this is the Alpine a110 and it's
effectively a French Lotus Elise so a
two-seater lightweight sports car
now Alpine is owned by Renault and I'll
explain a bit about it you see it first
started making cars back in 1955 and
then in the sixes it made this the a110
so that's the old one and there's the
new one look the design is very very
faithful isn't it
now our points last car was that
actually in 1995 it was this that a 6/10
so this cars rivals at the Porsche 718
Cayman because it starts from 46,000
pounds which means that it's quite a lot
of money another rival is the Alfa 4c
hopefully this car is nowhere near as
disappointing as that one now one thing
about the price of this is that actually
it also puts into the same bracket
pretty much as this the Audi tt-rs
because with the car wired disco you get
6 grand off one of these so similar
money to this Alpine now to see how much
money you can save on a new car click on
the pop-out banner in the top right hand
corner of the screen to get a car Wow
I really love the look of this car it's
just sporty yet cute it's a great great
design it's not overly fussy either I
like features such as this look you got
the intake there for the engine because
it's mid-mounted got the trickle of lag
there to celebrate that it's French it's
a beautiful beautiful little car and it
isn't it also it's low it's not too wide
it's easy to drive in town and in fact
it's quite short as well it's about that
much shorter than a Porsche Cayman it's
a great looking stylish car that stands
out and I adore it in this blue color if
you get it get this blue it's great now
the stylish theme it just continues on
the inside as well the dash is it's kind
of curved it's not too high to get a
good view out art the color coding of
hair on the door if you wanna know what
the heck this is it's a little sticker
of a cat given to me by my mates
daughter Freya so they go Freya look
little sticker the cat is in in the car
video sorry to everyone else who's
watching this and let's continue with
the car so everything is easy to get to
and I think they've done a really really
good job however things aren't quite so
good when you start touching them and
assessing the quality so this stuff
yeah it's plastic not carbon-fiber this
steering-wheel sent a cub it's a little
bit cheap feeling or so I kind of wish
it there just an Alcantara all the way
around the wheel is well it would have
felt even more sporty these bits of the
will kind of cheapy I love these grab
handles with the contrasting stitching
here but if you touch the door card
itself it's all really cheap plastic and
while I like the fact they've kind of
got like these speakers which have big
gaps in them in some ways that's quite
cheap feeling as well as on the plastics
down on the lower part of the dash and
you will touch that because you'll want
to use the actual door mirror controls
then there's the air vents they look
cool but they're just cheap and nasty
move down handed the controls for the
stereo they're not great either and I've
got to show you this look center console
wobble really does wobble once again
there's some more cheap carbon fiber
down here so the gals mark cameraman
pointed out they start but it's not
quite ready it's as sort of orange other
than that though you've got this kind of
storage area down here and in there
you've got your USB connectivity there
as well and there's a twelve volt socket
here so you can charge your mobile
devices
you can also go hook up to the
infotainment system as well now it
doesn't a proper apple carplay or
Android auto but there's some sort of
kind of workaround that you have to get
an app for your phone the entertainment
system itself is only ok so you can
navigate around it all wrong latest but
some of the icons that you have to hit
are quite small and that's very
difficult to do when you're driving the
satellite navigation system itself isn't
the best but once again satisfactory but
not necessarily becoming of a car that
costs all this one in particular this
premiere edition cost fifty thousand
pounds
hmm still you then look around and you
see things like the passenger has their
own brace plate for their feet and that
is metallic there's decent metallic
pedals it's a car that you can't
actually love and you can forgive it for
its faults these say belt seats they
look great and you might be thinking
well is the much room for me in this car
well thankfully there's plenty of
adjustment look in the steering wheel
and even if you're tall you should be
able to get comfy you see the Managing
Director of Alpine is six foot seven and
he's made sure that this car can fit him
Princeton's look the seats go back quite
a long way I can't even reach the pedals
now
and you've got a double bubble roof so
you've got these cutouts and you can see
it on the outside quite well there's
plenty of headroom in here so that's all
right what's not so alright though it's
storage so isn't that place down there
that I've just showed you there's no
door bins there is one cup holder here
look but it's very very shallow so if
you drive fast yeah you'll end up
spilling stuff everywhere there's not
even a glove box oh look there's a
little place there where you can put
your mobile phone and that is it and the
storage doesn't get any better when you
go outside the car so word of warning
you're gonna struggle for luggage space
yes there is some storage under the
bonnet but the capacity is only 100
liters and it's very shallow as you can
see so yeah you won't fit a suitcase in
there there's also another hundred
litres in the boots but its shape is
even more awkward look at this there you
go that's not ideal is it I mean really
this car is no more practical than a
motorcycle in fact Alpine could do with
creating some panniers for this car who
knows hanging off the side it's narrow
enough you'd do that yeah good idea
maybe you can just use the boot look as
an air brake I kind of bugatti veyron
now then it's time for the car why five
annoying things about this car there's
no cover for the vanity mirror on the
drivers son blind so when you have it
down keep on getting reflections of your
crotch in the mirror JK the button to
activate the cruise control is down here
on the center console right next to the
parking brake rather than up on the
steering wheel with the rest of the
buttons for the cruise control system
car boredom insist that this car is
called an alpide because that's how the
French say much in the same way that
they insist on calling a Porsche a
Porsche but they never want to call a
Renault or hung on the steep angle the
windscreen means that you get terrible
reflections of the dash in the
windscreen almost like it's a heads-up
display and it's really really bad if
it's sunny paddle shifters for the
gearbox are fixed on the steering column
and they do extend upwards okay if
you're turning left but if you're
turning right then
the change-up you're not taking the hand
off the wheel it's annoying
thankfully this car has plenty of cool
features to help make up for all this
here's five once again just like a
racing car the Alpine has all-round
double wishbone suspension and the
reason for everything that is that when
the suspension moves up and down it
keeps the wheel as flat as possible so
you've always got the best contact patch
with the ground this cart is very light
so it weighs 1.1 tons which is about 300
kilos less than a Porsche Cayman pod the
reason for that is that the body's made
out of aluminium but also they've done
lots of weight saving measures for
instance the rear brake paper also
incorporates the electronic parking
brake normally they're separate and
they've done that to save 2.5 kilos also
those racing seats inside are only 12
kilograms each the car has a variable
steering rack so it's not too sensitive
if you just turn it a bit from Center
but the more you turn the wheel the
increasing of man the front wheels turn
so it can actually go from lock to lock
in just over two turns so there's not
too much wheel turning when you're
taking really tight bends just like in a
racing car the engine is mounted in the
middle just behind the seats
it's 1.8 litre turbo with 250 horsepower
though you will eventually be able to
get one with 300 horsepower our points
this is car kadhi nought to 60 in 4.5
seconds but I'm gonna test that out so
I've got my special timing gear up here
I'm gonna put the car into sport and I
have my pressing this button then press
the button again and hold it to put it
into track mode now I'm gonna pull up on
both these pedals together and hold
those launch control is now on so left
foot is on the brake I'm gonna floor the
throttle and then release the brake
let's go
there's a chef but that is that and I
have got a time a four point four
seconds that's good that is better than
I was expecting
also what's better than I was expecting
is the economy so I'm averaging 37 miles
per gallon at this car that's through
normal driving with quite a bit of town
actually this morning on the motor when
you're cruising you'll do over 40 no
problem
this cars like nurse or its lack of way
is essentially what defines the whole
driving experience there haven't had to
fit very stiff suspension it's actually
got quite supple suspension and so when
you're just driving along it's
surprisingly comfy for a sports car it's
not probably going over speed humps if
you hear a pothole it won't break your
back and the best part is when you're
going down a British back road which are
notoriously bad this thing just seems to
manage to tippy toe over it it's it's
great the way it feels and that means
you can push it harder it's not skipping
around all over the place they've nailed
it they've nailed that part of the car
now there is a bit of a trade off for
that simple suspension and it is it the
core does lean a little bit more than
you think it might do but it's not bad
and you can feel exactly what it's doing
in a way the way it leads is a bit like
how you know when you get a ski on edge
and he just carved in the snow well it's
it's a bit like that huh also if you
lift off the throttle mid-corner this
thing changes its attitude it's just so
responsive you can tell exactly what the
car is doing believe you and the
steering that they've nailed the
steering it's progressive and you can
feel what's going on as well unlike
something like a Ford Fiesta ST which
they just made it so super responsive at
the car it's almost like a housefly the
weight dots are by all kind of manically
on the right day the right rows this
thing is so much fun
but how about on the wrong days so leave
Lee with it every day I find the seats
quite comfortable one word of warning is
though that you can't recon these
buckets so you have to test them and
make sure you can be happy with how they
are another thing is when you're
cruising along around 70 miles an hour
you get this kind of whining in your
beer and that's a little bit annoying so
it's not the plushest thing to travel
distances in but you can definitely make
it work if you want to and if you like
you're driving thrills then this is
definitely a good car I'm quite
surprised what they did with this I mean
they could have done what Alfred did
with the 4c and completely it up
but they haven't they've got this thing
just right it's such a nice thing to
drive one they never mentioned yet the
brakes the brakes are brilliant so
they're strong
they've got feel to them as for the
gearbox well I think this car could do
with a manual but our thing couldn't
afford to do both a manual and an
automatic and they went with the
automatic so it's seven speeds dual
clutch it's pretty good on the up shift
nice and fast but it's not so good at is
the downshift isn't quite as sharp as in
something like a Porsche Cayman also
I'll live with the engine so you put
your foot down and there is a bit of
turbo lag for a split second as the
turbo spools up but then when it's on
boost it's got lots of thrust and it
just keeps on going it's not Manning
fast but it's differently addictive
and it makes a pretty decent noise
not intrusive it's not overly loud but
for a four-cylinder
it's pretty good now I shall point out
to you that this car doesn't have a
limited slip differential like you might
expect a sports car to have and the
problem with that is that well when
you're going around the corner the car
leans the inside wheel has less grip and
so the power from the engine just seems
to be wasted and spun away by that
inside tire with less grip and he get
something called a Wong tire fire
this car tries to combat though by using
the ABS to nibble the brakes of the tire
with the least grip so it then turns the
power back to the one with more grip and
I said that works now by turning the
stability control off seeing what this
cars like for doing donuts seems to be
fine
seems to be fine seems to be working
just fine for me yes that systems good
enough probably not quite as good as a
mechanical limited slip diff but better
than nothing
[Music]
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so then what's my verdict on the Alpine
a110 should you avoid it should you
consider it should you shortlist it or
should you just go right ahead and buy
it well I reckon you should shortlist it
okay so it's not as posh feeling nor as
easy to live with everyday as a Porsche
Cayman but it's absolutely brilliant to
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Carlo