Alpine A290 review

Gun the throttle - either via the traditional method of moving your right root, or in the A290 by pushing the ‘OV’ button with your thumb – and acceleration is a satisfying surge, rather than all-out fireworks. This is a good thing, because unlike most mega-bhp performance cars these days, you can actually deploy full beans on the public road without fear of losing your licence or ending up backwards in a hedge.

We suggest turning off the traction control and ESC completely though if the road’s dry, because the wheelspin and whiff of torque steer this unlocks is a crucial part of the hot-hatch experience. Do that and, while we wouldn’t call this an unruly hot hatch, it’s certainly boisterous and keen to engage with the driver.

According to the blurb, compared to the R5 we have new front and rear anti-roll bars, bespoke settings for the suspension to sharpen things up, but also rally-style hydraulic bump stops to improve comfort… and it’s the general feeling of solidity, quality and comfort that strikes you first. Drive sensibly and you feel the weight and low centre of gravity working in your favour: it feels like a bigger and more grown-up car than it actually is, which isn’t necessarily good news when you’re talking about a scampish hot hatch. However, it’s a welcome dose of usability when you realise there’s a friskier side waiting to be explored.

Does it manage that mass in the corners then?

It does, very neatly indeed. Again, the front end isn’t the last word in Velcro-like bite and besides some squirm from the front tyres, the steering is mostly light and a bit numb, but it responds well to being chucked about a bit. You can tighten your line with a little lift of the throttle, and once your out the other side there’s added value to keeping your foot in: the synthetic sound (there are two almost identical noises to choose from) is nicely calibrated to the throttle position, and the soundtrack crescendos and hardens if you keep going, then dies back gradually like the revs falling on a ‘proper’ engine. Having no gears to shift unavoidably detracts from the overall driving experience, but this goes some way towards making up for it.

And what about the gadgets and settings?

There are many. Without wanting to go the full Hyundai Ioniq 5 N fake paddle shift mode, and with one eye on this being a more affordable car, Alpine has done what it can to shoehorn character into the experience. Take the four-stage brake regen for example: this could have been hidden in a sub-menu or on a stalk, but by assigning it to a rotary dial on the steering wheel you tend to play with it more often, even on the fly to slow you a fraction on the way into a fast bend or roundabout.

Then there’s the ‘OV’ button which doesn’t unlock any extra power or torque, just shortcuts to full throttle. We realise this sounds pointless, and broadly it is, but it’s amusing to use nonetheless – a gimmick, sure, but with lasting appeal.

Dive into the menus on the central screen and there’s endless telemetry – your max G-force, lap times, brake, motor and tyre temperature, plus a coaching section that walks you through how to – among other things – lift-off oversteer. Better find somewhere very wide and open to practise that one. Swat up and you can embark on various challenges – to test your skills by hitting acceleration and G-force benchmarks.

The personal section of the drive modes allows you to pick your steering weight, throttle response, fake noise and how mobile you want the rear end to be. We ended up driving it with everything set to its sportiest position, and ESC and traction control turned fully off to lay its dynamic behaviour bare, and no one element felt overly aggressive.

And how about on track?

The A290 is never going to be bought and used as a track car, not least because you’ll hoover up the modest battery in no time at all… but we gave it a go anyway, which revealed two things. At a certain entry speed it doesn’t matter how good the chassis is, you’ll understeer. But find the sweet slot and you can extract surprising amounts of grip from the front tyres, and rotate the car easily with an aggressive turn-in and lift of the throttle.

Alpine talks about its "Alpine Torque Precontrol" management system, which means the way it maximises traction and mimics a mechanical diff is by power being cut and managed from the source (battery and control electronics), rather than being done more crudely by only braking the over-spinning inside wheel.

It likes a work out, the A290, and doesn’t mind getting a bit scrappy… or smoky (more likely from the hard-working brakes than the tyres). Speaking of which, the brake-by-wire system (four-piston callipers from the Alpine A110 and 320mm discs at the front, 288mm at the rear) – so designed to make the handover point from regenerative deceleration to mechanical pads-on-discs undetectable – is a high point. Strong enough to control the mass, for a few laps at least – and the ability to modulate the pedal as you pile into a corner.