Dieppe-based auto marque Alpine, which celebrated its 70th anniversary last year, is best known for producing lithe, light and lightning-fast sports cars that have chalked up impressive wins at Le Mans and the Mille Miglia over the decades.
Its iconic A110, whose seductive silhouette is sometimes mistaken for a Porsche 911 by the uninitiated, has long been favoured by the more sophistiqué kind of petrol-head. The type who’d rather have a sexy bit of Gallic ooh-la-la in his garage than a ubiquitous German box of oom-pah-pah.
So when Square Mile was offered the chance to test-drive Alpine’s new five-seater sportsback, the A390, on the twisting mountain passes above Marbella (well, Dieppe didn’t have been the same appeal in late December), the reply was a swift and certain “mais bien sûr”.
Design-wise, the A390 leans fully into the DNA and heritage of the aforementioned A110 – never a bad thing when the car looks like it has been sculpted by the very wind itself, to quote a phrase used by Alpine’s parent company Renault. “A racing car in a suit” is another tagline with more than a dash of truth behind it. Like its track-loving cousin, the fastback hugs the road like Alain Delon embracing Brigitte Bardot on a Cote d’Azur beach.
Thomas Cortesi
Thomas Cortesi
The GT version we drove, in head-turning Alpine blue, uses three electric motors (one at the front, two at the rear) to form an AWD system that develops a thundering 400 hp (295 kW); while a still-to-come GTS promises an even more eye-watering 470 hp (345 kW) that will propel you from 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds (top speed 220 km/h).
A big red button marked ‘OV’ (for ‘overtaking’) mounted by the steering wheel makes the car spring forward like it’s had some kind of nitro-boost – or a massive shot of adrenaline – generating real-life LOLs within the premium-feel cabin, and the sort of lunatic grins that could get you locked up in a Spanish jail.
It also makes the cinematic 12.3” screen do this Star Trek warp-speed-to-hyperspace thing that would have made me believe I’d just set the satnav for Alpha Centauri had I not just passed the turn-off for Torremelinos.
The A390 might be French and highly functional but merde, it’s fast. It’s also, given the performance and sheer driving thrills it offers, affordable: the UK price starts from around the £61k mark.
The A110 (especially in its track-tuned ‘R’ version) is still my sportscar of choice – if family seating isn’t a factor. But when practicality calls, the A390 is difficult to beat.
To learn more, visit alpine-cars.co.uk
