RE: Alpine A110: Driven

[NDNDNDND]

It's pretty depressing they felt the only marketable gearbox in a lightweight, mid-engined sportscar is a heavier automatic.

I do wonder if this car, like the 4C, has an automatic that panders to those who aren't that interested in driving, and yet doesn't offer those same people the comfort and refinement they would expect?

I wonder how many more 4C's they'd have sold if they'd offered a manual option?

[je777]

Audi A7 at the back? Not a good thing.

[je777]

Front below the bumper: how many cars now have that style - with the (excuse the technicalities) bits that come up vertically from the bottom coming up from the outside and sloping diagonally inwards?

[frenchie TVR]

Tres, tres fort! Tres, tres bien!

I am French an Love when car manufacturers do things differently… Alpine have always done it in a different way and I guess so have many other French manufacturers: Citroen, Matra, etc…

My father had an A110 project as part of a few cars interesting cars that were around when I was small, actually never did it up but kept it for a few years and even then in the 80’s made some money reselling it without having touched in years… shame he does not have it now ad at 80K euros or more, not only it would be a great investment, but also a good alternative to an old 911…

I have always been a fan of Alpine and probably always will be and who know, once day I might own one…

Currently I own something British (I have been living in London for around 20 years) and I guess in many ways done like Alpine: leftfield, light, fast, fun to drive, I guess the main difference is that my car has a massive 5L: V8, I guess you now know that I am talking TVR…

So a hip hip hooray for those who dare doing it “the different way”, so long life to Alpine and long life to TVR… keep keeping making driving fun…

I guess Alpine will come up with more powerful and “sportier” version of their new car soon… and probably come back with and outright win at Le Mans too….?

Can someone please revive Matra…?

[Too Drunk to Funk]

je777 said:

Audi A7 at the back? Not a good thing.

Or even the original Alpine..

[unpc]

NDNDNDND said:

It's pretty depressing they felt the only marketable gearbox in a lightweight, mid-engined sportscar is a heavier automatic.

I do wonder if this car, like the 4C, has an automatic that panders to those who aren't that interested in driving, and yet doesn't offer those same people the comfort and refinement they would expect?

I wonder how many more 4C's they'd have sold if they'd offered a manual option?

Probably not many. It's notoriously difficult to engineer a decent gear linkage on mid engined car so no doubt took the easier option.

[SPMX5]

je777 said:

Audi A7 at the back? Not a good thing.

I think the fact that every car released nowadays apparently looks like some kind of Audi has to be a sign of the strength of Audi's design.

This is awesome though, so glad it's performing well too!

[culpz]

I think it looks absolutely fantastic, both inside and out. I think i'm really taken by it now, after initially not being too sure.

Looking at the pics, the interior definitely looks typically un-French and i love the race car-like display and gauges.

This really needed to be good, for them to have cancelled the R.S.16 for it. It's clear it's going to be cracker.

Well done Renault.

[WCZ]

love it but is crying out for more power

[Mikearwas]

Are the launch editions sold out? Purchase from a Renault dealer I assume?

[NorfolkSteve]

So it's nearly as good as an Elise Sport 220, only 22% heavier, a bit more expensive, and with 6% lower power to weight ratio. Still, its probably the closest competition the Elise has ever had in its 21 year life.

[giveitfish]

It's hardly Elise competition - I see this as a proper daily driver and car for touring. It sounds like it'd be great on the autoroutes to the Alps as well as when you get there.

The Elise is far more focused.

[jonby]

Mikearwas said:

Are the launch editions sold out? Purchase from a Renault dealer I assume?

premiere edition was sold through an app with a deposit - I placed mine and reserved in December last year !

there will be a series of (4 from memory) Alpine dealers in the UK, annexed to existing Renault dealers -we (depositers) will get allocated our dealers early next year

[Fetchez la vache]

WCZ said:

love it but is crying out for more power

I don't think that at all. Looks like an ideal car for those that don't have to drive it round the cities and have some nice small twisties to enjoy.
It's already doing 60 in 4.5s, why would it be crying out for more power?

Bravo to Renault for making so many modern cars feel the bloated, heavy, overpowered and over-tyred cruisers they really are.

[5ltr V8]

Ugly front, awkward side view and ugly rear, I like the rest of it though.

[Toltec]

jonby said:

In Europe, a 718 costs 55k Euros, a 718S 68k Euros and the premiere A110 costs 58.5k. So whilst it's probably wishful thinking on my part as a depositer with a launch edition car coming, if they price it similarly here and peg it to Porsche pricing, it will work out at £46k for a premiere edition car (here 718 costs £43k, 718S £52k). If they do a straight exchange rate, then it works out at nearer £52k. In reality, I guess it will be somewhere inbetween at c £48-49k

It's also worth bearing in mind there are literally no options on the premiere cars. That means the base (pure) model must surely come in at around £40k.

I was thinking along those lines too, does anyone buy a base spec 718? You can add five grand just with sports seats, xenons, parking sensors and PDK add PTV (PASM required) and sports chrono to make the PDK work properly and it is more like ten grand. Granted you could go for a manual as the turbo engine will probably fill in for the ridiculously high and spaced low gears, but as a like for like you need to add the PDK.

I think this is the only car released this year that I could both afford and would possibly want to.

[Simon Owen]

giveitfish said:

It's hardly Elise competition - I see this as a proper daily driver and car for touring. It sounds like it'd be great on the autoroutes to the Alps as well as when you get there.

The Elise is far more focused.

Precisely !! Sits very nicely between the Elise & Cayman/Boxter in terms of packaging with some of the attributes of both.

[is1]

Lack of a manual is a killer blow for me.
All that stuff about low weight, weight distribution etc. yet they remove one of the critical elements of car/driver interaction.
I don't suppose it'll matter for sales, but not sure what it says about the people buying these things.
I would have thought that if low weight and dynamics are important, a manual shift and 3 pedals are core elements.

Makes a compelling case for a GT86 plus supercharger.

[Too Drunk to Funk]

giveitfish said:

It's hardly Elise competition - I see this as a proper daily driver and car for touring. It sounds like it'd be great on the autoroutes to the Alps as well as when you get there.

The Elise is far more focused.

Yes, as I'm never going to do a track day I don't particularly want a track focused car. The Alpine is brand spanking new too, the Elise has been around forever.

[kambites]

The Elise is not remotely "track focused" in its standard form - it's far too soft, everything about it is aimed at road use, really. Not touring, but road-use none-the-less.

The primary advantage this obviously has over the Elise is ease of entry and exit. I think the other important question from the point of view of its viability for touring will be how good its sound deadening is, since that's the one area the Elise really falls down horribly. It looks like the Alpine has considerably more boot space than the Elise too, albeit split between two boots each of which is individually smaller.

Turbocharged and automatic only is a big no-no for me in this type of car, but still it's an interesting addition to the market and it seems that unlike Alfa, they've actually done a good job of the final calibration. It's also pleasingly narrow for a modern sports car.

Edited by kambites on Friday 8th December 14:28