roundabout.

Looked lovely in the metal, low and wide and menacing.

Must've been me! What car were you in? Maybe I remember.

Got home tonight from our road trip (gone from 19 to 1380 miles!) - will write up some thoughts tomorrow

I was in a white GR Yaris, you were only behind me for a few seconds as I had to turn off straight away.

[Simon Owen]

craigjm said:

K800 RUM said:

Lots of press about the new Lotus Emira. What happened to simplify and add lightness? It is from 1400kg. Hope it sells well for them, a lot of investment has gone into the new manufacturing facility for their last petrol powered car.

Not sure its going to compete with the A110 or the Cayman. Its bigger than a cayman and 4 inches wider than a Cayman so its really half way to a 911 in size difference. 1400kg is not unreasonable for that and the Evora was that kind of weight anyway. It looks like a fantastic product and if the quality is there then it will do well. Good luck to them. Geely has done a fantastic job with Volvo and it appears to be doing the same with Lotus.

Interesting and understandable approach by Lotus, whilst often compared I always viewed the A110 offering as a bit different to the Cayman and the A110's attributes are what appealed to me. If the sub £60k price point is correct then size aside I think it sits head to head with the very well established Cayman.

We bought our A110 used so saved a good chunk of cash for a 'nearly new' car, that said though if we were buying new and at the £60k price point then a £60k Emira with the AMG 4 pot drivetrain vs a £60k A110 would be a very difficult call for me. I'd prefer that the Emira wasn't 1,400kg and that it didn't have 20" wheels and that it was a bit smaller but there is no escaping the fact that manufactures are very clever at 'hiding' mass these days, throw into the mix a class leading hydraulic rack and suspension set up and I suspect the Emira would make the decision very difficult ?

Edited by Simon Owen on Wednesday 7th July 12:42

[xondat]

MiseryStreak said:

xondat said:

MiseryStreak said:

I saw my first A110 on the road on Sunday and it was blood orange! I was just coming back from a lovely drive around Sussex and it appeared from nowhere in my mirrors on the Dyke road roundabout.

Looked lovely in the metal, low and wide and menacing.

Must've been me! What car were you in? Maybe I remember.

Got home tonight from our road trip (gone from 19 to 1380 miles!) - will write up some thoughts tomorrow

I was in a white GR Yaris, you were only behind me for a few seconds as I had to turn off straight away.

I absolutely remember, it's been cool to see more and more GR Yaris' on the road over the past few months.

[hyphen]

MiseryStreak said:

I saw my first A110 on the road on Sunday and it was blood orange! I was just coming back from a lovely drive around Sussex and it appeared from nowhere in my mirrors on the Dyke road roundabout.

Looked lovely in the metal, low and wide and menacing.

I saw my first one last week too. Grey I think, in Kingston.

[xondat]

Hoofty said:

Oh fantastic - is that Acropolis Orange? Looks incredible, and guaranteed to be rare for a long time yet since you can't order it any more. Can't be much more than number 002 or 003, right?

Orange Sanguine

Sporky said:

I suspect everyone within 2 miles knows it's bright orange! That looks ace - are the wheels grey?

Yes, they're the Fuchs wheels in Titanium Grey, not sure how they were specced on the car. Unfortunately they have a bit of a blue hue to them, so I'll be swapping them to silver Cup wheels once they're back in stock.

bikecarski said:

Word on the street is that they were having problems with some of the oranges in production, but who knows?

I'd believe it considering mine also had clear coat issues.

[craigjm]

Simon Owen said:

craigjm said:

K800 RUM said:

Lots of press about the new Lotus Emira. What happened to simplify and add lightness? It is from 1400kg. Hope it sells well for them, a lot of investment has gone into the new manufacturing facility for their last petrol powered car.

Not sure its going to compete with the A110 or the Cayman. Its bigger than a cayman and 4 inches wider than a Cayman so its really half way to a 911 in size difference. 1400kg is not unreasonable for that and the Evora was that kind of weight anyway. It looks like a fantastic product and if the quality is there then it will do well. Good luck to them. Geely has done a fantastic job with Volvo and it appears to be doing the same with Lotus.

Interesting and understandable approach by Lotus, whilst often compared I always viewed the A110 offering as a bit different to the Cayman and the A110's attributes are what appealed to me. If the sub £60k price point is correct then size aside I think it sits head to head with the very well established Cayman.

We bought our A110 used so saved a good chunk of cash for a 'nearly new' car, that said though if we were buying new and at the £60k price point then a £60k Emira with the AMG 4 pot drivetrain vs a £60k A110 would be a very difficult call for me. I'd prefer that the Emira wasn't 1,400kg and that it didn't have 20" wheels and that it was a bit smaller but there is no escaping the fact that manufactures are very clever at 'hiding' mass these days, throw into the mix a class leading hydraulic rack and suspension set up and I suspect the Emira would make the decision very difficult ?

Edited by Simon Owen on Wednesday 7th July 12:42

Prices are 60k for the AMG unit manual with 8speed dual clutch as an option or 75k for the Toyota v6 manual with a 6 speed torque converter auto as an option.