The Might Of Light

Weighing in at just over a tonne, this French firecracker lights up the road, the track and all your senses.

THE story of the new Alpine (pronounced “al-peen”) A110 didn’t start when the brand was revived a few years ago (2012, to be exact). It began in 1962 when the A110 Berlinette, arguably the most beautiful model in Alpine’s relatively brief history, was introduced.

The engineers and designers at today’s Alpine applied the original A110’s principles of compactness, light weight and unadulterated driving pleasure to the new model.

However, to answer all sceptics who assume that this is a typical retro-to-modern marketing exercise, the latest A110 was designed and then made from the ground up by a passionate team of in the (Renault-owned) brand’s original Dieppe factory.

Alpine has really focused on the word “light” with the A110. Thanks to lightweight aluminium construction, the coupe tips the scales at only 1080kg (1103kg for the Premiere Edition tested here). In comparison, the Porsche 718 Cayman, which is regarded by many as the A110’s main competitor, is almost 300kg heavier (1365kg with PDK dualclutch transmission).

Because of the A110’s relative lightness, there was no need for a huge engine. Tasked with propelling the car is a brand new turbocharged 1.8-litre 4-cylinder motor mounted in the middle of the vehicle.

Outputs of 252hp and 320Nm are nothing to shout about, by performance-car standards, but in this coupe, they translate to a power-to-weight ratio of almost 230hp per tonne. As a result, the benchmark dash from standstill to 100km/h is dispatched in a mere 4.5 seconds.

The car has numerous clever engineering features which keep the weight down. The project’s chief engineer David Twohig set a weight limit which could not be exceeded, and this forced the team to devise innovative solutions.