New Alpine A110: available to order now from £46,905

‘Reservations’ for the Alpine A110 are now being taken, with full UK pricing for the French firm’s Porsche 718 Cayman rival now announced. The cheapest is the entry-level, driver-focused A110 Pure, priced from £46,905.

Step up to the more comfortable Legende trim and the A110 jumps to £50,805 before options. The limited-run Premiere Edition is completely sold out.

All models come with a three-year/60,000-mile warranty, with the option to extend to four or five years of cover. Alpine will be offering servicing and finance deals starting this summer.

Review: Alpine A110 coupe

Alpine unveiled the production versions of its A110 sports car at this year’s Geneva Motor Show: Pure and Legende. Unlike the limited-run Premiere Edition, which is now sold out, the two new trims represent the core of the A110 range.

Both are mechanically identical to the Premiere Edition, but have slightly different specifications. Pure, as the name suggests, has a simpler, more driver-focused character, while Legende equips the A110 to be more comfortable in day-to-day use.

Pure trim gets 17-inch alloys, lightweight Sabelt sports seats, microfibre upholstery and carbon-fibre trim. Options include 18-inch wheels, larger Brembo brakes, an active sports exhaust and a choice of two Focal hi-fi systems. Lightweight six-way adjustable seats, parking sensors and a reversing camera are also optional.

Legende comes with more creature comforts: six-way adjustable seats, leather upholstery, gloss carbon-fibre trim, a Focal hi-fi, front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera are all included. Distinctive alloys – a modern interpretation of the original Alpine A110 Berlinette 1600S’ wheels – are included, too, although two other options are available. An active sports exhaust and a Focal Premium hi-fi system are offered as options.

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Both versions come with Alpine’s Mode Selector with selectable Normal, Sport and Track modes that adjust the car’s engine, gearbox and steering to the driver’s preferences. Climate control, sat nav, ‘mySPIN’ phone connectivity and LED head and tail-lights are all included as standard on both models.

Alpine A110 performance

The Alpine A110 is powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder 1.8-litre petrol engine; the 248bhp it produces is pretty tame compared to most hot hatchbacks.

But while the Ford Focus RS produces a heady 345bhp, that car tips the scales at over 1,500kg; the Alpine A110 weighs just 1,080kg or 1,103kg with a good slosh of fuel in its tank – over 300kg less than a Porsche 718 Boxster.

That means the A110’s little engine has less work to do and its 0-62mph time of 4.5 seconds is fractionally quicker than the 4.7 seconds quoted for the Focus RS. It’s also a fair bit faster than the 5.1 seconds the Boxster takes to complete this yardstick.

But those numbers only tell half the story. The A110’s low weight is an enormous advantage when tackling twisty roads, where its pared-back nature and mid-engined configuration make it incredibly agile.

Alpine A110: design & engine

The new Alpine A110 is remains faithful to the Alpine Vision concept from a year ago, itself a homage to the classic Alpine A110 of the sixties. The new A110 is predominantly built from aluminium, while its weight distribution is almost perfectly balanced – meaning there’s nearly the same amount of weight over the rear wheels as there is over the fronts.

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The A110’s 1.8-litre engine is paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, while the driving mode selector offers normal, sport and track modes. This alters the behaviour of the steering, engine, gearbox and exhaust, as well as the stringency with which the car’s safety systems operate. Like many sports cars, the A110 is limited to 155mph.

An economy figure of 46.7mpg achieved under the latest testing regime is claimed by Alpine, along with CO2 emissions of 138g/km.

Equipment and interior

Alpine is keen to stress its new A110 will offer nods to comfort as well as all that lightweight and sporting intent: the seats feature quilted leather and the company says "no trade-off has been made between performance, driver comfort and weight" and the A110 is able to accommodate “all shapes and sizes”.

The car is mid-engined but still offers some usable storage space – 96 litres in the front compartment and 100 litres in the rear. Alpine claims there’s enough space in the front for two carry-on-sized bags, while the rear compartment can fit two race helmets and an overnight bag.

Powerful Brembo brakes should ensure the A110 is as effective at stopping as it is at accelerating, while the 18-inch alloy wheels are from Fuchs, a company famed for producing wheels for Porsche 911s. The A110 features daytime running lights and rear lights with LED technology.

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What is Alpine?

Alpine was founded by a Renault dealer called Jean Rédélé in 1955. He had great success on road and track with his lightweight, fibreglass-bodied sports cars. These – like the original A110 pictured below – used Renault-sourced mechanicals and rear-mounted engines.

Renault acquired Alpine in 1973 and the Renault-Alpine GTA of the eighties and nineties was a genuine – albeit niche – rival to Porsches of the time.