Tuesday 27th September 2022

Alpine to unveil dramatic new A110 R next week

'R for Radical' A110 will be lighter, shaper, and even more attuned to the business of track driving

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It was very easy to think of the middle of the decade as some way off when gripped by a heatwave. Now the nights are drawing in, temperatures are dropping, the C-word is cropping up in conversation and it’ll be 2023 before you know it. After that comes 2024, most certainly the middle of the decade, and the year from which Alpine will only make electric cars. The A110 as we know (and love) it will be no more, and that moment is really not far off - see the E-ternite for proof. Time for the last-of-the-line special edition…

Alpine hasn’t been shy in creating limited run A110s, from Colour Editions to Legende GTs. For what we’ll assume is the final one, however, it’s pulling out all the stops. The Alpine A110 R is ‘a radical vision of agility designed for outright performance and breathtaking sensations on the track and on the road’. Which, given the bar set by the standard car in both environments, ought to make for an unforgettable experience.

Details are scarce at the moment, with a full reveal taking place as part of the Japanese Grand Prix next week. That said that diagrams that have been released are interesting, with buckets and harnesses, a big rear wing and a way more aggressive front splitter. There’s clearly some inspiration from the GT4 racer here, and that’s no bad thing.

Moreover, Alpine goes as far as to say that the R is the ‘ultimate expression of lightness and performance’, and insists that the car is designed for ‘unique feelings on the racetrack while remaining road legal’ - all of which suggests an extreme makeover.

The A110 only weighs 1,100kg as standard; if that were nearer a tonne and the power up around the 300hp of the A110 S then the R would be seriously quick - the S is already capable of 4.2 seconds to 62mph and 170mph - but the impression given is of something even more serious. R is for radical, they say…

We don’t have long to see just how radical, with the A110 R set to be unveiled in Japan next Tuesday ahead of a European premiere at the Paris show later in October. Given all that’s been achieved by the Alpine sports car in its short life, expectations are for something truly memorable - the end of an era surely dictates nothing less.

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• Alpine A110 | PH Used Buying Guide
• Alpine A110 vs. Life110

[Stevie_Wonder]

Shaper?

[redroadster]

Never drove one it's got rave reviews but I'd be very torn to buy over a cayman just for build quality in how it feels rather than if it dynamically has edge.

[Mouse Rat]

Needs to be better built than that.

[cidered77]

Will cost a fortune, but doubtless be amazing. I still want a boggo spec A110 so badly, but just no way to fit it into the car clan without getting rid of an old one or a project....

PH comments pages strewn with moans - legitimately - about mass. Especially EV mass - which for performance cars is largely all we're being fed now.

Then an OEM makes low mass it's single USP, proves it can also be comfortable (standard A110 weighs less than an Exige and is way more comfortable), makes a car universally reviewed as sensational .... and PH comments sure to follow will include the usual "iTs FrEnCh", "ShOuLd hAvE pUt a mAnuaL aNd mOre clyIiNders", before those in the actual market for such a car go on to by an automatic porsche anyway...

Shame - can't see this car surviving for much longer, nobody buys them, but it and all its variants deserved so much more success than it's seen. This one isn't going to do much to their sales figures in the UK of about 600 in 5 years.

[frenchie TVR]

I drive a fairly light and fast (even in modem standard) and fairly brutal car: TVR Chimaera 500. It's according to many people who have never been in one or driven one (But it is actually not that bad at all).

I am also loving the comment on the build quality of the Alpine.

I am also loving the people who say or will say that they instead buy a Cayman.

Those 2 comments make me smile and want to own an Alpine even more.

I guess 25 years ago people did not want to buy a TVR, but would rather buy a Porsche... Which I LOVE, as 25 years after, I own a daily rare car, there are only about 300 Chimaera 500 out there and a much better and faster car than what Porsche offered at the time (993 or 996).

I have driven a few fast cars: a couple of 911, a 911 GT3RS, a couple of Lamborghini Gallardons and have been in others as a passenger.

Last year I drove a bog standard A110 for a couple of hours and I can only say that it is the best modern thing I have driven: fast enough, holds the road well, glides over the sty road surface we have in this country. It gives you so, so much confidence in driving it fast, that ultimately the driving pleasure you get out of it is immense and makes it a car that punches about its weight.

So the R version is going to me an awesome piece of kit.

And before slagging the Alipibe off: 1) I suggest you drive one2) you look up a list of "famous car people" who own one: Gordon Murray, James May, Nick Masson.

I wish I had the funds to buy an Alpine before their price goes up and up, as it will.

Remember one thing: it is not the sales numbers that make a car good car... they are lots of amazing cars out there that have now sold well.... Only the ones in the know (who have one or had one), really know how really good this car is.

[ajprice]

So this is what was probably going to be the Alonso edition until not long ago.

[CABC]

Most shocking thing about the Alpine is how ungainly it makes the Meg feel. Even in Trophy R form.

These are classics in the making.

[Dr Interceptor]

I always thought it needed to be shaper...

[alex_2015]

And it will cost 50k plus over the top trim. For those carbon body panels and seats. For perhaps a weight saving of less than 100 kg.

cidered77 said:

Will cost a fortune, but doubtless be amazing. I still want a boggo spec A110 so badly, but just no way to fit it into the car clan without getting rid of an old one or a project....

PH comments pages strewn with moans - legitimately - about mass. Especially EV mass - which for performance cars is largely all we're being fed now.

Then an OEM makes low mass it's single USP, proves it can also be comfortable (standard A110 weighs less than an Exige and is way more comfortable), makes a car universally reviewed as sensational .... and PH comments sure to follow will include the usual "iTs FrEnCh", "ShOuLd hAvE pUt a mAnuaL aNd mOre clyIiNders", before those in the actual market for such a car go on to by an automatic porsche anyway...

Shame - can't see this car surviving for much longer, nobody buys them, but it and all its variants deserved so much more success than it's seen. This one isn't going to do much to their sales figures in the UK of about 600 in 5 years.

I'm one of those complaining about the lack of manual on Alpine. No problem I went to the competition: M2, Cayman 718 and TypeR (all avail in manual). After reasoning I chose a TypeR.

Regarding "nobody buys them" it's simple economics: sell what the buyers want, not what you think it's better - unless you are Ferrari or something
Also regarding the bespoke, manual made aluminum chassis. They could have gone instead with a simpler/cheaper solution as Mazda mx-5. This would have brought the price down and made this car more popular. The Alpine brand could have had a more gradual approach than jump directly on exclusivity.

Edited by alex_2015 on Tuesday 27th September 14:04

Edited by alex_2015 on Tuesday 27th September 14:05

[Venisonpie]

Has the potential to be epic. Focus on low weight and engagement, not massive power and fat tyres.

[cidered77]

alex_2015 said:

I'm one of those complaining about the lack of manual on Alpine. No problem I went to the competition: M2, Cayman 718 and TypeR (all avail in manual). After reasoning I chose a TypeR.

Regarding "nobody buys them" it's simple economics: sell what the buyers want, not what you think it's better - unless you are Ferrari or something
Also regarding the bespoke, manual made aluminum chassis. They could have gone instead with a simpler/cheaper solution as Mazda mx-5. This would have brought the price down and made this car more popular. The Alpine brand could have had a more gradual approach than jump directly on exclusivity.

Edited by alex_2015 on Tuesday 27th September 14:04

Edited by alex_2015 on Tuesday 27th September 14:05

Well yes - it's definitely economics. But how much of that ~175 units per year figure would reaally be increased by a manual, and how many were never going to come anyway, because not german, not recognised in the gym/golf carpark, etc. That's what really matters - not the engineering effort to achieve a phenomenal weight figure, absolutely without competition for any car that might be considered a realistic daily driver. Market doesn't care about that, as it's not what customers want - agreed. I just think it's a shame, and very out of kilter with what people moan about on the internet - a lot of which is "modern cars are too heavy"!

There are always edge cases of course - people who genuinely were turned off by the gearbox - but the volume of PDK Caymans on autotrader vs manual (and M2s for that matter) tell me it absolutely isn't the lack of a manual box that prevents it selling at decent volumes.

"Cheaper" is a relative term - it's priced correctly for its market, if you look at comparable cars from Porsche, Lotus, and even a specced up M2. It's also cheaper over 5 years than all of those to own- residuals remain rock solid.

[cidered77]

alex_2015 said:

And it will cost 50k plus over the top trim. For those carbon body panels and seats. For perhaps a weight saving of less than 100 kg.

and whilst i'm a roll, yes - it probably will, but everyone else does it (huuuge margin limited edition specials that are great cars, but make OEMs big money), so why not Alpine? They usually all sell, after all....

100kg is a lot of weight saving anyway, even if you're talking about a Bentley. It's nearly 10% of the car if it's an Alpine... but, we don't know how much weight it actually is yet of course... so I won't get too excited.

Like all these limited run track specials, i'll be left cold - just get a race car if you want something horribly compromised for the road and still not actually that quick vs. an actual GT4 or GT3 class car. Thread just reminds me how much I love these, how annoyed I still am I havent found a way for the manmaths to work to buy one yet, and what a shame is it the market seemingly doesn't give two sts about mass.

[PaulJC84]

alex_2015 said:

And it will cost 50k plus over the top trim. For those carbon body panels and seats. For perhaps a weight saving of less than 100 kg.

[/footnote]

If they knock off 100kg of an already very light car I will be amazed.

[Black S2K]

frenchie TVR said:

I drive a fairly light and fast (even in modem standard) and fairly brutal car: TVR Chimaera 500. It's according to many people who have never been in one or driven one (But it is actually not that bad at all).

I am also loving the comment on the build quality of the Alpine.

I am also loving the people who say or will say that they instead buy a Cayman.

Those 2 comments make me smile and want to own an Alpine even more.

I guess 25 years ago people did not want to buy a TVR, but would rather buy a Porsche... Which I LOVE, as 25 years after, I own a daily rare car, there are only about 300 Chimaera 500 out there and a much better and faster car than what Porsche offered at the time (993 or 996).

I have driven a few fast cars: a couple of 911, a 911 GT3RS, a couple of Lamborghini Gallardons and have been in others as a passenger.

Last year I drove a bog standard A110 for a couple of hours and I can only say that it is the best modern thing I have driven: fast enough, holds the road well, glides over the sty road surface we have in this country. It gives you so, so much confidence in driving it fast, that ultimately the driving pleasure you get out of it is immense and makes it a car that punches about its weight.

So the R version is going to me an awesome piece of kit.

And before slagging the Alipibe off: 1) I suggest you drive one2) you look up a list of "famous car people" who own one: Gordon Murray, James May, Nick Masson.

I wish I had the funds to buy an Alpine before their price goes up and up, as it will.

Remember one thing: it is not the sales numbers that make a car good car... they are lots of amazing cars out there that have now sold well.... Only the ones in the know (who have one or had one), really know how really good this car is.

I'd go as far as to state that one can often tell the worthiness of a car by just how badly it sells...it only adds to the car's appeal!

[Hol]

ajprice said:

So this is what was probably going to be the Alonso edition until not long ago.

The perception that it might change direction without notice and refuse to let my chosen mechanic work on it, would put me off using the name. Not to mention the annoying whine.

[Hol]

I like to disappear early doors for a morning drive while the roads are clear and I come across a lot of like minded petrol heads in all sorts of cars. But, I have never seen one of these Alpines person.


I assume that they are a great drivers car, but just never sold in the volumes.

[Roma101]

Never ceases to amaze me how people assume they know why other people bought or didn’t buy certain cars.

As for this latest version, I will watch with interest. I may even have a test drive in one, but I don’t think it will ride any better than the standard car. Which will be important if you are primarily going to use it on the road.

[TrotCanterGallopCharge]

cidered77 said:

alex_2015 said:

I'm one of those complaining about the lack of manual on Alpine. No problem I went to the competition: M2, Cayman 718 and TypeR (all avail in manual). After reasoning I chose a TypeR.

Regarding "nobody buys them" it's simple economics: sell what the buyers want, not what you think it's better - unless you are Ferrari or something
Also regarding the bespoke, manual made aluminum chassis. They could have gone instead with a simpler/cheaper solution as Mazda mx-5. This would have brought the price down and made this car more popular. The Alpine brand could have had a more gradual approach than jump directly on exclusivity.

Edited by alex_2015 on Tuesday 27th September 14:04

Edited by alex_2015 on Tuesday 27th September 14:05

Well yes - it's definitely economics. But how much of that ~175 units per year figure would reaally be increased by a manual, and how many were never going to come anyway, because not german, not recognised in the gym/golf carpark, etc. That's what really matters - not the engineering effort to achieve a phenomenal weight figure, absolutely without competition for any car that might be considered a realistic daily driver. Market doesn't care about that, as it's not what customers want - agreed. I just think it's a shame, and very out of kilter with what people moan about on the internet - a lot of which is "modern cars are too heavy"!

There are always edge cases of course - people who genuinely were turned off by the gearbox - but the volume of PDK Caymans on autotrader vs manual (and M2s for that matter) tell me it absolutely isn't the lack of a manual box that prevents it selling at decent volumes.

"Cheaper" is a relative term - it's priced correctly for its market, if you look at comparable cars from Porsche, Lotus, and even a specced up M2. It's also cheaper over 5 years than all of those to own- residuals remain rock solid.

I think the main reason ref low Alpine sales achieved, is that if buyers wanted a lighter, more focused car, there was the Elise, if they wanted a heavier, but with perceived build quality & even easier to use every day, they went Porsche/other. The Alpine found itself in middle ground, with no information of how reliable it would be, dealer support etc, as it was a new car/brand, not that it wasn't a good car, or it was an auto.

[Wab1974uk]

Mouse Rat said:

Needs to be better built than that.

[thelostboy]

I would argue a huge amount of it is brand perception - both in terms of gravitas and stereotypical French build quality is engrained in our consciousness.

I just had a look though, and it does suggest not having a manual option makes a noticeable impact too:

- 14% of of 718 Boxsters are manual
- 40% of 718 Caymans are manual