Alpine A110S review: tougher sports car hits the UK

Which Alpine is this?

It’s the A110S, the harder, faster version of the sublime Alpine A110. As standard, it's a car we’d heartily recommend over a comparative Porsche Cayman, not least because it’s so wilfully different.

Softer, more amiable and smoother flowing than any sports car you’d care to name from the last decade (or more), Renault’s more exotic arm has gazumped Porsche not by offering a direct rival, but a very different alternative.

But the S flips that on its head. This is an A110 that’s been on the protein shakes, one that never skips legs day. It’s got more power, stiffer suspension and a tenacity its base car lacks.

Talk me through the changes.

There’s an extra bit of visual attitude from new colour options, fancier wheels and a 4mm drop in ride height. The latter is accompanied by 50 per cent stiffer suspension springs and 100 per cent stiffer anti-roll bars.

Renault’s 1.8-litre turbo four – familiar from the Megane RS – still sits between the seats and weeny rear boot, but the boost pressure of its turbocharger is up 0.4bar to yield another 40bhp, the A110S’s outputs now 288bhp and 236lb ft.

Despite the car’s marginal mass, performance is only a teensy bit better; the 0-62mph time is 0.1sec quicker, at 4.4secs, while the top speed is up slightly at 162mph. The seven-speed paddleshift gearbox carries over, while the A110's optional Brembo brakes are standard here.

Is it any lighter?

As standard it actually weighs more than stock, at 1,114kg, but by speccing a carbon roof (£2,208) and delicate Fuchs forged alloy wheels (£936) you can slice a modest 7kg from that. Given the A110S starts at over £56,000, you might want to exercise caution with the options list, however. Especially now there's a six-cylinder Cayman GTS availabe for low sixties.

The colour scheme inside is a little different too, with the base A110’s blue theme replaced by orange, but it’s otherwise laid out and equipped the same. Which means a touchscreen media system shared with a Suzuki Jimny rather than a Renault Megane (and with no smartphone link-up) and a digital dial layout that alters as you prod between Normal, Sport and Track modes via the steering wheel-mounted button.

Oh, and there’s a pair of wonderful lightweight sports seats that adjust for height mechanically. While a pain if your A110S is likely to have different drivers of varying heights, it does lend it a whisper of a racecar vibe.

So how does it drive?

It’s still exceptional. And despite the extra stiffness and focus in its components, it’s not become some sort of punishing track special that’ll make tough work of everyday driving. It’s still about as effortless to drive as sports cars get, it’ll just make a bigger fuss about badly rutted roads than a stock A110.

It’s no harder than any one of its rivals – and still a car with great composure – but where the A110 turned the sports car market on its head with an almost aloof approach as it shrugged off every speed bump and pothole you had to point it at, this one reminds you of its tougher nature at every uneven surface.

The upside is a newfound precision that makes it an objectively better, sharper car. One with easier to predict responses and an addictive edge. Which also rings true in its powertrain: from 5,000rpm upwards there’s a keenness we’d not previously realised was missing in the A110. You’re rewarded for hanging onto every rev and if you catch the engine in its sweet spot, the welterweight combines with the extra power to catapult you forwards with renewed vigour.

The Alpine to have, then.

Not necessarily. The A110S’s shift in character moves it very closely into the Cayman’s patch (and there’s a BMW M2 and Toyota Supra to consider, too), which does seem to expose its core weaknesses a bit more. As a more direct rival, it’s open to more direct comparison.

A discombobulated media screen, a rattly belt when the passenger seat’s vacant and woeful storage space feel easier to brush aside when you’re dealing with a car of rare litheness for its class. When the suspension hunkers down and the aggression ramps up, though, it feels like it’s more directly targeting rivals it’s simply not as well rounded as.

It does strike a lovely balance between a Cayman and a Lotus Elise or Exige, though, offering a good proportion of the former’s comfort with plenty of the latter’s exotica. We’d never spotted a middle ground between those cars, but Alpine has and the A110S fills it admirably.

8/10