Driving the new 110S

Hi all,

Would be good to get thoughts as people have a chance to drive the new S particularly in comparison to the standard car. I am trying one in 2 weeks but was hoping for a faster car still will more torque as well.

Cheers

The reviews of the S have just come online.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/al ... 019-review

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-dri ... iven/41198

Dan Prosser, on Drive Nation, suggests that it may be too hard for the road but great for the track.

The reviews of the S have just come online.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/al ... 019-review

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-dri ... iven/41198

Dan Prosser, on Drive Nation, suggests that it may be too hard for the road but great for the track.

Thanks good to hear Dan has driven one given he has just bought his own one.

Evo seem to prefer it to the standard car which they already rated very highly:

https://www.evo.co.uk/alpine/a110/20190 ... een-spoilt

[stephendell]

Nice Review.

EVO RATING *****
+ Almost everything

Steve Sutcliffe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCZouQv ... m-comments is probably the only one who is 100% positive. A summary of most of the others - particularly the foreign ones - might be that the S is a better track car, the base car a better road car. Which is what you might expect.

The extra power doesn't seem to be that noticeable. I personally hoped it would feel noticeably more eager at the top end. Perhaps that is expecting too much, the ordinary car is already much more eager to hit the limiter than most turbos.

Henry Catchpole carfection review now up too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLVZ-SFgrys
Similar conclusion to Steve Sutcliffe above - and nicely phrased ("different" rather than "better").

Thought it was an excellent thoughtful review

Very interesting review, I'll stick with my PE although I would like to try it with some different shock absorbers, Ohlins for example.
Now had the car for 15 months and 7k miles, it continues to bring a smile to my face every time I drive it.

Tim

Drove the A110S courtesy of Alpine London West today. Only a short run so can't be definitive, but I was pleasantly surprized by the ride - a bit more jiggly for sure - but certainly not harsh. The steering was a bit more precise. Overall, I'm reluctant to say better or worse on the basis of such a short drive - but, as Henry Catchpole said, different rather than better or worse. Some I have no doubt will prefer it, others perhaps not. I didn't get much chance to rev the engine, which I only got chance to rev to 6000 once. Honestly didn't feel much different from mine - but mine has 6000 miles on it, the A110S was obviously pretty new.

I borrowed the 110 S for a day last week. Great car but a bit firm for me and personally couldn't notice the extra power. I rarely go to 6k rpm and this car only had 200 miles on it. Going to try it on track at Thruxton on Friday.

I tested a normal one in the summer for an 1hr with the the other half, no denying it it’s a great car it put a big smile on my face and if you are going out for an 1hr or 2 for a hard drive and on it fantastic.
However in the real world driving it does not lack power it was lacking in lower down torque, so just driving behind 4 cars doing 45mph then an opportunity suddenly opens up no time to change down floor it it’s not there well not enough is there, if you’re into bikes it’s the difference between riding a 600 to a 1000 if you are on it in the right gear the 600 will do it all the 1000 does it in what ever gear.
Forget the power more low down GRUNT.

I tested a normal one in the summer for an 1hr with the the other half, no denying it it’s a great car it put a big smile on my face and if you are going out for an 1hr or 2 for a hard drive and on it fantastic.
However in the real world driving it does not lack power it was lacking in lower down torque, so just driving behind 4 cars doing 45mph then an opportunity suddenly opens up no time to change down floor it it’s not there well not enough is there, if you’re into bikes it’s the difference between riding a 600 to a 1000 if you are on it in the right gear the 600 will do it all the 1000 does it in what ever gear.
Forget the power more low down GRUNT.

Not really fair to compare the Alpine (or anything else at £50k) with superbikes which will easily blow away anything but a full on supercar. Even Sports 600s are VASTLY quicker than anything in that price bracket bar Caterhams or Atoms.

It's not as if the Alpine is lacking in flexibility by (turbo) class standards - quite the reverse. - more than a match for a 718 Cayman for example. Only cars with much bigger turbo engines (eg Supra/Z4) are actually any quicker,

I am not comparing it to bikes I was just using it as an example of engine flexibility. Or to put it in a different format 2 1800cc engines two different cams one makes 300hp 7000rpm the other 250hp 7000rpm but it has a much more flexibility lower down, I would buy the less Hp car as torque wins every time for ROAD cars, that’s why people love Diesel engines massive torque at low Rpm, or big V8s just touch the pedal and you fly straight away in any gear.
If you are going to do track stuff then HP becomes more important over flexibility. If I bought a 110 I would put the Lichfield remap on as that sounds like the ultimate combination.

I borrowed the 110 S for a day last week. Great car but a bit firm for me and personally couldn't notice the extra power. I rarely go to 6k rpm and this car only had 200 miles on it. Going to try it on track at Thruxton on Friday.

I wish I'd seen your post. I was at Thruxton too and it would have been nice to meet up - perhaps we did and didn't know. A very good day (or half day to be precise) I thought, courtesy of Alpine London West in my case Can't say it swayed me towards the S from my PE, but I can see that some would doubtless prefer the flatter cornering of the S. Considering the difference in stiffness I thought that, as on the road, there was less difference in feel than might be expected.

I can't say I noticed much difference in power from my PE, though the S was noticeably louder - perhaps too much so for me. A bit more understeer on the S too.