Alpine A110S - impulse purchase
Discussion
Thought I had finally got a fully paid for and therefore attainable fleet.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/A73Rr1HP[/url
The recently acquired V70 T5 in manual form - absolutely adore this car, fantastic condition and just so good at being a nippy, practical and incredibly easy and comfortable car to drive - OHs daily driver although still only does 50-100 miles per week
V8 Vantage - 4.7, Sportshift, Sports Pack and some decent extras, OHs dream car bought late in 2022 and now equipped with a Quicksilver exhaust, she loves it, I'm growing to love it
TVR Tuscan Mk1 - a car I doubt I will ever sell (in fact its in my will that its going to my son), so much better than I ever imagined and a drive to own and to drive
650 convertible - owned for coming up 5 years and a wonderful, only just over 80k and been pretty much faultless
As is often the case the fleet is under constant review and some life changing events in the last 6 / 9 months have seen us losing much loved family and friends - making us realise that live is for living and money in the bank is good but it can be put to more enjoyable use elsewhere
Had been following the development of the Wells Vertige for quite a while and the Open Day a few weeks ago saw me decide to place a deposit on one of the 2026 build slots
A small combination of factors - higher than expected price, a 3 year wait and the niggling feeling of how practical it was going to be on a regular use basis saw me cancel that deposit and I thought that was that, continue with the current fleet.
Sunday evening arrived and I somehow found myself on the Alpine website, then reading reviews and Readers Cars reports and then on to the Alpine configurator and finally on Alpine Solihulls website
Enquiry registered and lengthy phonecall saw me booked in for a test drive yesterday luchtime with three main options on the table:
1. A 3 year old S with under 4k on the clock in Iridiscent White
2. A new base 110 in Abyss Blue with most, if not all of the spec I wanted but was a stock car
3. A factory order of a base 110 with my preferred options
Within a couple of hundred metres of the test drive (passed the keys and told to go and enjoy myself for a couple of hours) I knew a purchase was inevitable. As Harry Metcalfe said in his review, the first thing you feel when driving it is the lack of weight, not in any flimsiness but in the immediacy of response - a good drive through urban, county roads and motorway showed that it was a lot of fun and sufficiently refined to be a daily driver (albeit I do 2k a year tops in the 650 daily driver). The 292bhp felt really strong, no doubt about it, its a genuinely quick car and the DCT is pretty impressive although in an ideal world a manual would still be my choice. I was concerned about how firm the S was from reviews but it was absolutely fine for me, certainly more compliant than either the Tuscan or Vantage.
Back to the dealership and Nadeem let me try the comfort seats (nice but nothing like as special looking as the buckets) and cars in my preferred colours, Abyss Blue, Thunder Grey (immediately dismissed on seeing it) and Fire Orange (nice but needs the sun on it to really pop) plus the Iridescent White which was OHs preferred colour but was definitely growing on me
As I was already decided on going down the PCP route, reasonable APR, safety net of GFV and less capital tied up it was simply a matter of figures but before we got to that I was shown the "wild card", a heavily optioned brand new 110S in Iridescent White that had just come into stock.
Figures looked at and whilst obviously the most expensive option (and over my notional monthly budget) the new S was the chosen option, only £50 month more than a base 110 with my preferred options, a slightly less justifiable £200 more than the 3 year old S. As the intention is for the car to be a long-term keeper the new appealed as it meant its history would start with me, I intend to document everything and the used car wold see that first 3 years of history missing (apart from service stamps)
Options fitted to the car I chose include the Focal Premium audio, front parking sensors and rear view camera (camera is pretty essential as rear visibility is shocking), storage pack (ridiculous money for an elasticated net and a triangular box), carpet mats, mirror pack (electrochromatic mirrors and folding facility), orange seat belts and black trim in headlights as opposed to silver, only significant options not fitted were the Fuchs alloys but by no means a problem as unsure of their design anyway.
Apologies for the waffling, I could have summed it up more quickly "Man changes mind on a car, decides to buy another, impetuously arranges test drive and ends up spending more money than planned on a car option that was not on the original list"
1st September cannot come round quickly enough now
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/A73Rr1HP[/urlThe recently acquired V70 T5 in manual form - absolutely adore this car, fantastic condition and just so good at being a nippy, practical and incredibly easy and comfortable car to drive - OHs daily driver although still only does 50-100 miles per week
V8 Vantage - 4.7, Sportshift, Sports Pack and some decent extras, OHs dream car bought late in 2022 and now equipped with a Quicksilver exhaust, she loves it, I'm growing to love it
TVR Tuscan Mk1 - a car I doubt I will ever sell (in fact its in my will that its going to my son), so much better than I ever imagined and a drive to own and to drive
650 convertible - owned for coming up 5 years and a wonderful, only just over 80k and been pretty much faultless
As is often the case the fleet is under constant review and some life changing events in the last 6 / 9 months have seen us losing much loved family and friends - making us realise that live is for living and money in the bank is good but it can be put to more enjoyable use elsewhere
Had been following the development of the Wells Vertige for quite a while and the Open Day a few weeks ago saw me decide to place a deposit on one of the 2026 build slots
A small combination of factors - higher than expected price, a 3 year wait and the niggling feeling of how practical it was going to be on a regular use basis saw me cancel that deposit and I thought that was that, continue with the current fleet.
Sunday evening arrived and I somehow found myself on the Alpine website, then reading reviews and Readers Cars reports and then on to the Alpine configurator and finally on Alpine Solihulls website
Enquiry registered and lengthy phonecall saw me booked in for a test drive yesterday luchtime with three main options on the table:
1. A 3 year old S with under 4k on the clock in Iridiscent White
2. A new base 110 in Abyss Blue with most, if not all of the spec I wanted but was a stock car
3. A factory order of a base 110 with my preferred options
Within a couple of hundred metres of the test drive (passed the keys and told to go and enjoy myself for a couple of hours) I knew a purchase was inevitable. As Harry Metcalfe said in his review, the first thing you feel when driving it is the lack of weight, not in any flimsiness but in the immediacy of response - a good drive through urban, county roads and motorway showed that it was a lot of fun and sufficiently refined to be a daily driver (albeit I do 2k a year tops in the 650 daily driver). The 292bhp felt really strong, no doubt about it, its a genuinely quick car and the DCT is pretty impressive although in an ideal world a manual would still be my choice. I was concerned about how firm the S was from reviews but it was absolutely fine for me, certainly more compliant than either the Tuscan or Vantage.
Back to the dealership and Nadeem let me try the comfort seats (nice but nothing like as special looking as the buckets) and cars in my preferred colours, Abyss Blue, Thunder Grey (immediately dismissed on seeing it) and Fire Orange (nice but needs the sun on it to really pop) plus the Iridescent White which was OHs preferred colour but was definitely growing on me
As I was already decided on going down the PCP route, reasonable APR, safety net of GFV and less capital tied up it was simply a matter of figures but before we got to that I was shown the "wild card", a heavily optioned brand new 110S in Iridescent White that had just come into stock.
Figures looked at and whilst obviously the most expensive option (and over my notional monthly budget) the new S was the chosen option, only £50 month more than a base 110 with my preferred options, a slightly less justifiable £200 more than the 3 year old S. As the intention is for the car to be a long-term keeper the new appealed as it meant its history would start with me, I intend to document everything and the used car wold see that first 3 years of history missing (apart from service stamps)
Options fitted to the car I chose include the Focal Premium audio, front parking sensors and rear view camera (camera is pretty essential as rear visibility is shocking), storage pack (ridiculous money for an elasticated net and a triangular box), carpet mats, mirror pack (electrochromatic mirrors and folding facility), orange seat belts and black trim in headlights as opposed to silver, only significant options not fitted were the Fuchs alloys but by no means a problem as unsure of their design anyway.
Apologies for the waffling, I could have summed it up more quickly "Man changes mind on a car, decides to buy another, impetuously arranges test drive and ends up spending more money than planned on a car option that was not on the original list"
1st September cannot come round quickly enough now
Edited by Andy665 on Wednesday 26th July 07:41
sawman said:
Nice, was looking at these on autotrader after reading the thread in readers cars- theres a lovely looking green one for sale locally - must resist….
Would that be the metallic Emerald Green one at Solihull - if so its a lovely colour, saw it in their showroom yesterday and was tempted but it had the Comfort seats and the buckets were on my "not negotiable" list Andy665 said:
Would that be the metallic Emerald Green one at Solihull - if so its a lovely colour, saw it in their showroom yesterday and was tempted but it had the Comfort seats and the buckets were on my "not negotiable" list
Same colour- but oop north - usually not keen on green, but this does look nice. Sporky said:
Nice. The iridescent white is lovely in person.
Agreed, there's a white car on the smaller silver alloys they're available on that I see around here piloted by a rather fetching young lady, great to see it being used - looks relatively tiny compared to most of the other crap on the roads!Congrats OP, lovely collection - at least you've got a few things to keep you entertained until September 1st
Liking this a lot and makes me feel a lot better about my experience last year - also in Solihull.
I'd been looking at these for a while and live very close to the dealer so pass almost daily. I popped in midweek and arranged a test drive at the weekend and bought one on the same day.
That was about 10 months ago and I absolutely love the car. There are a few niggles and quirks but it's so good at putting a smile on my face they all fade away.
I think you can way too carried away or hung up with the options, at the end of the day the car is for driving. I don't think there is anything I'd change about mine which was a stock car in fire orange with a few of the 'normal' options.
I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on.
I'd been looking at these for a while and live very close to the dealer so pass almost daily. I popped in midweek and arranged a test drive at the weekend and bought one on the same day.
That was about 10 months ago and I absolutely love the car. There are a few niggles and quirks but it's so good at putting a smile on my face they all fade away.
I think you can way too carried away or hung up with the options, at the end of the day the car is for driving. I don't think there is anything I'd change about mine which was a stock car in fire orange with a few of the 'normal' options.
I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on.
Edited by Murphys on Wednesday 26th July 10:58
Murphys said:
Liking this a lot and makes me feel a lot better about my experience last year - also in Solihull.
I'd been looking at these for a while and live very close to the dealer so pass almost daily. I popped in midweek and arranged a test drive at the weekend and bought one on the same day.
That was about 10 months ago and I absolutely love the car. There are a few niggles and quirks but it's so good at putting a smile on my face they all fade away.
I think you can way too carried away or hung up with the options, at the end of the day the car is for driving. I don't think there is anything I'd change about mine which was a stock car in fire orange with a few of the 'normal' options.
I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on.
Completely agreed about the options, the only essential requirements for me were the standard bucket seats, rear parking sensors (although having now driven one I think the rear camera will be very useful) and 18" alloys. I'd been looking at these for a while and live very close to the dealer so pass almost daily. I popped in midweek and arranged a test drive at the weekend and bought one on the same day.
That was about 10 months ago and I absolutely love the car. There are a few niggles and quirks but it's so good at putting a smile on my face they all fade away.
I think you can way too carried away or hung up with the options, at the end of the day the car is for driving. I don't think there is anything I'd change about mine which was a stock car in fire orange with a few of the 'normal' options.
I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on.
Edited by Murphys on Wednesday 26th July 10:58
Colour became more of an issue, did not want Alpine Blue because the Tuscan is a similar colour and it came down to Fire Orange, Abyss Blue or Iridescent White
Andy665 said:
Murphys said:
Liking this a lot and makes me feel a lot better about my experience last year - also in Solihull.
I'd been looking at these for a while and live very close to the dealer so pass almost daily. I popped in midweek and arranged a test drive at the weekend and bought one on the same day.
That was about 10 months ago and I absolutely love the car. There are a few niggles and quirks but it's so good at putting a smile on my face they all fade away.
I think you can way too carried away or hung up with the options, at the end of the day the car is for driving. I don't think there is anything I'd change about mine which was a stock car in fire orange with a few of the 'normal' options.
I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on.
Completely agreed about the options, the only essential requirements for me were the standard bucket seats, rear parking sensors (although having now driven one I think the rear camera will be very useful) and 18" alloys. I'd been looking at these for a while and live very close to the dealer so pass almost daily. I popped in midweek and arranged a test drive at the weekend and bought one on the same day.
That was about 10 months ago and I absolutely love the car. There are a few niggles and quirks but it's so good at putting a smile on my face they all fade away.
I think you can way too carried away or hung up with the options, at the end of the day the car is for driving. I don't think there is anything I'd change about mine which was a stock car in fire orange with a few of the 'normal' options.
I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on.
Edited by Murphys on Wednesday 26th July 10:58
Colour became more of an issue, did not want Alpine Blue because the Tuscan is a similar colour and it came down to Fire Orange, Abyss Blue or Iridescent White
The car I test drove had a camera which was nice and much better than the sensors but so far I've managed to not back into anything.
I went with a view to buying a blue oneI'd seen in the showroom but the demo car was orange and the sun was out which really brings it to life.
There was a really nice green one I'd have bought but it was fully loaded and I couldn't afford it also a white S which was beautiful. I'd already had a bit of budget creep which is really easily done.
I still pass by almost daily so get to see lots of the cars passing through.
Murphys said:
Funny you should say that, my must haves were buckets, parking sensors front and rear-which are rubbish,18" wheels plus the active exhaust. All of which the car I got had plus a couple of other things.
The car I test drove had a camera which was nice and much better than the sensors but so far I've managed to not back into anything.
I went with a view to buying a blue oneI'd seen in the showroom but the demo car was orange and the sun was out which really brings it to life.
There was a really nice green one I'd have bought but it was fully loaded and I couldn't afford it also a white S which was beautiful. I'd already had a bit of budget creep which is really easily done.
I still pass by almost daily so get to see lots of the cars passing through.
My white S will be in the showroom from mid-August, budget creep definitely set in for me, ended up closer to "what I can afford" than the planned "this is what I want to spend"The car I test drove had a camera which was nice and much better than the sensors but so far I've managed to not back into anything.
I went with a view to buying a blue oneI'd seen in the showroom but the demo car was orange and the sun was out which really brings it to life.
There was a really nice green one I'd have bought but it was fully loaded and I couldn't afford it also a white S which was beautiful. I'd already had a bit of budget creep which is really easily done.
I still pass by almost daily so get to see lots of the cars passing through.
I drove the earlier S (292 bhp) then got the figures for the new S and base model, the difference in cost (for me) made driving a base model redundant.
I know a lot of reviews say that the S seems overly firm and loses something compared to the base but I found it to be exactly what I was looking for.
As its going to be a long term keeper there was a nagging doubt that I would regret not getting the S
I know a lot of reviews say that the S seems overly firm and loses something compared to the base but I found it to be exactly what I was looking for.
As its going to be a long term keeper there was a nagging doubt that I would regret not getting the S
LarJammer said:
Congrats Andy, hope you enjoy it!
It was your thread that started me off investigating an A110 again. You did not want a white one, neither did I, especially one with black wheels but when I saw it and the more I looked at it the more I liked it, still not completely sold on it but hopefully a grower, Abyss Blue and Fire Orange were the early frontrunners.I did try the Comfort seats but thought the buckets were both more comfortable and far more in keeping with the car
I didn't get fixated on the power and got a standard pure. Don't forget it's very much a 'chassis' car rather than a power one and the base A110 has the power / weight of a 996 Turbo, ok, a fairly old car now but was then and still is plenty fast enough, plus the Alpine is loads of fun with the lack of mass and generally newer technology.
6000+ miles in and no regrets at all. I don't track mine so aren't concerned about the outer limits of performance or handling. For me it was always about engagement and fun at reasonable road speeds, something that much harder/faster/more powerful cars appear to struggle with.
6000+ miles in and no regrets at all. I don't track mine so aren't concerned about the outer limits of performance or handling. For me it was always about engagement and fun at reasonable road speeds, something that much harder/faster/more powerful cars appear to struggle with.
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