LIFE110 Alpine A110 R review

Two months shy of eight years. That’s how long I’ve been waiting for Alpine to really uncork the A110, because that’s how long it’s been since I first drove one. That was an engineering prototype and far from the finished product, but it was obvious right away that Alpine hadn’t even begun to explore the outer reaches of what this thing could ultimately become.

Over the years that followed, the cork stayed firmly wedged in the bottle. Eventually the foil cap was peeled away by the A110 S with its stiffer springs and extra power, but still the car’s full potential was trapped within. When the A110 R was announced two years ago, I was convinced this was the variant that would finally unwind the muselet, shake the bottle and thumb the cork until it flew high into the air, the Alpine’s full potential allowed to burst out at long last. But it didn’t quite turn out that way.

The curious thing about the A110 R is that despite its badging – R stands for ‘radical’ – and despite the promise of those carbon fibre seats, Sabelt harnesses, blanked off rear screen and carbon fibre wheels, it actually wasn’t all that hardcore. Its spring rates, for instance, weren’t very different to the A110 S’s. When I drove one on lumpy Berkshire B-roads, I couldn’t believe how civilised it felt.