Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Alpine A110?

I've repeatedly read, watched and heard very positive reviews about the Alpine A110. More often than not the Pure (base spec) and GT (more power but same suspension as the Pure) are favoured over the S-version (which has more power than the base Pure but also stiffer suspension); the combination of size, ride comfort and accessible performance making them the perfect antidote to our less than perfect roads!

Does anyone own one and if so, would love to hear your opinion and experience? Interestingly, the size of the A110 makes it comparable to an early (60s-70s 911), which makes it closer to classic sports car proportions than those of most modern cars with sport pretensions.

Lastly, Gordon Murray uses one as his daily driver and I think we can all agree that he knows and thing or two about what makes a good sports car.

PaulJ has had one for a while I think maybe worth a pm.

Ewan tried one for a weekend before he went for the Ferrari I think, so ditto.

Rich, I thought someone on here must have had one - I'll wait for one of the members to post up.

I parked beside one on the weekend and it reminded me of how much I liked the size of it.

Give how crowded our roads are, and how unforgiving the surfaces, as well as the draconian speed control measures, something small, nimble and with enough speed to be enjoyable but not enough to get you into trouble in 3-seconds seems ideal. I've heard them compared to the Elise, which filled the same gap in the market for many years. The only negative I can see is the, sometimes, remiss French build quality; however, even this seems to be better than many fast Renaults.

Simon, I understand that. This long term test seems fair.

I think they look and read very well and all I have read is one or two reliability issues but that is far from unique is it.

They are a real looker to my eyes and I will be very interested to hear your experience of one.

We parked next to a white one whilst touring France in 2018, first one I'd seen close up, felt very similar in size to our Roadster Mog, lovely proportions and the integration of the two inner headlights to mimic the original is clever.

Prices (even new list) make a CX look positively expensive

Lovely looking car, the rare one is the Alonso edition they built around thirty I think.Launched as Alonso was off to Aston Estaban Ocon had to do the unveil.

I've had my S for the past three years, taken me a long time to really like the car, auto being the issue, my issue with auto sports cars, not the auto box itself, however perfect sized sports car for me at 6"1 inside and outside as well on country lanes. Luggage space ok for long weekends and suspension is OK in the UK in the main, perfect when abroad, France, Germany, Austria & Switzerland. I preferred the S suspension setup and stance of the vehicle overall compared to the other models and the bucket seats are extremely comfortable even on a 12 plus hour drive. Had no issues at all with reliability but only done 14k in the three years. And it's purple 😀

My brother has one - and it's his go-to car amongst a stable of 4 or 5 cars. Loves it. He bought it on the 0% finance deal that was around earlier this year, and enjoys driving it so much he struggles to keep within the mileage allowance each month.

I'd agree with the notes above - externally it's a good size for the UK and feels nimble on the road. Lots of useable performance.
Inside it's a cosy & comfortable fit for me at 6 foot 2, and has enough luggage space to be practical.

If the setup isn't to your taste https://life110.co.uk/ has a range of bits - David Pook who runs it used to work for Jaguar, so knows what he's doing when looking to add handling without trashing ride

Will

Run out model coming soon 350 BHP before the electrickery takes over,

Thank you all and in particular Peter and Will.

Peter, the purple is a lovely colour and funnily enough the colour of the A110 I went to look at a few years back. Akin to the world of Morgan (or perhaps the majority of car companies), the dealers seem disorganised, and often disinterested, and although I had a test drive booked, the dealership (with one sales person on duty), had no record of it. Needless to say, an hour long journey was a wasted trip and I shelved the idea after that.

Will, the 'go-to amongst other cars in a garage' aspect seems all too common; furthermore, there are more than a few owners who seem to have come from far more expensive, and outright quicker, cars. I've also read up on David Pook and Lifes and he does seem to be doing great work.

Aerotaff, it will be interesting to see how they accomplish that because the general reluctance to add more BHP seems to stem from concerns about the gearbox - in my understanding, this is why the R has the same BHP as the GT and the S but relies on aero and even more lightness to gain performance gains. However, perhaps an extra 50BHP (ish) has now been deemed within tolerance.

What I do find sad is that they are killing it off in favour of an all EV route - akin to Lotus. As Harry Metcalf recently said in a review of the latest Lotus EV, there is an element of current EV tech that makes it the antithesis of the foundation of Lotus - heavy and Lotus aren't comfortable bedfellows. In time there is no doubt batteries will get smaller and lighter but at the moment, changing light cars to EV seems a recipe for losing what is great about them.