Man Maths: Alpine A110

So let’s assume my old car is currently worth £36,000. I know exactly what I paid for it almost five years ago. It’s held onto 72 per cent of that value over that time – 72 per cent! I’ve never known residual values like it in this sector of the market, or many others for that matter. This is wonderful for current owners, but for all the rest of us who’ve been patiently waiting for values to drop so we can enjoy A110 ownership for ourselves, be it for the first or second time, it’s really quite frustrating.

More frustrating, though, is that the wonderful A110 doesn’t seem to have left the legacy I hoped it would. In my fondest wishes, this simple, light, brilliant sports car from across the Channel would show the world’s car makers a new way – or more accurately, a mostly forgotten old way – of building truly driver-centric sports cars. I hoped the others would come to understand the virtues of compact dimensions, of simplicity, of modest power, of minimal weight, of the right amount of grip for the car’s performance (by which I mean not too much) and more than anything, of the joys of supple, long travel suspension.

But in all the years since the A110 arrived and scored a sackful of five-star road test verdicts, I haven’t driven another performance car quite like it. It doesn’t appear that any of the other car makers were paying much attention at all, probably because the A110 was never a star performer in the sales charts (the 20,000th example was built eight months ago, six years after the car’s launch).

So be it – the Alpine will remain firmly on my wish list until the time is right to have another. Or to have my old car back. I still know exactly where it is, after all.

Free Reads on The Intercooler are freely available for all to read. The vast majority of our stories, including all of our feature articles, sit behind the paywall, only available to subscribers who get unlimited access to our ever-growing library of more than a thousand stories and close to two million words. 

Click here to start your 30-day free trial and gain full access to The Intercooler’s multi award-winning website and app.