Alpine A110 owners

[worldwidewebs]

Meonstoke said:

worldwidewebs said:

As above, I hate leather seats and the Legende ones are too wide for me. Agree about the fixed seats - stupid decision based on cost-cutting

Hi WWW,

Actually, nothing to do with cost-cutting, more to do with weight-saving i.e. 20 Kg saving c.f. the Legende seats. I agree, the A110 doesn't look to be your cup of tea. All success with the Emira.

M.

Adding height adjustable runners to the Pure seats wouldn't add 20kg - it's all they needed to do

[biggles330d]

worldwidewebs said:

Meonstoke said:

worldwidewebs said:

As above, I hate leather seats and the Legende ones are too wide for me. Agree about the fixed seats - stupid decision based on cost-cutting

Hi WWW,

Actually, nothing to do with cost-cutting, more to do with weight-saving i.e. 20 Kg saving c.f. the Legende seats. I agree, the A110 doesn't look to be your cup of tea. All success with the Emira.

M.

Adding height adjustable runners to the Pure seats wouldn't add 20kg - it's all they needed to do

Add, add, add. Thats how the Cayman and its like came to be 400kg heavier. The A110 is a refreshingly different approach and that means they have to compromise and reduce choice in places. They offer a fixed seat and an adjustable in leather that 99% of customers will be happy with and 100% will take the focused weight saving approach to the whole car. Other options are take the leather legend seats and have them custom re-trimmed in a material of your choice, or commission some engineering workshop to make some adjustable runners for you.

I can only speak for myself but in most of the cars I've owned I've set the seat once and never touched it again other than sliding back and forward, and many of my earlier cars didn't have height adjustment anyway. Yours does sound a bit of an edge case.

[worldwidewebs]

biggles330d said:

Yours does sound a bit of an edge case.

What - two people of very different heights want to drive the same car? I have 2 Elises, neither have height adjustable seats and one has then bolted to the floor - I accept this as they are only driven by me and are weekend/track specials. We have two other cars that we both drive that have seat height adjustment and it gets used.

The A110 is lovely, I really, really like it, but it's not special (read idiosyncratic, if you like!) in the way the Elise is and is more of a daily. In a lot of ways that's it's charm, it does so many things so well without many compromises. I can just about cope with lack of interior storage space, rubbish infotainment and auto gearbox but I can't compromise on lack of height adjustment for a daily driver. To reiterate, the Legende seats are too wide.

[FrenchA110]

Sorry if I missed it but did you and your wife tried it ? In the middle position the fixed buckets can still accomodate pretty different people just by moving them forward or backward.

I’m 1m70 and when I took my father for a drive he just had to push back the seat a bit and he was fine at 1m88.

Curious to see what will the Emira be like too, it could be the only true competitor to the A110 philosophy-wise. Just hope that it won’t much more expensive.

[worldwidewebs]

FrenchA110 said:

Sorry if I missed it but did you and your wife tried it ? In the middle position the fixed buckets can still accomodate pretty different people just by moving them forward or backward.

I’m 1m70 and when I took my father for a drive he just had to push back the seat a bit and he was fine at 1m88.

Curious to see what will the Emira be like too, it could be the only true competitor to the A110 philosophy-wise. Just hope that it won’t much more expensive.

Yes, we've tried the lot. Basically, if I could have made it work 'out of the box' I would have - hence the question asking if someone else had found a solution.

For full disclosure, since asking the question about seat height adjustment and being told there isn't a solution I'm happy with, I've just placed a deposit on the Emira

[Hoofty]

K800 RUM said:

Tim Jones Alpine Solihull said:

Sorry I don't know of any other seats that will fit. I have seen seats come loose when the bolts haven't been changed even though thread lock has been used. Not worth the risk.

So is it new bolts every time you make an adjustment on the pure seats? Just torque them up properly

Without knowing the design of that bolted joint (that is a thing), you do not know the reason why the process is to replace the bolts. It could be a number of reasons, but most likely one or more of these:

- The fastener is torqued to a point which takes it into a managed amount of yield (deliberately)
- The fastener is supplied with a form of threadlock which can only be guaranteed to 'work' once
- The fastening process demands a 'one strike' installation

All of these are regular features of fastener installations on cars - you just never see the detailed work behind them.

Now, it is highly likely that you can indeed remove and re-fit the existing bolts and arrive at a situation which seems ok - which would be great. I suspect, however, that one or more of the above 'reasons' *or* just the fact that the seat bolts would be considered a 'Safety A' joint alone is behind the process to replace. Or to put it another way, the car was crash tested with the bolts installed to process, and it wasn't crash tested with the bolts removed and re-fitted.

That sounds a bit "ooooh, there be dragons..." but my intention is only to point out the likely rationale behind something that appears unintuitive to some. Hope it helps.

[Hoofty]

domrusty said:

The fixed seats do seem a bit incongruous in this day and age… It’s not as though the A110 is just a track weapon!

I never thought about it that way - but then I've traded up from a mk1 TT QS, whose Recaro Pole Positions are truly incongruous! Aaaand also the best/most comfortable car seats I've ever used by a significant margin.

Hate to say it, but they do have the edge on the A110 Sabelts, at least for back support. Torso support less so.

[Mannginger]

worldwidewebs said:

For full disclosure, since asking the question about seat height adjustment and being told there isn't a solution I'm happy with, I've just placed a deposit on the Emira

Nice! I'm very curious about that package I have to say (not that I'm having regrets but it's a massive car for Lotus)

[Simon Owen]

Interesting debate on seats, my wife & I debated to death and I sat in the showroom jumping from pure to comfort literally dozens of times. For us the extra adjustment swung it, both for my wife & myself - I found that I could fine tune the back seat angle to ‘lock’ my arms / shoulders in position better than the fixed buckets. It was marginal though and I don’t like leather either but decided I could live with it.

[jonnowocky]

Mezzanine said:

Not sure if any of you are Bedfordshire based but saw a lovely grey A110 driving through Whipsnade earlier today.

Great to see one on the road, only other one I have seen was a lovely blue one in Markyate not long after they launched.

Yep ha! That was me. I followed a matte silver S model on the M25 briefly last week and exchanged cheesy thumbs up, the only other one I've seen. Looked tiny!

[FrenchA110]

worldwidewebs said:

For full disclosure, since asking the question about seat height adjustment and being told there isn't a solution I'm happy with, I've just placed a deposit on the Emira

Nice ! Always loved Lotus cars. Almost went for an Elise before trying the Alpine and finding it more adequate as a daily driver.

Can’t wait to see what the Emira brings to the table.

[Frada01]

Finally got her back after another week off the road. Track pack XPEL Ultimate, 2 stage paint correction detail and ceramic on everything that could be coated. Big shout out to concourse detailing for the work. Not the cheapest but great attention to detail.

It feels like an age since I last drove her in anger. Still cant believe how much grip you can get from such small tyres. My last car was sporting cup 2s with a much larger contact patch and didn't feel this good. 2K on the clock now so giving full beans. For those you you still running in you are in for a treat. Track mode and foot to he floor, this car does not feel slow, as some have reported. Maybe the world is getting used to sub 3 second supercars. It runs rings around my M2 on most roads and in the in the corners its sublime. The front end is slightly vague so you have to put a bit of trust in it but it rewards the brave, I don't find it lacking at high speeds either. sits nicely at just over 70 . driven it pretty high winds too and not a problem.

Monday booked in for Life110 Geo work hoping this will provide a little more feel to the front end. Then its ready for some fun on the track. Well nearly, pads, brake lines and fluid changes coming soon.

One thing I've only just noticed which is slightly annoying me. Should it beep every time it changes gear? Can't find any reference to this in the manual. more noticeable in sports mode as its changing gears more often. Very odd.

[Simon Owen]

FrenchA110 said:

worldwidewebs said:

For full disclosure, since asking the question about seat height adjustment and being told there isn't a solution I'm happy with, I've just placed a deposit on the Emira

Nice ! Always loved Lotus cars. Almost went for an Elise before trying the Alpine and finding it more adequate as a daily driver.

Can’t wait to see what the Emira brings to the table.

Elise + Alpine = would be a good two car garage eh I'm struggling to wrestle my good lady out of the convenience of our ND MX5 or I'd seriously consider it !!

[bcr5784]

Frada01 said:

One thing I've only just noticed which is slightly annoying me. Should it beep every time it changes gear? Can't find any reference to this in the manual. more noticeable in sports mode as its changing gears more often. Very odd.

Only in Track mode just before the limiter. Shouldn't do it any other time. Not aware of an option to switch it on or off. Or are you having difficulty differentiating between a beep and a fart?

Edited by bcr5784 on Wednesday 9th June 16:49

Edited by bcr5784 on Wednesday 9th June 17:16

[Meonstoke]

I've just taken a peek at the new Lotus Emira press shots - boy, does it have an ugly rear end or what! Really, is that best Lotus could come up with? I'm surprised - Lotus usually make nice designs. Front end looks fine, although not really distinguishable from current supercar designs such as Lambo or Ferrari. I hope / trust Alpine doesn't go the same way with it's EV replacement of the A110 which is being co-developed with Lotus. Although, I do wonder whether the Emira chassis and dimensions may be part of / or influence the A110 EV blueprint....

[Down4wotever]

Frada01 said:

Finally got her back after another week off the road. Track pack XPEL Ultimate, 2 stage paint correction detail and ceramic on everything that could be coated. Big shout out to concourse detailing for the work. Not the cheapest but great attention to detail.

It feels like an age since I last drove her in anger. Still cant believe how much grip you can get from such small tyres. My last car was sporting cup 2s with a much larger contact patch and didn't feel this good. 2K on the clock now so giving full beans. For those you you still running in you are in for a treat. Track mode and foot to he floor, this car does not feel slow, as some have reported. Maybe the world is getting used to sub 3 second supercars. It runs rings around my M2 on most roads and in the in the corners its sublime. The front end is slightly vague so you have to put a bit of trust in it but it rewards the brave, I don't find it lacking at high speeds either. sits nicely at just over 70 . driven it pretty high winds too and not a problem.

Monday booked in for Life110 Geo work hoping this will provide a little more feel to the front end. Then its ready for some fun on the track. Well nearly, pads, brake lines and fluid changes coming soon.

One thing I've only just noticed which is slightly annoying me. Should it beep every time it changes gear? Can't find any reference to this in the manual. more noticeable in sports mode as its changing gears more often. Very odd.

Ditto re track mode. I only have c.1,100 miles on the clock but gave it a go today for the 1st time well knowing the tarmac had enough heat to grip the Michelins. Boy oh boy, now I get it. It goes and then some more.

[craigjm]

Never seen a green one before

[Sporky]

Nice! If I ever have to replace mine, one of the Atelier greens would be very tempting, though the price less so.

But with white wheels. Maybe. If I felt brave.

[Tim Jones Alpine Solihull]

K800 RUM said:

Tim Jones Alpine Solihull said:

Sorry I don't know of any other seats that will fit. I have seen seats come loose when the bolts haven't been changed even though thread lock has been used. Not worth the risk.

So is it new bolts every time you make an adjustment on the pure seats? Just torque them up properly

It is yes, better safe than sorry.

[Sporky]

Mine's just said it wants its second service. Any ideas on cost (with apologies that it's bound to have been posted already, and I'm sure Martins will tell me in a few minutes)?

[edit[ Turns out it's £329, same as the first one.

Edited by Sporky on Thursday 10th June 13:19