The Alpine A110 isn't a French Lotus; it’s a Mini McLaren — Carmudgeon Show Cammisa & DTS — Ep. 202
The Carmudgeon Show
The Alpine A110 isn't a French Lotus; it’s a Mini McLaren — Carmudgeon Show Cammisa & DTS — Ep. 202
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Car
Alpine A110
The Alpine A110 is a sporty car that's known for being fun to drive and very light. It has a history in racing and is loved for how it handles on the road.
Company
Fredestine Tires
Fredestine Tires makes tires that are good for older cars. They focus on quality and make sure their tires fit well for classic vehicles.
Car
Shelby Cobra
The Shelby Cobra is a classic American sports car that is very fast and powerful. It was made in the 1960s and is famous for its racing history.
Car
190 E 2.316 Cosworth
The 190 E 2.316 Cosworth is a sportier version of a Mercedes-Benz car that many fans love for its speed and style. It's known for having a powerful engine.
Part
205 55 or 15 Fredestine Sprint pluses
205/55 R15 is a size of tire that fits certain cars, especially older European models. The Fredestine Sprint Plus is a type of tire made for good performance.
Car
BMW E30
The BMW E30 325 is an older model of BMW that many people love for how it drives. It's part of the 3 Series and was made in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Term
mounting and balancing
When you get new tires, they need to be put on the wheels and adjusted so they spin evenly. This helps your car drive smoothly.
Company
Yokohama
Yokohama makes tires for cars, trucks, and SUVs. They are recognized for their quality and performance, especially in motorsports.
Company
Falken
Falken tires are known for being good for sporty driving and racing. Many car enthusiasts choose them for better performance on the road.
Car
Renault R5 Turbo
The Renault 5 Turbo is a sporty version of a small car that was made for racing. It has a unique look and is popular with car fans.
Car
Alfa Romeo Montreal
The Alfa Romeo Montreal is a classic car from the 1970s that looks very different from other cars. It has a powerful engine and is loved by many car fans.
Concept
rally car
A rally car is a type of race car made for competitions on different surfaces like dirt and roads. They are built to be fast and handle tough conditions.
Concept
rear-engine
A rear-engine car has its engine in the back instead of the front, which can change how it drives and handles on the road.
Car
Chevrolet Monte Carlo
The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is a stylish car that was made for people who want a comfortable ride. It looks sporty and was popular for many years.
Concept
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship is a series of car races that take place on different types of roads, like dirt and asphalt. It started in 1973 and is known for exciting races where drivers compete in various conditions.
Car
Renault 4CV
The Renault 4CV is a small car that was made by the French company Renault after World War II. It was popular because it was easy to drive and park in crowded cities.
Car
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle is a famous small car that has a unique round shape. It was first made in the 1930s and is very popular around the world.
Term
water-cooled
Water-cooled means the engine uses water to keep it from getting too hot. It's a common way to cool engines in cars today.
Term
inline four
An inline four is a kind of engine with four cylinders lined up in a row. It's a common type of engine used in many cars because it's small and efficient.
Term
fiberglass
Fiberglass is a strong, lightweight material made from tiny glass fibers. It's used in cars to make parts that are tough and don't rust easily.
Company
Micalotti
Micalotti was a car designer who created many interesting and stylish car designs in the past. He worked with different car companies to make them look unique.
Company
Vignale
Vignale was a company in Italy that made special car bodies for different car brands. They were known for their unique and fancy designs.
Car
Triumph TR6
The Triumph TR6 is a classic British sports car that was made in the late 1960s and 1970s. It's known for its unique look and fun driving experience.
Car
BMW E9
The BMW E9 is a vintage car model that was made in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It's known for its stylish look and sporty performance, making it popular among collectors today.
Car
Renault R8
The Renault R8 is a compact car that replaced the 4CV and was made by Renault in the 1960s and 70s. It had a modern design for its time.
Car
Renault A110
The Renault A110 is a famous sports car made by Renault that was popular in racing. It was lightweight and designed for speed and agility.
Car
Alpine A106
The Alpine A106 is a very early sports car made in the 1950s. It was light and helped start the Alpine brand's reputation for making fun cars.
Car
Renault A106
The Renault A106 is a lightweight sports car made by Renault in the 1950s. It had a fiberglass body and was designed for better performance.
Car
Renault A108
The Renault A108 is a sports car that followed the A106 and was made by Renault. It also had a lightweight fiberglass body and was popular in its time.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful a car's engine is. The more horsepower, the faster the car can go and the quicker it can speed up.
Car
Lamborghini Miuras
The Lamborghini Miura is a famous supercar from the 1960s that changed how sports cars are made. It's known for being very fast and luxurious.
Car
Porsche 911 GT3
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a special version of the Porsche 911 that is built for speed and performance, especially on racetracks. It's known for being very fast and fun to drive.
Car
Renault Alpine A310
The Renault Alpine A310 is a small sports car from France that was made in the 1970s and 1980s. It's known for being light and fun to drive.
Car
Hyundai Accent
The Hyundai Accent is a small, affordable car that is easy to drive and great on gas. It's a good option for people who want a reliable vehicle without spending too much.
Car
Fiat Abarth 500
The Fiat 500 Abarth is a sporty version of the small Fiat 500 car. It has a powerful engine and is designed to be fun to drive.
Car
Lotus Elise
The Lotus Elise is a small sports car that is very light and designed for fun driving. It doesn't have a lot of extra features, focusing instead on how it feels to drive.
Car
Lotus Exige
The Lotus Exige is a faster version of the Elise, made for people who love racing and driving on tracks. It's very light and designed to be super fun to drive.
Car
Porsche Cayman
The Porsche Cayman is a small, sporty car that is fun to drive and looks great. It's designed to be fast and handle well, making it a good option for people who love driving.
Car
Ford Gt Model
The Ford Model T is one of the first cars that many people could afford. It was made a long time ago and changed how cars were made and sold.
Car
Porsche 718 Cayman GT4
The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 is a faster and sportier version of the Cayman. It has a powerful engine and is built for people who love to drive on tracks or enjoy a thrilling ride.
Term
4.3 seconds
4.3 seconds means the car can go from a complete stop to 60 miles per hour in that time. It's a way to measure how fast a car can speed up.
Term
quarter mile time
Quarter mile time is how fast a car can go from a complete stop to a distance of a quarter mile. It's a common way to measure how quickly a car can accelerate.
Car
Lotus Amira
The Lotus Emira is a new sports car that is built for both fun driving and everyday use. It has a special design that makes it exciting to drive.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast sports car that is popular for its speed and handling. The 2006 version is known for being powerful and fun to drive.
Car
Ford Excursion
The Ford Excursion is a really big SUV made for people who need a lot of space and power. It's great for towing and carrying lots of passengers.
Car
Mazda Miata
The Mazda Miata is a small, two-seat sports car that is very fun to drive. It's known for being affordable and reliable, making it a popular choice for people who want a sporty car.
Car
Mazda MX-5 Miata
The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a small sports car that is very light and fun to drive. It usually has a convertible roof, which means you can drive it with the top down.
Car
Toyota GR86
The Toyota GR86 is a small, sporty car that is designed for fun driving. It's known for being light and having good handling, making it enjoyable to drive on twisty roads.
Car
Renault Sports Spider
The Renault Sport Spider is a small, open-top sports car made in the 1990s. It's designed for people who want a simple and fun driving experience.
Car
Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS
The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS is the ultimate version of the Cayman, made for serious driving enthusiasts. It has a lot of power and special features that make it really fast and fun on the track.
Car
Morgan Plus Four
The Morgan Plus Four is a classic British sports car that looks very old-fashioned. It's made with a lot of care and combines old-style design with good performance.
LIVE
Bonjour. Bonjour. Je m'appelle Jazon. Je m'appelle Derek, et ça, c'est le Carmage & Show, le voiture moudion show. That is not where the name Carmage & comes from. It's not Carmage &. So, you can't just say Car is voiture and the margin is margin. Therefore, Carmage & in French is voiture, Magon.
I just did. This episode of Carmage & French, it's probably just like Jean or Pierre, because everyone is a Carmage &. Le Jean, which is people. This episode of the Carmage & Show is about the Alpine A110 in which Jason and I have both driven the A110 and discuss what it's like and a little bit of the history of the A110 and Alpine and the relationship with Honno.
And for those of you who actually speak French, I'm so sorry. I'm very sorry, because we've ruined your language over the next hour. But we do so in a charming, caring way, and we love you. Except no one loves the French. Okay, well, I'm going to clap. Thank you for clapping at my statement. I'd like to interrupt this podcast for some news.
Tell us the news, Jason. We're here live, live for us, live, which is always how it is. Usually I've been having some time. But there is an announcement to make, which is that we are at Motorlux, which is at Monterey Car Week. This will be spliced into an episode that won't be appearing there. We're doing another one later on. But we need to mention that we are sponsored by Fredestine Tires.
And we, I think, both used Fredestine Tires to arrive here. I mean, my Fredestine Tires. In fact, I have two cars here. Sorry for the background noise anymore. There's a cobra driving by. Wait, three cobras and a jet taking off. This is the jet set life. Yes, someone. We're going to have to whoa. That sounds good. I'd say that's probably a big block.
It's claims to be super legera. I have two cars here on arrived via 205 55 or 15 Fredestine Sprint pluses. And that's a historic note because that tire size is unique to a certain number of European cars from the 80s. That Jason really likes. Like the 190 E 2.316 Cosworth and the BMW E30 325 when it has 15 inch Euro basket weaves. Here you're good.
And that size was historically underserved, but not anymore. Thanks to Fredestine. There's actually a good tire that is made in those dimensions, which I think hasn't been true. I don't know 15 years.
And last week we did an episode where we joked that I joked and we had to kind of cut it out there. Like I'm like, oh God, like it sounds like sponsored by Fredestine because they did come in afterwards and then sponsor the episode.
But this is journalist Jason review here. That's print plus is my favorite tire for all my vintage cars. Yeah, use print classic on the older cars on the 70s cars. Sprint plus on the 80s cars, which is how I arrived here. I arrived here on Sprint Classics because I drove the Jag down. And so we both arrived free of Fredestines. And that tire we also exercised in our somewhat recent rally as well. And you found them to be very functional for that mission.
So Fredestine actually sent me a set. So the my 2.316 is here as a taco demo. And the E30 is at the Fredestine tire display. They asked to borrow the car. And that was one of the few cars that I don't have Fredestines on.
And so they'll I'm like, well, I'll just swap them from one car. And they're like, no, no, we'll send you another pair. And I'm like, this is just another $180 with the mounting and balancing or whatever it is. And I'm actually only you would complain about free tires.
Yes, that is also true. But actually, I'm not upset about it because I had Yokohama S drives replacement, which is the flea bag.
Flex you. Yeah. And I'm very happy to have the Fredestines on the way.
Well, we're Fredestine family. It seems eight sets of them for my car at this point. And they're not even all in the same car.
No. But yeah, anyway, so thank you, Fredestine, for sponsoring the podcast. And we'll get back to that episode, which was recorded in the dark in the studio with a little French home.
Yeah, it's more about that momentarily. Okay. All right. See you then. Bye. Do you know that one song in French?
Is it Navial hose? No, close because that's in French. That's one of two songs I knew in French.
What is the other pray tell? Do you know if I tell you I don't want to work?
Yeah, it's that's not actually French. I think that the person who sings that song is not a native French speaker.
No, she's very, she's very very much not as judging by her very American accent. But do you know the so it starts out?
Which means I do not want to work.
I do not want to have lunch. I guess it's only to effectively. Yes. Eat lunch. And what's it? It's your turn to say, I love that.
It's I just want to forget. And then I smoke which is like a very non French caricature of what our understanding of what Francis.
So perfect that was perfectly on point as far as I was concerned. I was it's driving the Alpine in the background over there today.
And I started singing about the Alpine while we told we told them already in the cars in the background.
Yeah, I started singing that song and I wonder if Derek knows that because I'm sure you and I know that no one else does.
I think it's was from hotel coasters from that one of their compilations. They used to do whatever year.
It's that did not realize we had that that's a CD collection in common. Also, we're going to have to explain what the disc compact for the younger audience. That's how Spotify used to be.
Sure. That's a good paraphrasing.
Yes. Is this the premier French foiture qu'on aew in the Carmage and Studio?
No, we had a Renault R5 Durbo. No, no, Carmage and Studio. Carmage and Studio.
Oh, Carmage and Studio.
Yes, this is also the Revelation Studio. And the first episode, the premier episode, the revelation I did in Rome, I did Renault R5 Turbo, which was in this very studio.
This is our never carmageinated with a French car in the background. Carmageinated.
The carmageinated partially carmageinated content.
This could be enjoyment.
Is this the first episode that we were talking about? No, we talked about it. No, your salon was in here, wasn't it?
I know your salon was parked outside.
We did an episode about it, but I believe that was before we did the carmage with background cars, if I remember correctly.
Anyway, anyway, so can you buy a French car in the United States?
Oh, it's one down.
It got bored.
It's because it's had enough of our shit. We're not strike.
A premium.
A premium.
A premium.
A premium.
A premium.
And then I go to sleep.
Is this what were you asking before the car?
Can you buy a French car in the United States currently?
No.
Not that I know of.
I mean, I'm trying to think if there are any Nissan products, because of course Nissan and Renault are in bed with one another.
No, I don't believe so.
But as mistresses, not as, or are they married?
They're married for many years.
Oh, so they're having...
They're having...
Nupsholes. They're married.
They're married, yes.
They have mistresses, presumably.
The mistresses are now like Stellantis, and I don't even know.
So many car companies are in bed with each other.
I can't even tell.
Anyway, so we have...
Thanks to the gracious, graciousness of a hero.
Did we talk about this in previous episodes?
No, we have not.
We've not.
So I get a random email from Matt Farrah.
And he's like, hey, this guy was trying to get in touch with you.
He shipped his...
I think he's maybe British...
I haven't spoken to him.
He lives in false, and he shipped his A110 to the East Coast
and decided to drive it across country on vacation,
hitting every racetrack he could,
and then left ditched it at Farrah's place and for storage
and Matt and Zach did a video on it.
And then it's coming in next week.
We get whatever's coming in shortly to do Monterey car week.
And said, hey, if you'd like to drive it.
Put it up from LA.
And it's mostly when I'm sitting here parked.
He told me, take it on a rally, take it on back roads,
just drive it around.
I'm too nervous.
I just don't want to think to happen knowing that this is someone else's car
who...
Why, you don't want to have to take it to the dealer to get it fixed?
Well, the nearest dealer.
And he was like, well, don't worry about it.
Like, I ppf the whole front end.
And we did a rally.
We did a back roads rally.
Which we...
Maybe we'll talk about it next week.
Or last week.
Or last week.
We don't know.
Whatever.
Time doesn't matter on the show.
And I really wanted to take it.
But I thought, what happens if I break it?
Yeah, you would have to take it to the nearest dealer.
Right.
Which would be quite costly.
Maybe Montreal.
Maybe they'd be able to pull these cars in Canada.
Of course not.
But they're French.
So they could at least call the dealer.
Put it through the direct portal to France that is in Montreal.
Yeah, exactly.
Or order something.
I'm sure they have some sort of...
I'm sure they're nicer to each other than they are to Americans.
I think that there's friction between Canadian, French and French.
There's friction between French, French and everybody else.
Anyway, I decided not to take it, which was a shame,
because it would have been a lot of fun.
But it was probably the right thing to do.
But we have some observations.
And you drove the car.
I drove it for, yes, six miles or something like that.
Oh, that's it?
I drove it to the top of the hill on back.
Oh!
Okay, so it was at least a sort of city highway sort of mountain slope.
It's on the highway for one exit.
And yeah, I think I did seven or eight corners in it.
Okay, well, I can't wait to hear all that you have to say about that.
Let's back up and talk about what is the Alpine A110?
Introduced, I believe in 2017.
That is my understanding as well.
I remember seeing one on the road in 2018 in Switzerland.
Okay, that would track.
I am not going to go too in depth on this because I am about to film
a revelations episode on it.
I figured, Walt's here.
You may as well revelate it.
You may as well revelate it.
And that I have an original A110 coming, which is...
Have you researched that yet?
Yeah.
So you know the story of that car?
You can, I want you to tell me.
No, no, no.
Are you probably know better than I do at this point?
I'm not a matter.
I want a different perspective on the story.
So we have that coming as well.
And so we'll talk about this car and how it fits into the modern car world
rather than so much the history.
Or maybe we should probably tell them.
Just do you know what I mean?
Yeah, so does this car's paperwork say that is a Renault or does it say
that it is an Alpine?
Does it say Renault anywhere on it?
I have not seen a single Renault badge anywhere on the car.
It's Alpine everywhere.
I would guess...
Just part of the Formula 1 team rebranding also.
Before that, because that was 2021.
Now, you know I'm going to have to go and look at the paperwork on the car.
I'm sorry.
Keep talking amongst yourself.
Right, so historically Alpine.
Alpine.
Alpine.
I know we have to sit.
So historically Alpine was a separate company from Renault.
And Renault bought Alpine in the probably early first half of the 70s, I'm guessing.
And so 74, was it?
Okay.
And the car was famously very successful as a rally car.
And it was the link between...
Does it say...
Is the link...
Oh, that is French paperwork.
Yes, it's a certificate.
It's a certificate.
It's a matriculation.
It's a macular conception paperwork.
Yeah, it's an Alpine.
It doesn't say Renault anywhere on it.
Okay.
So Alpine was a separate company until Renault bought them in 1974.
The car was rear-enginened and was pretty successful as a rally car.
Pretty successful.
I think it did one, two, three at Monte Carlo.
Twice.
Twice, 71.
Yeah.
And then 73.
And then 73 was the inaugural season of the World Rally Championship.
And it won it outright.
Right.
At first car ever.
And it was a win WRC.
And then 71, I think it was a one, two, three, four finish.
And 73 was a one, two, three, five finish.
So...
I mean, it...
So it was comprehensively kicked the shit out of everything.
Yes, it's the missing link between the launches on either hand, which...
It was also dominated, which would be the full-view, which was front engine in front-wheel drive,
and the straddles, which is the first...
We have discussed it at length, but it's the first purpose built.
Built rally car.
And it's the reason why the A110 stopped being competitive.
Yeah.
So Alpine was not...
It's not really even just...
Just independent company.
It was formed by a guy Jean-Grédele, whose father owned a Renault dealer.
Every war, the dealer was bombed.
And he took the dealership over after the war, built it up.
And then he started to race once he was making enough money to do so, presumably.
Started to race old Renault.
Not in old, but they were new then.
Then new Renault.
That was hot.
That was standard first.
Standard stock cars did quite well and then started modifying them.
Then...
This is an interesting story, actually.
Then made three aluminum bodies to be put onto the four CVs.
So the four CV was the...
Orchevo was the...
It's Renault Volkswagen Beetle.
Yes.
That's a good way to characterize it.
The douchevo, two tax horsepower, is the Citroen.
And then the four CV was the next step up in terms of car.
And I know nothing about the four CV other than that the...
Renault brother, the one surviving Renault brother wound up seeing a preview of the KDF Foggin before the war.
And then was working on making a version of it that...
Improving upon it on the original Porsche design.
And so after the war then started making this four CV, which was very, very much a Volkswagen Beetle.
And it's swing axle or suspension.
The front end suspension was very similar.
Doors.
Doors.
More doors.
More doors, yes.
But the original prototype for the four CV was a Beetle.
There was a Beetle.
So now you have this rear engine.
It was not air-cooled.
It was water-cooled.
But it was a water-cooled inline four in the back of the four CV.
And so...
Radilei had a aluminum body made for the car.
He made three of them.
The second one wound up going to the states to be evaluated.
There's a company in Pennsylvania.
I can't remember the name of the top of my head, that specialized in plastics.
And he was looking at making a fiberglass version of the car.
So that car wound up going to the states.
That deal fell apart.
Nothing ever came of it.
That car sort of was sold to a local car enthusiast.
This is bizarre.
Because I'm reading this book and it says a local car enthusiast named Raymond Buckwater.
And I have a friend of mine who's named Raymond Buckwater.
And he lives in that same area of the country.
And I started thinking about this and going, wait a second, 25 years ago,
20-something years ago, I was at their family's farm.
And he showed me this little blue thing in the barn and asked me if I knew what the fuck it was.
And I had no idea.
It was this blue, tiny, little, itty-bitty car.
And I sat in it or opened the door at least and did no idea what it was.
That's the car.
Turns out that that car sat in the barn for 20-something years.
And now, 10-something years ago,
Redelay's son found it, purchased it from the Buckwater family, brought it back to France.
And it's now back in service.
Oh, which is cool.
Completely wild.
And no one does it look like?
What does it look like?
Does it look like an A110?
It's 50% of the way to an A110.
It's pretty cool.
He's really weird double headlights right at the...
It's got like a pointy front end and it's got this bizarre double headlight sort of in the center over there.
Pretty little thing, but just bizarre.
Anyway, so he made three of those.
And then then wound up in a partnership with, I think it was his brother-in-law or somebody.
And then they figured out a way to make the bodies out of fiberglass in Europe.
And then he had a Micalotti design the car.
And Micalotti is responsible for a lot of really cool designs of the era.
You will have a list in your head of them.
Because I...
Yeah, so Micalotti started designing cars for Vignale.
So a lot of the weird looking coach built for our race from 1959.
1953 and earlier, we're designing a Micalotti, but he also did like the triumph TR6.
And like all kinds of Vignale-bodied stuff.
Also, I mean, he...
What else did Micalotti?
Is it the triumph sprint?
Did he do some BMW stuff, too?
He did the concept, whatever the garbage was a reference to, I think.
And maybe he did the re-style on the...
Not the newer class, the E9.
But yes, he designed a lot of different things.
He was a designer and he designed things.
Anyway, Micalotti's on the cars.
They made the bodies that are fiberglass, and they wound up...
In France.
In France.
Yeah.
They wound up...
These bodies wound up on not the 4CV anymore, but it was on the R8, which was the next replacement for that car.
So they were Renault floor plans, floor pans basically, with sort of sexy little bodies on them.
And thus began this...
It was an A106, then 108, then 110.
It was just as the Renault version progressed this.
So A110, I'm going to put my phone on, do not disturb.
The car is texting me that it wants a break in a cigarette.
So the car sort of came out as a 51 horsepower little street car, basically, as the A110.
It's wound up with 180 horsepower at its peak, and the goal behind the car was,
like lightness, light weight.
And going back to appeared reviews of the original A110.
I mean, they basically couldn't have said more nice things about it.
It was incredibly well-loved.
And for a number of reasons, number one, the ride was wonderful.
But then the handling for a rear in French.
Typical French.
The handling was...
Everyone described it sort of as neutral,
without the snap oversteer that you'd get from any of the German minutes.
Rear engine stuff, i.e. horses.
And Volkswagen Beetle.
So even though it was a swing arm...
Yeah, rear axle, Pindaloxa, at the back.
So...
Yeah, apparently driven it yet?
I have not.
So...
Or have I?
For the episode for the A110 episode, I found a competition A110, an original one.
And I'm hoping to drive that before we start filming.
But really spicy noises.
They make some pretty cool sounds.
Apparently they're tiny.
And the proportions are such.
I think these cars are a little bit like Miura's,
where the proportions hide how small they are.
And then you're like, oh, these wheels are 13s.
Yeah.
But they look...
They're proportioned in such a way that they really look like much bigger cars than they are.
And the first time you see them in person, you're like, wow, very, very small.
There's quite a lot about that.
And I'm going to end period reviews about how it's so rare to find a small car that's well proportioned.
Yeah.
Typically, they're bubbly with a cartoonish, exactly.
But yeah, apparently this is overhangs or too short to have any useful form
and you stuck with the package of what a human is shaped like
and to the wheels and all that stuff.
So yeah.
So that's the original A110.
Did really, really well in Rally.
I would love to drive one.
I have never had one.
Well, you should show up for the revelations.
You wouldn't steal it.
I'm sure the owner won't care.
It has offered, actually, to me to drive it before it's wrong with you.
I know.
Time to get in life gets in the way.
So A110 had a long run.
I think it was 11 years.
Some of that.
Early 60s to late, like 76, 77, I think.
It was 15 years.
I have it in my notes.
It's somewhere quite a long run.
It's sold quite well.
They made them in Mexico too.
They made them in Brazil.
They made them in Mexico.
They made them in Switzerland.
They sort of made all over the place in kits
with parts that were supplied by Alpín.
The company was actually named Alpín by Redelay
in sort of celebration of all of his successes
in rallies in the Alps.
Alpín was a small agile car ideal for small Alpine roads.
Right.
Alpín roads.
Not realizing, actually, that the year before he incorporated
the Sunbeam Alpine had come out in the UK.
And so there's always been a branding problem for Alpín.
Because number one, you have Alpín, which was a Sunbeam
and then Alpina, which is the German Alpine brand for BMW.
It was a BMW tuner, wasn't it?
It was quite some years later.
That is true.
That is years later.
But Sunbeam came first.
Yes.
So that's the sort of rough history of Alpín.
After that, the replacement for the A110 was the A310,
which was also rear-enginened with originally a four-cylinder
and then eventually a PRV.
PRV, yep.
V6, which was eventually also then turbocharged.
Correct.
And this would be, then it became the A610 and the GTA turbo,
which produced well into the 90s.
1995.
Production was killed off in 1995.
I frothed over the way that car looks.
I think it was stunning.
I have not yet driven one, but I would like to travel.
There's got to be one.
I wanted to do a revelations, actually.
The revelations that I have a handwritten list of all the revelations
candidates that we wanted to do.
And I think the fourth car down when I came up with a serious concept
was A110 slash A310.
And as it turns out, I would love to get the two cars together,
but I just really pushed cramped for time on the scripting
for this one.
So we're just going to keep it originally A110 and new A110.
And maybe one day I'll be able to do a 310 episode.
310, 610 GTA episode.
But that car I saw one at Radwood in Austin a year and a half ago.
And it was it was in a plant emoji purple.
And I just cars gorgeous.
I saw one on the street in Paris, of course,
a red, a red or a 310 with the GT pack with the flares
and shit on it and it had like an exhaust on it.
It was very, very memorable.
And then I saw a French blue one.
Actually, that one was also a 310 on the Autobahn in Germany
going like 210K.
Nice.
And I was like, okay, I was in the GT3 at that time.
And that was a very memorable.
It was like golden hour in the French metallic blue.
It was a very cool experience.
Yeah, they're just stunning.
These cars that just don't even exist to most people.
And of course, my whole life, the only thing I knew about them
was that I read in car magazines thought that it was an Alpine A310.
And I didn't know how it was pronounced, obviously.
There's a nice benefit of doing videos instead of car magazine stuff.
I don't have to tell people how to pronounce stuff.
I just pronounce it.
And then people tell you in the comments that you've pronounced it wrong.
Even though you have pronounced it correctly.
Well, that's it.
Yeah, we've got a lot of shit about this because Jaguar.
You know, we call it Jaguar.
And then the Brit's yell at us that it's Jaguar.
And no, I'm sorry, Jaguar.
We've discussed this as a word in the English language
that we pronounce the way we do.
Same like aluminum.
And then I'm yelled at for insisting on the correct pronunciation of Porsche,
although they do yell at me and say it's Porsche,
because it's Swavian slang, or Swavian accent, so it's Porsche instead of Porsche.
And then I don't apply the same rigor on Japanese and Korean car companies.
I'll call them Hyundai, for example.
Porsche calls themselves Porsche in their US marketing materials.
I would say I typically call people what they want to be called,
except that I called you hyphen and refused to relent.
And so tough.
Yeah, nobody has died.
I'm sure many of them have found it from that.
Okay.
Anyway, so yeah, given this great opportunity to drive an A110 in the States,
you know, hop in this car.
Don't know the owner.
Don't know anything about it.
All I'm told, I showed up at Ferris Studio.
We did the podcast down there and he was like,
tell me what to think of it.
Here's the key.
Tata.
Figure it out.
You know, hopefully you don't get arrested.
Didn't get arrested.
Made it here.
Car is.
It's spectacular.
Really?
You think so?
I just think we've been lied to.
Like the car industry.
What has, what, oh, about how we have to make heavy cars that suck?
I mean, is this thing, could there possibly be a modern car that lights your hair on fire
to the extent of the old stuff that we drive?
No.
I just don't think that's possible.
You know, once you have structural rigidity and isolation in the way that modern cars do so well,
you just, you don't have the true insanity.
And when you're dealing with a car like this, which is a transverse four cylinder with a turbo on it
and a dual clutch automatic that's sort of out of more pedestrian cars,
and the layout is sort of shared with more pedestrian cars.
You're just not going to get the, you know, carbureted.
This sounds like an alpha four C.
It's exactly the same formula as a four C.
And it's about the same weight, and it's not made out of carbon.
But yeah, so four C we were told, that was really expensive as a car, right?
That was 70 grand.
70 grand.
This would be about the same.
More carbon chassis, though.
Pretty exciting for something that looks like that for the carbon chassis for 70 grand is 10 years ago.
I love a four C.
I think that.
I mean, from a, anyone who gave that car a bad review,
missed the point.
And I started out giving, I was on the launch of that car,
and I started out complaining about the interior and complaining about the sound
and complaining about all this stuff from the passenger seat.
And I was there with Aaron Robinson, who was at car driver at the time now,
works for a hybrid media.
And he was like, I mean, he's just, you know, sort of whining with his glasses.
He was like, would you shut the fuck up?
You're the problem.
And I was like, what?
And he's like, you know, not everything needs to be a fucking German car.
And he was totally right.
And as soon as I got behind the wheel of the car, I shut right the fuck up.
That car is deeply flawed in so many delightful, delicious ways.
And.
It's like an Abarth, but doesn't sound as good.
It doesn't sound quite as good as the Abarth, 500 Abarth.
But yeah, so get in this car.
And the first thing you notice is it is huge inside.
Yes.
Enormous.
It feels very, very different.
That was one of the notes that I made to myself when I got in.
I said, oh, this is like a real car.
When you get in a four C or an Elise, it doesn't feel like a real car.
It feels like some sort of device that has been sort of foisted upon you
at, you know, masquerading as a car.
This feels like a real car.
And in some sense, in that sense, it's a bit like a Porsche.
Yeah.
Yeah, fair point.
To me, the continuum goes Elise's last exige, four C, this came in,
in terms of less least car to most cars.
But you would also, that same continuum would also describe their size,
20 enough.
So this car is 21 inches longer than an Elise.
Really?
21.
I stepped into it thinking, like I stepped over to it, thinking, oh, it's so petite.
And it's like this tiny little thing is the size compared to a Cayman.
It is smaller than a Cayman.
Eight inches, I think smaller than a Cayman.
So it, but the, what it has that a Cayman doesn't is 52 feet of headroom above you.
It's, first of all, first of all, getting in.
You know getting into an Elise is a contortionist act.
Nope.
Door open super wide.
No high sales.
You just hop into this car like it's a normal thing.
And that's where there's a big chasm that exists between 4C and A110 on that four car continuum
to me.
And that's, you think 4C is difficult?
I'd say the 4C is closer to the Elise than it is to this.
Oh, okay.
I don't remember the 4C being difficult, but I always compared the 4C to an Elise.
So that was, you know, that was the standard by which it was judged.
But none of them have that much room.
This thing has room behind your seat, like behind the seat between you and the firewall.
Huge headroom.
The seats, this is a GT model.
This is an early GT, which means it has plush seats, like power seats.
And it is genuinely comfortable.
Like you get in and you're like, this is a real seat with real bolsters and real padding.
There's a real armrest on the door that's got like an inch thick of padding in it.
So your elbow is comfortable.
I mean, I got in the car and I drove five hours straight and just didn't think anything on it.
It's a real car.
The genuine real car, which is staggering.
Is it, is the interior up to Porsche standards?
And more importantly, like Porsche press car standards that have like $38,000 with the interior trim options?
No.
Yeah.
But no, where should it be at the price?
I wouldn't want it to be.
You know, especially if that meant it was going to be 550 pounds heavier, like a 4-cylinder came in as.
Yes.
Or 550,000 pounds more in price or whatever.
All those options cost in a Porsche.
Well, okay.
So I did do, we can't do one for one price.
It's a price adjustments here because we don't, this car is not for sale here.
But I did compare the price of a base 4-cylinder came in in Germany and a base IPN A110.
And it's a 24% price premium for the IPN.
IPN 24% more expensive.
Really?
That was a tall pile of Euro notes.
It is.
But then I also adjusted the Porsche for the equipment level that comes standard on this car.
Like, things like, you know, this is like this one, for example, has comfortable seats that are partially power.
It has heated seats.
It's got, you know, all kinds of Porsche, you know, the Porsche options game.
Like you have to pay for everything.
And so this would effectively be a $70,000 car.
The base came in as a $70,000 car.
This would be like a $90,000 car.
But comparably equipped that Porsche is more like 80, 78, 80.
So it would be something along the lines of 12 to $15,000 more expensive than a Cayman for this car.
I would 100% pay that because a base came into me as off the table with that horrendous flat four.
Makes all the power.
I mean, it makes great power, but the sound it makes is just, yeah, on a remote consideration.
So, but it is less practical.
It has two trunks.
It's a front in a trunk like Cayman, but they're both smaller.
No interior storage.
What's over?
Like, no.
Binnacles, no glove box, no nothing.
And I think that, you know, that's fine.
And at least that effectively did that.
Didn't bother me.
But this one has a stereo system.
Did you listen to the stereo?
No.
Oh, I should have paired your phone and done it.
So it's got this, like, the world's most ghetto-ass touchscreen.
It's genuinely terrible.
Yeah, it looks vintage.
That was updated, I think, for 2020.
These cars got, or 2021.
This is a 20.
Whatever it is.
2021, they got a car play.
But this touchscreen is genuinely like, doofy.
But it has a focal stereo in it.
I assume it's pronounced focal.
I've never, after all, that fucking speech about, about pronunciation.
Now I'm going to have to look at that.
Is that an, it's a high-end stereo brand.
What is it, French?
It's a bum.
Presumably not.
I'm going to have to have a stereo pronunciation.
I'm looking.
You can talk amongst yourself.
I'm looking now on my...
So the question, of course, is, is it available as a manual?
And is it available with any number of cylinders, besides four?
And the answer to both those questions is no.
This is a Nissan engine, you said?
It's a Nissan 1.8.
All right, the word focal is generally pronounced with a short A sound, like foe call.
Okay, so it's focal.
Anyway, it's got two big, what it looks like.
It looks bigger than six.
It's probably eight inch, well, first in the, in the doors.
And then tweeters on the dash that are prominent.
And the fucking sound system in this car.
And I know this is ridiculous to talk about this first.
But I, my first experience with the car was hop in an L.A.
And just get out of dodge before the traffic gets, gets terrible.
Just get on the freeway.
And oh my god.
Like jammed for five hours through the desert with like singing my ass off.
Great sound stage, beautiful travel, beautiful vocals.
Just it, it's a real car.
Like it's actually quieter.
I looked it up in, in German tests.
It's actually quieter inside than it came in.
One decibel by most speeds.
So you get great seats, fucking killer stereo, good visibility out of the thing.
And then the ride quality is French.
This one's lowered.
It's on lowering springs.
And it's quite a bit lower.
I think it's 30 mil, which is an over an inch.
Doesn't scrape any literally anywhere.
It does the emura thing.
The Lotus emura thing, yeah.
Softer than an emura.
It's definitely got body roll, but really well controlled.
So as a road trip vehicle, all I kept thinking is, fuck if my Elise did this?
Like if the Elise, if I could get in and out of like this.
And if it was a bit bigger like this, so that I wasn't scared that I was going to get run over.
Like this could be a daily.
So this car weighs 500 pounds more than an Elise and 500 pounds less than it came in.
It's the difference.
Yeah.
Thereabouts.
So there's 250 horsepower.
It is a Nissan 18 direction injection turbo.
I actually didn't, I didn't, the motor did not offend me actually.
It does not, it certainly makes the power.
And it's got great top end.
It pulls really hard to, I think it's a 6700 RPM refinement.
It pulls really hard up top.
And the induction noise.
So our friend, our good old friend who's been on the show Nick Marcodante
was in the car with me, and he's like, that's fake.
There is no way a turbocharged engine can have that much induction noise.
Because it's genuinely out.
It's sort of like Porsche came in GT4 where, you know, like off idles,
you just start moving and just, and it's not, he's right.
It's very difficult to do that.
So I have yet to pull the engine cover.
If you can't see the engine off the, without this thing, without gymnastics.
But I want to see if it's a tube.
And they've come up with some sort of tuned tube resonance thing
or if it's a speaker doing it.
But anyway, that engine is right here and it's very vocal.
And I like that.
And in sport mode, I noticed that the exhaust is also making some noises
but not like in a terrible crackle-tune way, but in a sort of believable, credible,
sort of pleasant way overrun, overrun, especially.
So I thought that was clever.
Altogether, not an unpleasant engine despite the fact that it's on paper
is not a very exciting thing.
I mean, it's not musical, but it's not offensive at all.
Oh, but it's four cylinders go, especially turbocharged forces.
It's turbocharged, yeah.
This is how you, you know, Honda's.
Yes.
Like, can you imagine if this thing had a fucking case series?
Or a manual transmission?
Or a ball.
Yeah.
Preferably.
The transmission is good.
It's really good.
It's just, you know, it's a seven-speed dual clutch.
So interestingly enough, in regular mode, it's perfectly fine and drive to drive a normal.
In sport, the transition between overrun and on-off gas is violent.
So you're, you know, you're creeping through traffic and it's, boom, boom, boom, boom.
I don't do any of that.
I noticed it.
And I was really getting sick of it, because I wound up getting stuck in traffic on that drive home.
And then I put it in normal mode, and that just completely went away.
And I thought, why would someone ever program this fuckery in here?
Like, this is just something you don't know.
It could have been an artifact or something else that someone wanted.
Yeah, but you can't, I mean, you can't make a car on driveable traffic to your passengers.
Like, it's just, yeah, you put it in normal.
You just, okay, I guess.
Fine.
Sure.
But what I love most about the transmission is that the, the shifters are enormous, enormous
and fixed in the column.
Yeah.
And metal.
Yeah.
When I got in the car, I was like, oh, Jason, we'll love this.
Yeah.
It's correct.
We did love this.
I did.
Yeah.
The, so Farrah, I'm annoyed that I had to admit this.
He was completely right.
Not that I didn't, I think he's Farrah.
But he was like, he said something McLaren, and I sort of just lost over that.
This is a Fisher price my first McLaren.
If you want to know if you don't have the opportunity to get in like a 570, you know, 570 S or something.
But you do have the opportunity to somehow get one of these.
If you're in Europe, for example, one is far more attainable than the other.
Correct.
If you're in Europe, this is a dollar store 570.
In that, you get in, your legs are stretched straight out and it's a long distance to the pedals.
So the driving position immediately reminded me of McLaren.
The shifters on McLaren are not, I think they're on the steering wheel.
But not this good, but the way the transmission shifts immediately reminded me of McLaren.
The intake noise reminded me of, I was forced on to intake versus a flat plane crank V8.
Those are the same thing as far as I can tell.
Right.
Same shit.
Plus the way the turbo is a bit vocal in this car.
It all felt McLaren.
The steering is super light.
The ride quality is great.
It all felt McLaren.
And just the way they manage boost and on part throttle.
You sort of make these instant shifts and then it comes back from the shift with more throttle opening.
So that the level of acceleration is consistent after the gear change.
It just encourages you to play with it because it's so smooth.
And just make these heavy load mid RPM, like 3500 RPM shifts.
Just for fun.
Steering is electrically assisted.
It's not the most communicative on the straightaway.
But I finally did earlier today, get it on a back road.
And fuck me.
Really?
Oh my God.
I was entertained for sure.
It felt, you know, actually the characteristics that it felt like I was like,
I'm doing something.
I'm involved.
This has texture and much more interesting than a Porsche actually.
Yeah.
Was the sort of, that's the headline for me.
Was that it was somehow much more interesting than a Porsche.
I like to hear it.
You know, if...
Can you say that again?
Later.
Okay.
I just, I'm wondering now also if you gave it a really great powertrain to go with...
I mean, this powertrain is very pleasant.
And there's nothing wrong with it.
But you gave it something where the powertrain became a centerpiece.
We have a great shifter with a great manual with six cylinder noises
that were naturally aspirated.
I think this thing would be really...
I mean, it would shit on the Cayman GT4 or Cayman GTX4 leader.
Yeah.
So it does have the same power to weight or slightly even better than...
I guess the 300...
So there's a 300 horsepower variant of this engine.
And that does have a better power to weight ratio than a Cayman GTX4 leader.
This one, I did a quickie run in Mexico on an airstrip.
And it was 4.3 to 60.
And launch control is very easy.
You just sort of pull pedals in and go.
It's the softest launch you'll have again.
Sort of just gradually fades the clutch in.
And you can actually see that.
I'll probably put this in as an insert.
You can see that the genuine fade of clutch engagement off the line.
So the fact that it did pull off a 4.3 is pretty...
Without dumping.
Without an aggressive launch.
Means it's actually faster than like a Porsche that would pull off a 4.3.
So you can sort of see the G chart right there.
It's just very slow build.
So I kept my foot in it a little bit longer in Mexico on the runway.
And got a quarter mile time.
But it was pretty significantly uphill towards the end.
And I did one direction.
This is not an official number.
But I got a 12...
It's 12.85, which would go up to 12.9 at 109 miles an hour.
It's fucking quick.
And it just pulls and pulls and pulls and pulls and pulls and pulls and pulls.
Really...
Aligning the 1.8 literness of it all.
Yeah.
So you enjoyed the chassis as well.
Yeah.
And what I loved most about it was that it just didn't give a fuck about bumps.
Yeah.
Like there are cars that don't...
Like an Amira.
Yeah.
I think it rides better than an Amira.
I remember the Amira being very...
I was very pleased with how the Amira behaved on a bumpy background.
And so as long as it serves that minimum content of being acceptable and enjoyable
to drive as fast as you would like on a bumpy back road, then I'm a happy camper.
I couldn't get this thing to scrape or hit anywhere we did.
I think we did get the Amira once on our drive.
It was one big...
It was a very...
It was Carmel Valley Road, which is extremely tortuous.
It was a very hilly part of Mexico.
And that...
Yeah.
I mean that...
I think we've talked about this in the past that my boss was in a 06 Corvette
and turned around on that road.
Like he made it mile or two and forget it and turned around.
And we did a full-speed blast and never slowed us down.
I think this car is even lower like this was more compliant.
And the wild thing is there's a corner right around the corner from here
that you know what, it's sort of like a 120-degree or a 100-naked uphill.
Is this the...
Oh, this is the...
No, this is right around the corner right here.
Oh yes, yes, yes.
As soon as you come around the corner, it's sort of banked a little bit.
You turn in and it then becomes two lanes wide.
So you have a lot of room to gather it up.
Should anything go wrong?
And a lot of stuff goes wrong because there are a couple of big heaves
and bumps in the middle of this corner that will make a lot of cars sound like
they're cracking in half and will throw some cars violently offline.
I came around this thing at full song all four tires squealing
and those bumps not only didn't upset the car, didn't exist.
They just were gone.
This little thing sent a bunch of little Frenchmen out in front
and repaved the surface and then ground all the bumps down
and then put them back once I was down.
It was genuinely unbelievable.
And I just think, wow, like, why do we not have French cars?
With roads as shitty as they are in America, we deserve...
Soft suspension and soft seats is the French way.
Yeah.
Still today, interesting to know because I don't drive a lot of modern French cars.
Well, this was a lot of...
I wonder...
So remember, the original I110 was rear-enginened.
This is mid-enginened.
And this is...
You could say a cynical exercise in style...
Yeah, noodle.
Yeah.
Although this isn't quite cartonish in the same way that...
No, but you take the recycle the aesthetic and it's superimposed on something
that mechanically is not close to the original formula.
But when I drove it, I wrote a whole ton of notes, obviously.
And when I was going through and doing the research on the original I110,
and there were so many things, I'm like, oh, that clearly they baked in.
Like, sensitivity to side wins, for example.
This car, one of my notes on I5 was, I would not v-max this car.
Like, I would not take it to 150 miles an hour.
I think it actually does 160.
According to some of the test in Germany, like, I just wouldn't do it.
It was hard enough to keep in its lane at 85 miles an hour
with a pretty aggressive side wind.
And then I was talking to the owner of the car and he said, yeah,
I think it was Harris that said the car was uncontrollable on side wins.
Okay, yeah.
So I thought the Germans would never let this happen.
Right.
And then I came into a corner, an off-camber corner,
where I was doing a lot of breaking towards it on the drive that I just did.
And it was very much...
Happily?
It was happy to explore. It was like a puppy.
Let's go over here. Let's go over there.
I mean, it took a lot of steering just to keep it in its lane.
And again, I thought the Germans would never let this happen.
And then I slapped myself on the wrist and I was like, and thank God,
that the French allowed this.
But that was a characteristic of the original I went in was like,
side wins sensitivity and induction noise is...
Walking around under breaking.
Yeah.
But also supple ride.
And just, you know, the...
Some of the period reviews were just talking about like, we've never...
We don't understand how I've been got a car with a swing axle
to possibly handle like this.
And I just think I don't know how they got a car with this little visible
wheel travel and whatever else to ride like this.
I don't get it.
Yeah.
Overall, a delight.
Yeah.
A reminder that we need more things like Alpha 4 C's.
Yeah.
I was very impressed by the extent to which it actually had genuine character.
For a modern car, I just assume it's not going to be present.
And I really thought like, this is so much more entertaining and engaging
and interesting than a Porsche.
There's a severity and like buttoned down and goodness to a Porsche that is, you know,
boring.
Worrying.
Yeah.
I would love to drive this back-to-back with a base, a mirror of 4 cylinder.
Because I did drive that.
Yes, because they are formulaically similar.
And that they are both turbocharged 4 cylinder, two pedal.
I think the mirror is quite a bit bigger.
I mean, I haven't...
I haven't looked up the specs on size.
And it's certainly a lot heavier.
Because they are over 3,000 pounds.
But that 4 cylinder, I drove it once.
I don't think I particularly cared for it.
I was on a little race track at that treadmill.
I talked about that treadmill experience from discount tire.
It was just a little bit of an on track sort of excursion.
But that engine is not pleasant in any other application.
So this, together with that, would be a really hell of a comparison test.
And I think I would choose this.
Despite the mirror's goodness.
Now, a mirror being available with a manual on this.
With the V6.
Yes.
There's no contest.
But there's also probably that would have to be...
What was that car now?
$120,000?
Yes.
No, $30,000.
I didn't pay attention to the final pricing when it came out.
Yeah.
What about looks?
We've not talked about looks.
I think the front end is a little bit...
Oh, complicated.
I love the...
I mean, obviously it's a throwback to the original with...
I think it's wonderful.
I think it's pretty.
I think the back end is fucking spectacular.
Yeah.
That's the light signature.
What about...
Let's return to the front.
What about the front?
Do you find...
I just...
It's a secondary lights.
I mean, I know I love that.
I love it.
I think it is defining.
I think if without it, it would be totally anonymous.
It would look like a fucking Cayman.
Yeah.
Look at the shape of those headlights in there.
Yeah, or a...
I see a little GT86 also in the shape of the headlights.
The secondary lights to me make it instantly identifiable
and give it an identity that is very like unambiguous
and distinctive and unique also.
I mean, look, saying it's busy doesn't...
You know, I don't like it.
I love the way the car looks front and back.
And the light signature at front,
when of course it turns its lights off,
but it's great because it's those secondary driving lights
not only have DRLs in them,
but also they flash.
Hold on.
I will give you guys a demonstration of this.
And the central spine is also super...
super acknowledgement of...
You got nothing.
Oh, there you go.
Oh, yeah.
So you get uberholt prestige.
They get out of my damn way,
looking for use on the Autobahn.
Are you going to leave those functioning?
So yes, the central spine also is very
much an acknowledgement of the original A110,
which I think is a handsome car as well.
Yeah.
I mean, certainly given its size,
to be able to pull off proportions like that at that size.
No, I think this is...
I mean, great.
I will say it's amazing how few people notice it,
because people have just checked out.
Every motorcyclist give a thumbs up,
every one in any cool car was like...
Yeah.
But, you know, they're sort of regular.
The average person...
Yeah, I mean, I guess you would read it as
general sports car shape.
Maybe it doesn't read that differently
from a GT86 or a Porsche or...
I mean, if you think this thing looks
that much like a GT86, you know?
Well, I don't know.
The average person is like,
that's not a crossover.
It's a sports car.
And sports car-shaped cars are, you know,
GT86 and Miata are probably the most commonly seen
out of the roads here, or Z, maybe.
I don't know.
I was thinking about...
Funny you mentioned Miata.
I was thinking on the back row.
It was like, this thing absolutely shits.
Other than the fact that it's not a convertible,
which always adds another layer to the experience,
it just shits on a Miata,
because it's light.
It's not a manual.
And it's not a manual.
But it's...
And it's not naturally aspirated.
Yes, chassis-wise, though,
because when the Miata team said,
oh, well, we need to have body roll to communicate
the sense of sportiness at 6.10,
or whatever.
But it's a disorderly...
Exactly.
This is how you tune a 2,400 pound car.
Yeah.
It's chassis.
And it's all the fun of the Miata
with the roll and the compliance
and whatever else,
without anything out of control.
And then, of course, I realize it is also
more than twice the price of a Miata.
So, I mean...
But not...
It's the same price,
or no, it's more than a Z, also, I guess.
Oh, the Z can go fuck itself.
Yeah, the Z has no part in any of this.
This is not...
This is not.
Right?
I'm trying...
And the GR86, I guess, does have...
Is relevant in this conversation,
but it is a four-seater-ish.
I mean, it does have a backseat.
Yeah.
I adore that car.
It's a backseat belt,
so you can't drive it in the car pool lane.
Yes.
Unless you remove the seats, or just...
No, you still can't.
Really?
Yes.
Did you...?
I'll add you to the...
Did you find this out the hardware, Mr. Dare-Tempo?
Mm-hmm.
In Mexico.
Mexico is the JV lines.
I didn't know that was a thing.
If that...
Look, GR86, if...
If I've said a million times,
if it was a shooting break, I don't want one.
But the real problem...
The engine of that car is not...
Is another one that's just not a highlight.
If it was an inline for it,
if it had the Miatas in line for it,
it would be much better for it.
But...
I'm bummed.
Genuinely bummed that we don't have this car in the US.
So you think there's a market or a niche for it?
Well, talk me through,
who buys this car and what is it for?
It's someone who is not going to spend Porsche money,
but isn't by a Porsche because...
What's the decision tree that leads you to this car?
The overwhelming feeling that I got when I was driving this,
driving it around...
This would be my daily.
This wouldn't be a special thing.
Was when I was in my early 20s,
my good friend of mine in Germany had an MGF.
He had a string of really cool cars.
He had a Renault five-cylinder thing
for a very brief moment of time,
that crazy Renault spider thing.
Those weren't five cylinders.
You're talking about sports spider,
the thing that's a shoe that has no carpets,
there's no yellow.
No, later than that,
it was that what the crazy tail lights?
Why am I fucking blanking on this?
Fiat.
Oh, Fiat.
Yeah, the Fiat five-cylinder Fiat.
That was a Chris Bangle designed car.
Exactly.
I know.
I'm thinking of my French.
The 20 valve,
turned off the five-cylinder Fiat.
He just had a bunch of really cool cars.
It reminded me of the MGF,
and he was a person who just was in his 20s
was like in his 20s and he had a good job and needed something fun to drive to work every day
and was kind of sick of E30s and you know that kind of sort of normal shit. And one of having
this fucking bizarro impractical pain in the ass little convertible that leaked every time
it rained which is continually because it's Europe. And Bluehead Gaskets all the time because
it a rover case series engine in it. But it was kind of the perfect city car until you got
it sideways and then it would spin and try to kill you. And I just kept thinking.
Who's doing that in a city anyway besides you? Well, that car you would do it. It would
at me, me, I did it a lot. But he spun it too. I mean, it was just in the rain that car was a
fucking handful. And I just think this is the perfect replacement for that manual aside, right?
We're stuck in in the past. But like this would be the perfect like I have to commute to work.
I'm always by myself. I just want a little isolation tank with a really characterful engine
and a great stereo and great seats. And I don't care that I can't go and do a $400
Costco run in it. The best daily driver for a young sort of enthusiast executive type.
Because it's expensive enough that you have to have a really, you have a big job to be able to pull
it off. Sure. But yeah, I don't know how big of a market there is for that. And that's probably
I don't have any people who can afford to buy those cars and people who can afford to buy those cars
get big brands, you know, you buy a Porsche or a Lotus currently. Right. And I think most people
can. And so you can most people can't even afford to buy Miata at this point. And so it's a car
that doesn't exist. It's a bachelor car. That's what you're describing. I get a bachelor car.
But do we don't have bachelors in this in this day and age? No, do we have people who are
involuntarily? No, there's so many other parents. I mean, that's the thing is that whole,
the whole idea of somebody in their 20s who's doing really well making a lot of money that's kind
of gone. And so, you know, everyone I know that's in their 20s. It's doing great is either
living at home with their parents scraping to get by and they're driving some shitbox 10, 15, 25
year old car. And they can't do a $90,000 car. I can't do a $90,000 car. You can't do a $90,000
thing. I mean, that's a lot of money. Yeah. So it's a shame because I wish the economics worked.
I just don't think it does now. This does do things that Elise could never have
done. Sure. And if this is price adjusted, at least money.
Would you, okay, so would you buy this or an Amira? If it were a V6 manual, Amira.
They would have to be there. I don't do automatics. As far as automatics go, this is one of the
least offensive. It's not perfect. It's not a Porsche PDK. I love the idea of PDK's launch control.
Okay. So what level of Cayman would it have to be where you would choose the Cayman over this car?
Oh, I mean, I would choose any of the Cayman four liters over this.
Okay. So you would choose this over any four cylinder Cayman, but if it were a six cylinder
Cayman, then you would choose the Cayman. What if it were a six cylinder PDK? You still choose
the Cayman? Sorry. I'm just like, I'm the comment section right now.
That's okay. I think there's Valley question. A six cylinder PDK Cayman I couldn't do because
I would you choose this over that? Absolutely. Because I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing
that a six cylinder PDK Cayman, when I could have had a six cylinder manual. And that engine
like automatics work far better with turbocharged engines or I should say turbocharged engines
work better with automatics anyway. And so if I'm going to go through the misery of a
fucking turbo, then I might as well just fully emasculate myself and get the fucking automatic.
I can't wait for the comments on this. But when you have an engine that's as glorious as
that Porsche four liter, like I'm sorry, unless you have a disability, there is no excuse,
especially when that manual is that good. Yeah. So okay. So there you go. Jason would rather have
the A110 than a PDK GTS 4.0 or a GT4 RS or a GT4 RS. Yeah. Okay. I don't. There's your
bombshell actually. Jason would rather have the A110 over a GT4 RS. Yeah. When these cars turn
25, like everyone's better start saving their fucking money. The other thing I will add to this
and this is a unique reflection of our use cases is that this would be a much more fun rally car
than a GT4 RS because the GT4 RS is so low. You know, I'm automatically discard any car that
can't go 10, 10s or as fast as I dare to go without scraping. And all these, any Porsche GT
product that I've ever experienced will scrape on the kinds of roads that we drive on.
Yeah. I will say limit-handedly wise, I didn't exactly, again, this is someone else's car
and I respect that. So I wasn't about to ride it off plus I can't do it in a revelations episode
on a steaming ball of stuff. And I've already had one insurance claim so far this year,
let me not have another one. Don't forget, go to jasonsetme.com for
one year. But I swear I won't say that again. But it does understeer a lot. I mean, and this is
modified with springs and then it does have the larger anti-roll bar at the rear from the S,
which is 50% stiffer than stock. And the owner-
Is that make it assier? In the owner said, the car was brilliant on track. On the
sort of roads that I was driving it on, I just got some squealage from the front wheels.
Yes. I ran out of front tire faster or sooner than I was expecting to actually.
Doesn't actually have that much grip.
Yeah. That was one of my notes that I made was that I surprisingly low amount of grip
actually, lower than I was expecting. Yeah, same. And then the other thing that really
reminds me of McLaren that I was going to say also is the brakes are very wooden and that's
a very McLaren thing. So the combination of not a huge amount of front grip plus the wouldn't
brake pedal made me tend to want to slow my entry down. And then I could actually get rear
wheel spin coming out of a corner in like second gear. But I left traction and stability control on.
And so it nibbled it. So I would love to have been on roads that were big and wide enough
that I could really really play or racetrack ideally. And so I'm sure at the limit or on a racetrack
that the Porsche would probably be a better dancing partner. But I kind of want to drive
that every day. Yeah. That was the other thing that there was another conclusion I came to is I
would like to go everywhere in this. Some cars you want to get out of and other cars you're like I
have I want to be in it forever. This has been kicking the shit out of me. This car has been sitting
in this in this studio just collecting dust for weeks. And I just wanted to keep coming and
picking it up and driving it. And I just I hate that I'm responsible slash neurotic. It's
really more than a roasty's part of it. I don't want anything to happen to it. Yeah, especially
not if you have a shoot coming. Well, not even that. I mean, the shoot plus the guy coming in like
hey, like I know you went through like you're a hero. Yeah. So we have that this is a temporary
import that it's here for whatever the time is six months that it's allowed to be here.
Yeah, what I really wanted to do was a cooter, a ultimate drag race episode of this plus
a lease plus four C plus came in four cylinder. And then I thought okay, I drive back to LA
because we that's where we do that. Plus the reality is I don't think anyone would watch that
episode. I just don't think it I don't you know, four C is first of all, who's going to give me the
four C and let me do 50. It's a dry dual clutch. Yeah. So I don't really want to do 50 launch
controls in that car. I you know, I suspect this transmission is fine. I don't know. But I wouldn't
want to subject a lot of those cars to you know, at least you can't clutch dump. I mean, it's a toy
to transmission. And so that all combined with the fact that I don't think commercially it would do
all that well. You left the mirror out also. The mirror is next next leaf fast next leak faster.
And then you're in a four cylinder. I think so. Maybe not the four cylinder, but it's just next
like bigger. It's just a you know, it's a four C car. That car categorizes the same size as the
Cayman. Fair point. Yeah. I don't know. But I just think of like at least four C and a 110 as one
category of cars. And then I put I paired this with Cayman because the ingress and interior are
so functional that you can use it a regular person with who's not like insane because there's
always going to be some insane person who daylies and at least and those people are insane.
But a regular non insane person would comfortably daily that car. And I wouldn't do that with a
four C or an at least, but I would do that with this car. And a Cayman. Fair point. Yeah. I think
what a charming characterful testament to the fact that it's still possible to make entertaining cars.
Yeah. And what a shame that so I've been supposed to bring this car into the US. Right. They confirmed
this car for the US and then just shut up about it. And by the way, the other weird thing about
this whole project is which I'll get to in the revelations is the whole idea started as a joint
venture between Alpine and Caterham. What? Yeah. They were going to build a lightweight sports car
together. Then it's so finished. They no, no, no, no. That broke up. That sort of marriage broke up.
Then Alpine went out about it on its own did this car. So Renault did it obviously.
Did this car. And the next one is a joint venture was supposed to be a joint venture between
Alpine and Lotus to be EV. That now also died. But the A110 replacement is coming to as of 2024
before the tariff fucking craziness happened is coming to the US and is EV and will be lighter than
this is their statement. And will be lighter than the conventional internal combustion competition,
which means under 3,000 pounds for an EV part. I don't know if that's going to happen anywhere.
I will believe it when I see it. But I really wish Alpine had brought this to the States even,
you know, seven that they would have sold. I think they could have done a couple thousand,
a run of a couple thousand of them. Obviously not worth the trouble to bring it over and set up
dealer network and all that stuff. They could do it through Nissan.
The same company. Oh, yes. Good. Nissan dealership experience. Perfect.
I mean, Alfa Romeo dealership experience for the foresee. What dealers for those?
Yeah, at least they're like what deals for those, right? I mean, at the end of the day,
they were just they were Christy. Right. So yeah, I think the gentleman who brought this car in
is a hero. I think the, you know, we've talked in the past about sending your car to a different
continent for a week or two, or the summer or whatever. This guy did it right. Yeah.
I mean, ship the car over, like say, hey, guys go have fun with it. Hit a bunch of race tracks,
drive his car, and then ship it home. I think it's just absolute hero status. So it's so cool
to get to see it here and to drive it. I sort of just assumed I would never get to drive one.
Can you do me a favor and go and look at the, so I was in conversation with the owner of the car
and said, hey, we're going to pick you up from the airport when you fly in and we'll be filming,
but we'll send our producer and she'll pick you up from the airport in my van, China.
And then I was like, oh, shit, I should probably explain what I'm talking about. And he knew about
the mini van having the license plate, China on it. He's like, yeah, well, I have a license plate,
a bit of license plate, fuckery on this car that no one's noticed.
You go and look at the rear plate. We'll stand by. Okay. I mean, I went twice over the car and,
you know, and looked at it. So Derek can look, he's getting his exercise and getting your steps in.
See what you think about that rear license plate? Play the Jeopardy music, please.
Now tell the class.
So for foreign license plates, you can do this in England. This is like what they do instead of
license plate frames is you can, you have your license plate made and it'll say like the name of the
dealer where you bought the car or something on the bottom of the plate in small letters.
The same way that we would have a frame here that says, you know, Chrysler Dodge,
Jeep Alfa Romeo, Stellantis, Nissan, Pujo, Citroen of East Brunswick. And this one's the garage,
the Les Assoles, I guess is how he would pronounce it in French.
So which sounds a lot like garage of the assholes. Yeah.
This dude is, I mean, clearly, like I said, he was saddest.
Only on the back. It should be on the front as well.
I don't know. Amazing. Amazing. Well, that's a good finishing note I suppose for us.
Yeah, drive one if you can somehow. If you live in a country where it's available in your own room.
Can you do that? I'm sure. I would. I would. That'd be a wonderful card. It's very entertaining.
I'd be very good for, yes, Alpine usage. I think would be really ideal for this car actually.
Okay. So during this next week on another episode of The Carmange Show,
for more forbidden fruit or available fruit or whatever kind of fruit rotten tomatoes.
Yeah, that's what they should be throwing at us. Okay. See you next week.
About this episode
The episode dives deep into the Alpine A110, comparing it to iconic sports cars like the Lotus and McLaren. Hosts Jason and Derek share their driving experiences, discussing the car's history, design, and performance. They highlight its surprisingly spacious interior, comfort, and engaging driving dynamics, while also reflecting on the challenges of bringing such a unique vehicle to the U.S. market. With a mix of humor and insightful commentary, they explore what makes the A110 a standout in the modern automotive landscape.
205 55 or 15 Fredestine Sprint pluses
Falken
fiberglass
Fredestine tires
horsepower
inline four
Micalotti
mounting and balancing
quarter mile time
rally cars
Alfa Romeo Montreal
Alpine A106
Alpine A110
BMW 3.0 CSL
BMW 3 Series
Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Fiat 500
Ford Excursion
Ford Model T
Hyundai Accent
Lamborghini Miura
Lotus Elise
Lotus Emira
Lotus Exige
Mazda MX-5 / Miata
Mercedes-Benz 190E
Morgan Plus Four
Porsche 911
Porsche Cayman
Renault 4 CV
Renault 5
Renault Alpine A310
Renault R8
Renault Sport Spider
Shelby Cobra
Toyota GR 86
Volkswagen Beetle
Original notes
A French forbidden fruit enters the studio on this week's episode - none other than the Alpine A110. But hang on...how did this non-25-year-old import end up on US soil? And WHY is it here?
===
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Manufactures keep telling us that lightweight sports cars for the masses aren't possible to produce anymore due to rising safety standards. And yet, here we have the Alpine A110 - an incredible mid-engined, sub-2500-pound sports car you can buy brand new that can do far more than just be cute and French. In Jason and Derek's rigorous testing, they find it's compact, athletic, fast, comfortable, and premium-feeling - disappointing, it certainly is not. Derived from the original A110 which dominated various stages of motorsport throughout the 1960s and 70s, it's no surprise that Renault-Alpine knew where to reference their framework when developing this car for the European market.
Jason and Derek discuss throughout the episode how the little Alpine compares to the likes of the Porsche 718 Cayman range, the Lotus Emira & Lotus Evora, the Alfa Romeo 4C, and even the McLaren 570S. It's a shame Stellantis still hasn't found a way to bring this wonderful machine on sale stateside after announcing an estimated 2027 arrival via the Nissan USA dealer network - but given current complications with tariffs, we're not all that surprised.
And before you ask - yes, it's the same one you saw buzzing around Monterey Car Week and featured on The Smoking Tire w/ Matt Farah and Zack Klapman. The man who brought it here is our hero for a variety of different reasons - more on that during this episode of The Carmudgeon Show.
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