Alpine announces new A110 R Turini
Less fancy wheels and a (slightly) less scary price for track focused Alpine
It’s a glorious car, the Alpine A110 R. You may already know it did rather well in a particular 2023 car of the year competition. Rewarding on circuit, joyously deft on road, and a visual treat as well, it’s everything a flagship French sports car ought to be. But there’s a price to pay for that panache, and it’s very nearly £100,000 - £96,990 for the just-announced 2024 Model Year.
Seemingly aware of the price (and usability) reservations buyers may have, Alpine has just launched a new A110 R - the Turini. It’s £5,000 cheaper than the regular R, which would pay for a whole lot of track days, and goes without the stunning carbon fibre wheels. They’re replaced by 18-inch GT Race Matte Black aluminium wheels; Alpine says the swap offers ‘greater versatility on the road’, and it will certainly make parallel parking less terrifying. But there’s a concern, surely, that reintroducing some of the unsprung mass back into the R might rob it of some of that magical delicacy found on the carbon rims. Let’s see. As far as can be told, everything else about the R package is unchanged for the Turini.
A Le Mans still sits above the R in the 2024 A110 range, at a mighty £121,990. Speaking of specials, the A110 S Enstone Edition - Union Jack roof, carbon trim, special seats - continues into the new year as well, presumably as the planned 300-unit production run hasn’t yet all been spoken for. It costs £73,990.
The rest of the 2024 Alpine A110 line up will be familiar. There’s the standard 255hp A110, now with 18-inch Serac wheels and 320mm brake discs as standard, from £54,490; the 300hp GT, with the upgraded audio and more luxurious remit, is £65,490; and the racy S, now with 18-inch Fuchs wheels and black boomerang lights, starts at £67,490. A new Heritage colour, Orange Corail, has also been introduced, though exact availability of that paint hasn’t been confirmed.
Antonio Labate, Alpine’s VP of Sales, Marketing and Customer Experience, said: "Given the success of the A110 R since its launch in October 2022 and the order book filled until the end of 2024, Alpine is launching the A110 R Turini, a new version fitted with GT Race wheels for greater versatility. As a complement to the A110 R in the 2024 catalogue, the Turini version will enable us to deliver our A110 R to customers more quickly.” Interesting - perhaps the price isn’t the barrier some may believe it to be.
If the Turini is the Alpine for you, it’s now on sale alongside the rest of the 2024 A110 models, with production kicking off in March. But for those that just can’t wait, and who can live with the stress of carbon wheels, the PH classifieds are here to help - Iridescent White looks just as good as blue…
Slight fly in the ointment for me however are the reports of unreliability filtering through from owners. I read Autocar every week on my Readily subscription and Steve Cropley had issues with his. This prompted letters from owners who had experienced various glitches, one of whom this week report that hewas so fed up he rejected his car and bought something else. I just hope these issues get resolved as it would be a shame if such a wonderful car got tainted and labelled another fragile french car. The Clio Williams sticks in my memory. Amazing drive but when new was riddled with quality related issues.
On going to several "Cars and Coffee" type events the reactions from two specific types of people perhaps sum it up
Porsche owners ask why I bought it instead of a Porsche
Lotus owners want to know how it drives and if I am happy with it
Would I spend the extra money over an S to get into an R - personally - no. Whilst I accept it will be an even better drives car than my S (even with Life110 springs and geo) I the think the law of diminishing returns start to kick in - better but not that much better
A fully spec'd up M2 with race pack is only £76k and an M4 Competition with pro pack (including carbon ceramic brakes) and carbon pack is only £101k
A very well spec'd Caymen GTS is only in te low 80k range.
absolutrly crazy pricing which guarantees they will sell about 2 of them in total!
Not just for its intrinsic qualities but also because it works so well on UK roads. For me it is the suppleness of the chassis that i love so much which has become extinct with other brands. It's almost like driving a vintage sportscar from the 1970-80s.
Like others i think these cars make sense at £50-70k, less so beyond £100k.
.....but then you could say that about a boggo TTRS couldn't you? I'm just a sucker for a blown five pot I guess!!
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