Alpine A110 owners
Discussion
Thanks for the heads-up and I've just ordered my Zunsport grille.
This will hopefully remedy one of the few weaknesses of the Alpine as a daily car.
6,000 miles and 6 months in, the amount of accumulated leaves/hay/straw/pheasant feathers on the rads. from the East Anglian roads is astonishing. A good clear will be very therapeutic before fitting the grille.
This will hopefully remedy one of the few weaknesses of the Alpine as a daily car.
6,000 miles and 6 months in, the amount of accumulated leaves/hay/straw/pheasant feathers on the rads. from the East Anglian roads is astonishing. A good clear will be very therapeutic before fitting the grille.
Quick Update von my A110 GT after 8.500 km.
Love to drive the car as my daily and would not trade it for anything else.
Longest trip was an 840km 2-day drive with a work colleague mostly on German Autobahn. It went all very smoothly with a great ride quality and the seats keeping you comfortable yet tight and my back hurting less after a 4 hour drive compared to a 2 hour drive in my pervious BMW 330i with Sports seats.
Few things though:
- Brought it to the dealer to have a not super well fitted rear bumper being put in place (the panel gap was uneven as if it was not fully clicked in everywhere) and had the driver's door hinge being changed since it did not open or close smoothly.
- 6 way comfort sports seats are a bit squeaky lately. Will need some oil I guess during the next service
- Winter tyres on Grand Prix alloys are finally arriving and will be fitted next week. Was a hassle though. The dealership received a full set after a few months waiting with one alloy being dented ( a cosmetic rather than a structural issue, but still). We withheld the wheels and reordered a new alloy ... which came with a dent as well. I am getting them fitted though and we will replace the dented alloy when (if) they receive a proper one ....
- Had my Sunsport Grille fitted to the car least week for autumn season and the looks are good with it (black grille on a thunder grey car). Happy to not have to bother for leaves and bugs any more. The weight is certainly way less than a kilo.
Big thing for German A110 drivers though:
I had planned to have Life 110 Eibach springs fitted, getting the Geo done for them and putting spacers on them.
However, as it turned out during the fitting (yes, the front springs were already on), the Life springs do not have TÜV certificate to be fitted legally in Germany, not even with an individual inspection. Even the french reseller Mecaparts (sells the springs in continental Europe) was unaware of the fact.
So the springs came off again, spacers were not fitted and I just got the Life110 geo settings for the regular suspension.
David and Mecaparts were super nice and helpful and mecaparts will refund the cost of the springs.
However I think it is very unfortunate this was not communicated properly wehen buying the springs (as even Mecaparts was unaware of the fact you cannot have the Life springs fitted in Germany legally) and having the front springs fitted and removed from the car still cost me 300€ in labor.
Will look for alternatives now but super disappointed I did not get my car in the desired spec.
So to keep it short: You cannot have the Life110 Springs fitted to a German A110 if you want to use it on the road. : (
Makes me sad for the other great aero stuff David is doing as I will most likely not be able to have it fitted to my car.
Love to drive the car as my daily and would not trade it for anything else.
Longest trip was an 840km 2-day drive with a work colleague mostly on German Autobahn. It went all very smoothly with a great ride quality and the seats keeping you comfortable yet tight and my back hurting less after a 4 hour drive compared to a 2 hour drive in my pervious BMW 330i with Sports seats.
Few things though:
- Brought it to the dealer to have a not super well fitted rear bumper being put in place (the panel gap was uneven as if it was not fully clicked in everywhere) and had the driver's door hinge being changed since it did not open or close smoothly.
- 6 way comfort sports seats are a bit squeaky lately. Will need some oil I guess during the next service
- Winter tyres on Grand Prix alloys are finally arriving and will be fitted next week. Was a hassle though. The dealership received a full set after a few months waiting with one alloy being dented ( a cosmetic rather than a structural issue, but still). We withheld the wheels and reordered a new alloy ... which came with a dent as well. I am getting them fitted though and we will replace the dented alloy when (if) they receive a proper one ....
- Had my Sunsport Grille fitted to the car least week for autumn season and the looks are good with it (black grille on a thunder grey car). Happy to not have to bother for leaves and bugs any more. The weight is certainly way less than a kilo.
Big thing for German A110 drivers though:
I had planned to have Life 110 Eibach springs fitted, getting the Geo done for them and putting spacers on them.
However, as it turned out during the fitting (yes, the front springs were already on), the Life springs do not have TÜV certificate to be fitted legally in Germany, not even with an individual inspection. Even the french reseller Mecaparts (sells the springs in continental Europe) was unaware of the fact.
So the springs came off again, spacers were not fitted and I just got the Life110 geo settings for the regular suspension.
David and Mecaparts were super nice and helpful and mecaparts will refund the cost of the springs.
However I think it is very unfortunate this was not communicated properly wehen buying the springs (as even Mecaparts was unaware of the fact you cannot have the Life springs fitted in Germany legally) and having the front springs fitted and removed from the car still cost me 300€ in labor.
Will look for alternatives now but super disappointed I did not get my car in the desired spec.
So to keep it short: You cannot have the Life110 Springs fitted to a German A110 if you want to use it on the road. : (
Makes me sad for the other great aero stuff David is doing as I will most likely not be able to have it fitted to my car.
Edited by AyOneTen on Thursday 17th November 12:56
AyOneTen said:
the Life springs do not have TÜV certificate to be fitted legally in Germany, not even with an individual inspection. Even the french reseller Mecaparts (sells the springs in continental Europe) was unaware of the fact.
That is really annoying, I can imagine that you were really looking forward to this upgrade. However, aren't these certifications EU-wide nowadays? If so, would it be possible to use a French certification (or from any other EU-country) to legally fit these springs in Germany?When ordering the BBR-GTI 190 kit for my MX-5, I specifically decided to have it fit in the UK before Brexit, just be able to use the British certification.
bram070 said:
That is really annoying, I can imagine that you were really looking forward to this upgrade. However, aren't these certifications EU-wide nowadays? If so, would it be possible to use a French certification (or from any other EU-country) to legally fit these springs in Germany?
When ordering the BBR-GTI 190 kit for my MX-5, I specifically decided to have it fit in the UK before Brexit, just be able to use the British certification.
Unfortunately not. Germany seems to be the odd duck with this.When ordering the BBR-GTI 190 kit for my MX-5, I specifically decided to have it fit in the UK before Brexit, just be able to use the British certification.
The weird thing is that the springs are cutom-made by Eibach (a German company) for Life110 and those do not have a TÜV certificate while Eibach is making lowered springs for the A110 (-25/-20mm) with a TÜV certificate, however they are not interchangeable.
It's a regulatory thing I guess and it seems all parties learned from this.
Would be appropriate to put this as a piece of information for German customers on the Life and Mecaparts online store I guess.
AyOneTen said:
The weird thing is that the springs are cutom-made by Eibach (a German company) for Life110 and those do not have a TÜV certificate while Eibach is making lowered springs for the A110 (-25/-20mm) with a TÜV certificate, however they are not interchangeable.
It's a regulatory thing I guess and it seems all parties learned from this..
It's likely that if you commission springs to be made by Eibach then it's up to the customer (e.g. Life110) to foot the bill if they want TUV testing and approval.It's a regulatory thing I guess and it seems all parties learned from this..
AyOneTen said:
Quick Update von my A110 GT after 8.500 km.
- Had my Sunsport Grille fitted to the car least week for autumn season and the looks are good with it (black grille on a thunder grey car). Happy to not have to bother for leaves and bugs any more. The weight is certainly way less than a kilo.
Definitely interested in the grille.. Was it an easy fit and is it something that could be fitted/removed each autumn/spring without too much hassle?- Had my Sunsport Grille fitted to the car least week for autumn season and the looks are good with it (black grille on a thunder grey car). Happy to not have to bother for leaves and bugs any more. The weight is certainly way less than a kilo.
Edited by AyOneTen on Thursday 17th November 12:56
AH_13 said:
Definitely interested in the grille.. Was it an easy fit and is it something that could be fitted/removed each autumn/spring without too much hassle?
I had it fitted at my local garage since for German (or I guess all European) number plate holders you need to temporarily remove it since the cut out in the grille is too small for the plate holders.Took the garage only 15 minutes though, plus you don't have to worry about scratching paint of PPF if a pro does it.
I'll post some pics of the grille
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/yr9a5wE1.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/GVLFZXqF" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/GVLFZXqF.jpg)
Here you go folks. Pics with the Zunsport grille on my Tonnere gray /Thunder grey A110 GT.
I was also unsure because of the looks before fitting it and from pictures but I really like it in the real world and don‘t even mind the little sticker on it.
Blasted up a beautiful mountain road with it yesterday evening in a nearby wine area only to stock up on some for the holiday season. This car just can do it all.
Like the look of the Zunsport grille -it's on my shopping list.
I'm really impressed with the Alpine car cover: I wouldn't have bought one, but got given it by the dealer. Makes me think that I didn't haggle hard enough! The fabric is like a soft-shell jacket: it keeps the bodywork clean and dry.
I'm really impressed with the Alpine car cover: I wouldn't have bought one, but got given it by the dealer. Makes me think that I didn't haggle hard enough! The fabric is like a soft-shell jacket: it keeps the bodywork clean and dry.
Miserablegit said:
I’d be very concerned about scratches and paint damage with an outdoor car cover. Any grit on the bodywork will be rubbed around by the cover moving in the wind.
Looks a nice cover but I’d use it indoors only.
Yeah, that would be my concern as well. The car has to be perfectly clean before using the cover. Good for hibernating, but impractical for daily use.Looks a nice cover but I’d use it indoors only.
The material is too thick to flap around: it is like a hill-walkers soft-shell jacket, closer to neoprene, perhaps. It stretches over the body so yes, any grit would be a concern, but I'm still in that 'wash it more often than it needs' honeymoon period. If the car is wet/dirty I won't use it.
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