Excuse me, is this the new Alpine? My dad still has the 1969 one in his garage and I suspect he loves her more than me. Can I take a picture?”. The Alpine A110 test drive began with the question of a young tourist visiting Florence, busy photographing the generous exhaust of the S version rather than a work of art and architecture like the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Why did we report the unusual question? Because one of Alpine’s values is its glorious past, capable of bringing nostalgic former owners back to the dealership and at the same time winning over a younger clientele who know the brand thanks to the stories of their fathers. To all this is added a manufacturing philosophy focused on driving pleasure, where the driver is at the center of everything.
The road is certainly uphill, in 2021 less than 45 cars were registered in Italy, but the qualities are not lacking. Tested in the S version, which is the highest point of the range with 300 horsepower and with a configuration devoted to fun on the road and in search of the best performance, the Alpine A110 is still one of those cars that can make you get off with a smile on the lips. Rival of Porsche 718 and Jaguar F-Pace, by the same admission of the leaders of the French brand, the French coupe has been updated thanks to the three versions available, the new Alpine multimedia system, the optimization of engine performance and the new equipment available.
All powered by the 4-cylinder 1.8 turbo engine with Getrag dual wet clutch automatic transmission with 7 gears, naturally combined with rear-wheel drive, in the entry version the power reaches 252 horsepower while on the GT and S it reaches 300 hp.
The new multimedia system debuts on board with 7-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth connectivity and 2 USB sockets, compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto which, however, is not entirely convincing despite being better than in the past. The satellite with dedicated commands (derived from Renault and not the height of the price requested for the car) placed behind the steering wheel, allows you to activate voice recognition to give voice commands to the iOS or Google assistant of the smartphone or to start the search for addresses with Google Online Search. The Alpine Telemetrics menu is standard on the S version, which allows you to view in real time in the form of pressure gauges or histograms technical data such as turbo pressure, transmission temperature, torque, power, steering wheel angle and the accelerometer. But now it’s time to find out how it goes on the road, appreciating the Sabelt Racing seats combined with the microfibre pack right from the start.
Thanks to the 3 modes Normal, Sport and Trac, the character of the car can be radically changed, going from a comfortable coupé for city traffic to a “hairpin eater” capable of performing spectacular traverses when it is decided to completely exclude stability control.