(Two) Alpine A610 | Spotted
Choose your A610 - barely used and A110 money, or with a six-figure mileage for less than an A290...
You know how it goes with buying classic cars sometimes. Because not very many were made, or not very many are left, you have to take what’s there. The colour might not be ideal, or the history not exactly perfect, but if there aren’t many around then that’s the one you’re going to have. It can be made great in time.
The flipside is when the opportunity is there to be fantastically fussy. When plenty are made with loads of engine and specification choices, it’s much easier to wait for exactly the example you’re after, in just the right paint and with all the desirable options. There’s no feeling quite like finding just the right car after months of searching. Especially if you’re able to buy it as well.
The Alpine A610 is most definitely a car that falls into the former camp of car-buying experiences. It was an exceptionally rare car in period, despite the positive press reviews, with fewer than 70 UK right-hand drive examples sold here. Sports car buyers in the early-to-mid 1990s didn’t really want a French two-door with a turbo behind where they sat, tending to prefer the German or British options with larger engines. In case you thought the Cayman outselling the A110 was a new phenomenon. The A610 must have been perceived as a little too odd, a little too French, to really win over the buying public; a price getting on for £40k in 1993 (or more than £80,000 today) won’t have helped its case. Just 785 were sold in four years.
Now, however, with the end in sight for Alpine’s combustion-engined sports cars and heritage more saleable than ever, the A610 looks particularly interesting. There’s a V6, for one thing, which means a (tenuous) link to the Alpenglow concept, the manual ensures old school appeal for the ages (in a way that ancient auto sports cars don’t guarantee), and the design is the very best kind of retro. From turbine-style wheels to side strakes and pop-up lights to ‘Turbo’ graphics, it’s absolutely of its time.
The appeal of an A610 in 2025 is easy to understand, and now two of those UK, right-hand drive cars are for sale on PH. (One ad says there are 67, the other says 68; it’s not very many, either way.) They could hardly be more different, too, despite being registered just a year apart and with matching Aspen Blue paint. See one has been barely used since 1992, notching up little more than 4,000 miles (and with 600 of those since the MOT in March); the other is still going strong after 133,000. For two examples of such a rare car, it’s incredible to find such a pair of diametrically opposed A610s.
The low mileage one is predictably immaculate, the optional blue leather seriously eye-catching and famously flaky plastics actually in fine fettle. It’s a glorious survivor, testament to what a cool sports car the Alpine A610 originally was. With a recent service and the MOT, there’s no reason why that modest tally couldn’t be added to pronto.
Arguably the other A610 is of more interest, though, not least because it’s about half the money at £27,995 rather than £54,995. The grey leather of #38 might not be as fetching as the blue, but it remains a really smart example, the engine bay in particular hard to fault.
There’s plenty of recent history for it, too, with an engine rebuild in 2019, plus brake and suspension work this year (alongside a wheel refurb). The previous owner was said to be ‘a committed Alpine enthusiast and club member’, which is always a good sign, and actually took the A610 to the Alpine 70th celebrations in Dieppe a few months back. If the best sports cars are the driven sports cars, then there can’t be much better than the 130k A610.
Both have their merits, that’s for sure. If more than they’ve been for a while, each of these Alpines will be more affordable as well as rarer (and cooler) than the equivalent 911. Finally, if both are a touch too pricey, there’s an earlier GTA V6 Turbo for sale at £19,995. Common as muck, these classic Alpines…
SPECIFICATION | ALPINE A610
Engine: 2,975cc, V6 turbocharged
Transmission: 5-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 253@5,750rpm
Torque (lb ft): 258@2,900rpm
MPG: c. 25
CO2: N/A
First registered: 1993
Recorded mileage: 133,000
Price new: £37,980
Price now: £27,995
See the ad for the low-mileage car here
See the ad for the other A610 here
It's typically quirky French with all sorts of odd features, some endearing and some just odd. Examples - handclap wipers and zero luggage capacity. As for the battery - how about only accessible from under the car and it lives in a well in the ns front wing under the headlight.
It's a very low car, surprisingly quick and takes a bit of getting to know before you can really enjoy it but always interesting and a bit of an event. Mine hasn't been out for well over a year so I'll rectify that in the spring.
I really don't like the blue leather. Some had cloth. Mine has the grey leather which is nearer black in reality.
610 hi it more power, and pop up headlights and almost certainly retained the drive qualities. I always fancied a 610, but still regret selling the GTA turbo
It's typically quirky French with all sorts of odd features, some endearing and some just odd. Examples - handclap wipers and zero luggage capacity. As for the battery - how about only accessible from under the car and it lives in a well in the ns front wing under the headlight.
It's a very low car, surprisingly quick and takes a bit of getting to know before you can really enjoy it but always interesting and a bit of an event. Mine hasn't been out for well over a year so I'll rectify that in the spring.
I really don't like the blue leather. Some had cloth. Mine has the grey leather which is nearer black in reality.
I remember going to the local (ish) Chinese takeaway as a teen in the early nineties and a guy pulled up with an NA GTA. He got talking to my dad while I was walking around staring at it - he opened the door to let me sit in it (though being painfully shy I just looked in!). I have always remembered that, and when I have had interesting cars (either my own or through work) and people have shown an interest I have always tried to do the same.
https://youtu.be/IB76TGwDeT4?si=6ZGWJWQWQ7DcX4cY
It's typically quirky French with all sorts of odd features, some endearing and some just odd. Examples - handclap wipers and zero luggage capacity. As for the battery - how about only accessible from under the car and it lives in a well in the ns front wing under the headlight.
It's a very low car, surprisingly quick and takes a bit of getting to know before you can really enjoy it but always interesting and a bit of an event. Mine hasn't been out for well over a year so I'll rectify that in the spring.
I really don't like the blue leather. Some had cloth. Mine has the grey leather which is nearer black in reality.
Out of curiosity how does it feel to drive quickly down the back roads? In my M4 there's a sort of innate belief that if i screw it up and the electronics run out of ideas (or if I've pre-emptively turned them off) that the innate balance and handling quality of those sorts of cars might, just might, be enough to overcome my incompetence. Whereas driving one of these I'd be such a wimp with that rear-engined layout I'd be driving it miles from the performance limits in the belief that any mistake will be immediately punished!
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