The sports car that’s less expensive than a Porsche but more exotic
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The sports car that's less expensive than a Porsche merely more exotic
Built to rival Porsche'southward 718 Cayman, the Tall A110 Legende is not your garden variety sports car. We took her out for a spin and found that while some features may take getting used to, all you'll care about is coaxing the best performance out of this auto.
Arguably a lot more exotic than your garden variety sports machine, the Legende appeals more to those who lean a picayune more left-field. (Photo: Chua Yong Yi)
03 Jul 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 08 Aug 2022 11:06AM)
Then here's the sports auto brand y'all oasis't heard of, congenital to rival Porsche's 718 Cayman. Both low-slung two-seater coupes. Both four-cylinder mid-engined turbos. Both lust-worthy objects of desire.
But while the Cayman serves up more than horsepower, the Alpine A110 Legende edges ahead a shade quicker, nipping the century dash in a thrilling four.v seconds compared with the Cayman'south 4.nine seconds.
Thanks to its ultra-lightweight construction and meaty dimensions, the Legende is an ultra zippy little thing flaunting infrequent agility. It's besides arguably a lot more than exotic than any sports car bearing a Porsche badge – and therein lies its allure.
According to Alpine's Singapore distributor, only five units of the Legende have been registered thus far. So you lot won't find many Alpines on the roads, with the Legende and its brethren appealing more to those who lean a little more left-field.
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FRENCH RENAISSANCE
The brand, in fact, only arrived on our shores in 2022 – two years after the French carmaker's renaissance, when its parent company Groupe Renault unveiled the A110 Premiere Edition to acclaim at the 2022 Geneva Motor Show, following a 2-decade hiatus.
The model heralded a new era for Alpine, in one case France's most famous sports car manufacturers, with a express production of one,955 units globally. The number pays homage to the twelvemonth the automaker was first founded by Jean Redele in the coastal town of Dieppe in northern France. It reportedly sold out within 5 days the carmaker began taking orders.
The A110 reboot is inspired by the early A110 Berlinette, which helped seal the carmaker'south legendary status in the 1970s when Alpine scored major victories at the Monte-Carlo Rally, World Rally Title, Le Mans 24 Hours and other world-class competitions.
In 1995, however, Alpine production somewhen ceased.
Then in 2013, the Alpine badge returned to racing and proved immediately triumphant at the European Le Mans Series followed by wins at the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The carmaker lapped withal another level of racing success this twelvemonth, as the Tall F1 Team (formerly Renault) made its debut in the electric current Formula One flavour with legendary two-time champion Fernando Alonso in the first driver'south seat.
Now Alpine's storied lineage continues in the Legende, peddled as the deluxe version of the base of operations A110 or more hardcore A110 S.
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UNPARALLELED LIGHTNESS OF Being
Weight is what defines an Alpine's driving experience and the Legende is no exception.
The Legende is low-cal – Lotus-light – only a lot more refined where the latter is decidedly raw by design to match its rugged drive experience.
The carmaker's obsession with minimising mass begins with its unimaginably lightweight aluminium body and flows through in how every component in its entire construction has been practicably reimagined to shave off the grams so that this modest 1.eight-litre turbocharged coupe feels much more powerful – and quicker – than information technology actually is.
Built at Alpine's mill in Dieppe, the Legende's mid-engine configuration channels a high power-to-weight ratio to exceptional advantage. Its 252hp on tap feels like much, much more than, delivering a plow of speed that's nothing short of sublime.
And where others pound the asphalt into compliance, the Legende'southward calorie-free frame (1,123kg) appears to glide over it effortlessly.
At that place'south a relentlessness to its dynamism and the rear-wheel bulldoze is remarkably responsive, agile and a whole lot of fun. Steering is sharp and cornering feels awesome. A clever little sports auto, indeed.
All these translate to an piece of cake affection for the Legende.
That said, it'due south non entirely without flaw, every bit there'southward a little bit of curlicue, particularly at high speeds. This takes a trivial getting used to, especially for those more accustomed to stiffer sports cars the likes of the Cayman or Audi TTS.
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A LISSOME BEAUTY
It's a beautiful thing when an automobile'due south design manages to gracefully straddle both classic and modern persuasions.
Gorgeous character lines come across retro cues, breathing life into the 1962 A110 Berlinette one time more, as twin front end headlights, sculpted flanks, distinctive bonnet spine and wraparound rear screen conspire for an ode to its forefather.
Meanwhile, French flags on the C-pillars denote a love letter to its Gallic ancestry. And snazzy X-shaped LED taillights tip-off onlookers that this conspicuously isn't your boilerplate sports car. So do the chrome fundamental exhaust outlet and six distinctive rim designs. The 18'' Grand Prix black diamond cutting wheels are absurd enough but it's the 18'' brey diamond-cutting "Serac" alloy wheels option that add the about pizzazz.
DRESSED TO IMPRESS
Poised equally the most elegant Alpine to engagement, the lithe Legende is as well the most sophisticated and refined A110 variant nevertheless.
Softer furnishings such as quilted leather door sills matched with rare rose aureate trims make for a more inviting interior while glossy carbon fibre components and aluminium pedals retain the sporty feel.
Six-style adjustable Sabelt seats have replaced the fixed bucket seats in the Pure variant, providing added comfort and are especially appreciated by drivers of the vertically-challenged diverseness like yours truly.
Multimedia-wise, there isn't much to write home virtually but bluntly, that's not why 1 buys an Alpine.
In lieu of Apple CarPlay or Android connectivity, the automaker has its own Tall mySPIN smartphone mirroring arrangement that allows you to withal play your Spotify tunes, for example, via the 7" multimedia touchscreen. Merely that it'south but not the prettiest nor the near user-friendly display on the market.
And once again, you won't really care that the cockpit is so sparse (or singularly focused, depending on how yous prefer to see it) that yous tin't observe a spot to reasonably stash and retrieve your iPhone (or much else for that matter) while driving. Because all you'll care about is the feel of your hands on the wheel and coaxing the best operation out of this automobile.
Y'all'll certainly relish the Alpine Telemetrics feature, which provides technical data and performance metrics regarding power, torque, temperatures, turbo pressure, etc as they ratchet upwardly in real-fourth dimension, transmitting some rally driver feels to your everyday drive. Y'all can fifty-fifty record and store lap times and performance information should you accept your babe to the rail. For that, flip to Track manner; otherwise, Normal or Sport manner volition do just fine for daily drives.
The motorcar is also fitted with the necessary safety features similar front and rear parking sensors with reversing camera, Deactivatable Track Stability Control System, Emergency Brake Assist (EBA), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and Hill Start Assist.
In that location isn't much by way of boot capacity, either; a 96-litre "frunk" and a 100-litre rear compartment that could both ferry some soft baggage, perhaps.
Well, you're not likely to go grand touring in this simply if y'all're looking for a fast and sexy trivial thing that'll turn heads as facilely as more than common supercars merely at a fraction of the cost, look no further than the lithesome Legende.
ALPINE A110 LEGENDE SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE: 1,798cc 4-Cylinder turbo mid engine
POWER: 252hp at half-dozen,000rpm
TORQUE: 320Nm at ii,000rpm
Manual: seven-speed Efficient Dual Clutch (EDC)
Acceleration (0-100KM/H): 4.5 seconds
Top SPEED: 250km/h
FUEL EFFICIENCY: 162g/km CO2
PRICE: S$258,000 (excluding COE)
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