RE: Renault GTA/A610: Catch It While You Can

[jango]

Here my a610, Its a great car to drive on the track and the road love it loads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uCfgc1u9xk

[BigMacDaddy]

BIRMA said:

Here is my old A610 with it's stablemate a late V8 Esprit. Both great cars but I have to say I favoured the A610. In 2012 I took the Alpine to the Classic Le Mans with the Alpine owners group there is a video of me somewhere going absolutely flat out down the Mulsanne Straight that was back in the days when you could go flat out on the parade laps. Great car and I really enjoyed owning it.

I remember seeing them all in the paddock at the classic that year - lovely cars

[Johnston]

I agree with Birma. As an owner of two Esprit's (a 2.2 and a V8) and having driven most including Sport 300's, I would say Esprit's are fabulous cars. But the A610 is so individual and such an under-rated car. Every time I drive mine, it just reminds how good Renault/Alpine can be when they want to be. It is an epic car.

Values have always been a bit depressed due to the perceived image but whenever I have the Alpine out and about, it always draws attention and always seem to get respect from people. Many people with far more expensive cars have commented how much they desire the Alpine. Despite one selling cheaply recently, A610 values are strong if the car is well sorted. I wouldn't let mine go for less than £35k. Not that I have any desire to sell, I've owned it for 10 years now and would be happy to go to the grave as an owner. Compare what else you can get for the money and they are a bargain.

GTA's are also the bargain of the Century. A fully sorted GTA can be had for between £10-15k. These are the ones to go for as basket cases could cost a lot more to sort.

My A610

[paulrob100]

I too worked for a Renault performance centre in the late 80s & was sent off to the Renault training centre at Elcot to learn how to sell GTAs. Needless to say, we didn't sell many. Nevertheless I truly loved the car.

When funds allowed I bought an old 911 (3.0 Carrera), an ok car but not great, I swapped for a newer model (964 C2), but found them both to be a bit sterile. So now I have an 86 GTA Turbo. Its never let me down. The RAOC & CAR clubs are great, & the best thing is, its just so different.

[Notanotherturbo]

I'm praying for some good rises as I have 3 of the things all a little bit more interesting than the standard run of the mill models.

Have an ex press fleet Atmo believed to be the oldest surviving right hand drive atmo. Running a fuel injected even fire V6,A310 3 branch manifolds and a few other mods. 170bhp and capable of nearly 40mpg on the motorway.


A 1989 Turbo owned since 1990 by myself. Completely rebuilt with a Safrane Biturbo/GTA hybrid engine, so 3.0 instead of 2.5. Uprated everything custom interior, painted in Audi moonlight blue pearl.





And have a project in progress with a 500 bhp Chevy LS3 going in the back which should be interesting

[jwj-dc25h]

I have a 1990 GTA Atmo that I bought around 6 years ago needed full repaint and a few small jobs doing it had been garaged for around 10 years prior to me getting it so was basically a good car I had always liked them it just seemed a real bargain at just £2000 so I took the risk bought it unseen on the sellers word it turned out to be the best deal I've ever done and I'm a motor trader and mechanic by trade I've had hundreds of cars over the years some that I wish I still had intergrales 8 and 16 valve escort cosworth sapphire cosworth these are just a few from the same era that I've owned that values have gone through the roof and are no were near as rare . Renault 5 GT turbos are currently worth more than alpine GTAs which doesn't make sense but what drives up values is nostalgia and in the uk alpines were only liked by motorsport and genuine car enthusiasts your average joe just wanted a fast ford and now 25 years later with money in the bank that what he buys hence the price hike . I love driving my GTA i went to the silverstone classic last year in it and parked with the Clio V6.net guys mine was the only one there compared to 100 plus 911s and hundreds of ferraris which I love but even F40s and Countachs weren't rare that day there was 3 of each . Overall I think that both GTA and A610 are great I've never heard from anybody who's owned or driven one that they didn't like it in some way or another

Edited by jwj-dc25h on Sunday 5th March 09:32

Edited by jwj-dc25h on Sunday 5th March 09:40

[dianabsmith]

[Inspectre]

Had an A610 and GTAs. I was hoping these would be kept a secret...

[bloomen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB76TGwDeT4

The ultimate Alpine for me. It even turns into a TR7 when it blows up just to cut down the repair bills.

[NJH]

Great to see the name Alpine back again, although of course the factory in Dieppe never went away they have been busy building Renaultsports over the intervening years.

[alpgta]

Owned 20+ years, now 200K miles on the clock. Note to self, must try harder...

[SidewaysSi]

Of all the Alpines, I quite fancy the A310. Seems a lovely looking thing...

[R400TVR]

There's one of these not far from me. It's been Sat inside then outside for years now. I'd love to fix it.

[s m]

I remember years ago, one of these broke down right outside my workplace.




Think it was electrical but by the time I got to go out and help the guy had walked off. Think it was recovered a few hours later

[nosuchuser]

jango said:

Here my a610, Its a great car to drive on the track and the road love it loads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uCfgc1u9xk

Looks like a lot of fun, great noise

[LotusOmega375D]

R400TVR said:

There's one of these not far from me. It's been Sat inside then outside for years now. I'd love to fix it.

Are you sure that's still there? There was an RS2000 Mk2 X-Pack parked in front of it for many years. Now gone, I believe.

[R400TVR]

Not 100% sure, as i've not been past in a few months. I hope it's gone to a decent owner.

[Saabaholic]

This is my GTA V6 Turbo that i sold 4yrs ago for £7.2k.

The new owner promptly crashed it within 2 weeks and wrote it off. I could not believe it. It was an absolutely mint car.
1.5 Yrs ago it was put on a boat over to Australia and has now been put back together and lives on over there.

Its THE car i wish i never sold...
Was a daily driver as well for 2 years and never let me down once. They need to be used, not stuck in a garage...

[Top Banana]

Saabaholic said:

This is my GTA V6 Turbo that i sold 4yrs ago for £7.2k.

The new owner promptly crashed it within 2 weeks and wrote it off. I could not believe it. It was an absolutely mint car.
1.5 Yrs ago it was put on a boat over to Australia and has now been put back together and lives on over there.

Its THE car i wish i never sold...
Was a daily driver as well for 2 years and never let me down once. They need to be used, not stuck in a garage...

Ahhh... E29 MTP, That's my old GTA from quite a few years back. Was a regular at many Club Alpine events and is
a car that I really regret selling.here a some pics during my time with it..



where to host photos

[LotusOmega375D]

I remember that red Turbo 2 A5 TTO in the photo very well. It belonged to Peter Meaney who published a book in 1996 titled Renault 5 Turbo "The Forgotten French Supercar". I still own copy #0010, as signed by Jean Ragnotti during the Group B Car Club day at Castle Combe in August 1999.

Peter Meaney invited Ragnotti to take A5 TTO out on-track and he certainly gave it the beans.

Thereafter Meaney sold the car and I believe it was turned into a Renault Maxi 5 Turbo works replica.