Alpine A110 review

Matters now begin at £54,490. Then comes the £65,490 A110 GT which is more lux and has bigger wheels. The S starts at £67,490. With a few more toys and the carbon aero pack fitted (adding 61kg of downforce up front and 80kg at the rear) we tested one A110 S that was RRP'd at £71,000. Blimey. That's Cayman GTS 4.0 money. The track-ready A110 R costs a very heft £96,990. Yikes. Limited run models like the Le Mans Edition went for £122k. Good grief.

Meanwhile, the A110 has gone a bit boutique: you can have lovely lurid heritage paint colours, contrast stitching and so on. If you go for the base car don't feel obliged to spec the sports exhaust: it's throaty on throttle but lift off and the pops and bangs are so overdone it's as if the whole pipe is dragging along the road. 

Are the running costs any good?

Care about fuel economy and CO2? Against those two the A110 makes a compelling proposition. The Cayman and TTS fall well short of the 46.3mpg and 138g/km the A110 achieves.

We know from past experience that both Cayman and TT S return about 28-32mpg. In equivalent use we reckon the Alpine will be doing around 34-36mpg. It’s a useful advantage, but not a revelation. Mind you, even when you cane an A110, it does 22-25mpg in our experience.

It’s a car that’ll turn some buyers on, and just as effectively turn others off. For some it won’t wear the right badge or convey the right impression, others will reject it because the power and torque figures appear modest. They don’t get it and never will.

So what's your advice?

Make sure what you want is what the Alpine offers, and not just a bid to own something different to a TT or Cayman. Some potential owners will find the lack of space an issue, but we honestly think that’s the only problem they will have with it. If you want a proper sports car, the A110 (not the TT or the Toyota Supra or even the BMW M240i) is one of the few remaining options.

On track days, even with the R, you'll be spending little on consumables. It's very light on tyres and brakes.