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Alpine A110S
GOODBYE
£60,645 OTR/£71,689 as tested/£749 pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
Does the concept of a lightweight dissolve on contact with Real Life?
DRIVER
Ollie Marriage
I’D BEEN WANTING TO RUN AN ALPINE A110 SINCE I FIRST DROVE ONE five years ago. I love clever, lightweight cars, and this remains the best example of the virtuous circle of engineering on sale today. Weight influences every aspect of this car and every interaction with it. Almost entirely for the good.
So let’s start with the bad. It gets buffeted by strong crosswinds and that can be unnerving. It’s not as efficient as I expected. I anticipated 37mpg, but the reality was more like 32. The cabin isn’t special enough. And the twin load bays are both poorly shaped and very small.
The good stuff starts with coming outside every morning and getting in something low, small and lovely to look at. The Sabelt seats could do with more thigh support for me, but are otherwise simply wonderful, and picking through traffc in something so deft, nimble and slim is a joy. I love introducing the Alpine to people. It’s cool and rare and manages to look both quirky and intelligent.
It’s also a riposte to everyone who thinks the future is a 2.5-tonne EV, because none of them are as considerately designed and engineered as this. Ironically, as you can see opposite, one of them is my next car.
I’d still have a base A110 over the S – chiefly to save £10,000. Don’t think these are a steal secondhand, you’ll be pushed to find a old car for under £40,000. This one has been faultlessly reliable and dirt cheap to run. It doesn’t raise hackles from other road users, is happy being ragged senseless or lightly mooching about. It carries speed without effort, is a hands-in-pockets-whistler, completely nonchalant. Yet of all the cars I’ve run, only the GR Yaris and Ariel Nomad were more pure fun than this. It’s a blissful device, the A110, and these few months have only reinforced that.
SPECIFICATION
1798cc 4cyl turbo, RWD, 296bhp, 250lb ft
42.2mpg, 153g/km CO2
0–62mph in 4.2secs, 155mph
1,119kg
MILEAGE: 13,100 OUR MPG: 32.3
GOOD STUFF
A joy to live with and drive every day, excellent residuals, cheap running costs, handsome looks, divine road manners. The works.
BAD STUFF
Pack light.
HONDA CIVIC eHEV
REPORT 5
£32,995/£33,820/£410
WHY IT’S HERE
Maybe the best family hatch – just as everyone stops buying hatches
DRIVER
Vijay Pattni
the Civic began life as a small car that appealed because it was efficient when the world needed efficiency. It was reliable when the world needed something dependable. And it was affordable at a time of financial strain.
