Thank you Alpine

We are big fans of small, light, and nimble sportscars, like the Lotus Elise and Mazda MX5. The mid-engine equivalent of a Lotus might be the Porsche Cayman, but even that is a bit too refined for us. We have driven the Cayman, it‘s superb, but it‘s too perfect. That‘s why we have absolutely fallen in love with the Alpine A110. We drove the Alpine for less than a week and we both immediately confessed our love for it. Let‘s start with the headlines. The Alpine A110 has a 1.8 liter turbocharged four-banger with normally around 250 Horsepower and 320 NM of torque. The car we drove was the A110S, a more focused version of the already harsh A110. The A110S has 300 horsepower. In fact, the engine is the same as in the Trophy R we drove a couple of months ago. It only weights 1‘100 kg and you can really feel it. The weight distribution is perfect, with the engine sitting right behind your head. These numbers promise a lot, and they deliver. Alpine says it will go from 0 - 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds, but Alpine has included a 0 - 100 km/h timer in the car, how cool! Our best time was 4.2 seconds, in cold conditions. We are more than confident, that with an exhaust and maybe some warmer tires and weather, the A110S could do it in 4 seconds dead. So, it‘s very fast in a straight line, if fact one of the fastest we‘ve driven yet. But the straight-line speed is near to nothing, compared to how this thing takes corners. The guys at Alpine have created a masterpiece for small and twisty mountain passed. That‘s why it‘s named Alpine, perfect for mountains and small country roads. Of course it‘s rear-wheel drive, but you‘ll have to drive very aggressively to get the tail out in dry conditions. In the wet, it‘s very controllable and playful at the rear. You never get scared if it kicks, because there‘s no weight, it‘s easy to get it back. That‘s also where the steering comes in, very light if you want it to be, but also very precise. The paddles are mounted to the steering column, instead of directly onto the steering wheel, you they‘re always where you left them. After some hours of driving through all the possible places you can drive, motorways, towns and twisty roads, we‘d reckon that you could daily it. Storage is limited, but the frunk (front trunk) is big enough for things and you have a somewhat medium sized boot. Of course you‘ll get more stuff in a Cayman but are you really buying these cars for daily use? As mentioned before, the Cayman is too focused and maybe also a little bit too fast. Of course the Alpine is very fast, but you never feel like you‘re not in control. Every mistake you make, is an opportunity to get it better the next time. You won‘t crash, because you feel what is happening. The suspension is very hard, but you feel every bump and every time the rear kicks out. Even the sound is good, maybe not as obnoxious as the Trophy R, but because it‘s mid-mounted, you hear some really interesting noises, like the turbo spooling up and the wastegates. The crackles though are almost as obnoxious as the Trophy R though. Where the Alpine lacks some quality, is the interior, it‘s French, so what do you expect? Of course you get a better interior in a Cayman, but have you seen the interior of a Lotus or an Alfa Romeo 4C? In that regard, it‘s totally fine. It looks cool, with fighter-pilot style switches, lovely paddles and a configurable drivers‘ display. Quality lacks here and there but we didn‘t really care too much. You don‘t even notice it, because we‘re not the ones to judge interiors, the big guys can do that for us. We are here to show you how it drives. After some good thinking and reviewing all the cars we‘ve driven so far, we can say that the Alpine A110S is the best car we‘ve driven by a long shot. It‘s the most engaging and playful, but still very serious car we have had the pleasure of driving. When we had to give it back, we were dreaded. We‘ll hopefully get the opportunity in the future to drive some special editions and there are rumors of an Alpine GT4 competitor coming in the future. All cars nowadays are pretty much the same, but the Alpine is truly something different. It turns head, creates controversies about it‘s looks, and it makes everyone smile who‘s driving it.