Automotive

The New Alpine A110 Only Weighs 2,400 Pounds For Its 252 Horsepower

By TechKee Admin

Posted on March 6, 2017

For a few years now, the thousand-kilo Alfa Romeo 4C has been alone as the only sports car worth giving a shit about, and finally it has a production car rival. This is the Alpine A110, with 252 horsepower and a kerb weight of 1,080 kilos. That’s 2,381 lbs for those of you missing the glory days of sportscardom.

I could try and say how excited I am for the return of Alpine, but, actually, I already did that:

This is a kind of car we almost never see anymore, something like a cross between a Porsche and a Lotus. Well, this new A110 is closer to the Lotus side of things, with a mid- (not rear-) mounted turbo 1.8-liter four cylinder making 252 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque. The car is auto only, like the Alfa 4C. In the case of the Alpine, the only transmission listed is a seven-speed dual-clutch.

That’s lame. However, I will happily forgive the car this manual-less fault as it has toggle switches.

I do bad things for toggles.

Also the rear glass is a gift from above.

If you care about such things, the claimed 0-60 time is 4.5 seconds, just off from a base Porsche 911.

Of interest is that Alfa Romeo has to make the 4C out of carbon fiber to get its weight figure down. Alpine gets nearly the same weight with aluminum alone.

What’s also interesting is that while this car is not only slightly heavier and more powerful than an Alfa 4C, it will be a bit more conventionally sized than the 4C as well. The dimensions of the Alpine (4178mm long, 1798mm wide and 1252mm high) make it slightly longer, but slightly narrower and taller than the 4C. Honestly, this is not a particularly bad thing, as the 4C is almost comically square in its shape, looking sometimes more like a computer mouse than a car.

Pricing seems to be about a bit more affordable than the 4C, though. The only firm figure Alpine gives is €58,500 in France for the limited edition launch special. A base Alfa 4C starts at €63,200 in the same country.

Woefully, Alpine doesn’t specifically shout out the United States of America when it talks about availability. This makes me extremely sad. Maybe it’s time for AMC to make a return? Hell, stuff it in as a Buick/Opel.