The Alpine A110S Brings 288bhp To The Lightweight Sports Car Party

Big power has never been the point of the Alpine A110. It’s considerably smaller and lighter than all of its rivals, meaning a bombastic headline figure just isn’t necessary.

That being said, the chassis is so sweet, you can’t help but wonder if a bit more poke might be nice. Let’s say an extra 49bhp. What’s that? Alpine has just made an A110 with a power bump of exactly 49bhp? Happy days!

It’s called the A110S, and thanks to the turbo boost pressure of Renault’s 1.8-litre inline-four being increased by 0.4 bar, it produces 288bhp. It arrives at 6400rpm, 400rpm higher than the peak power mark of the standard car.

The 236lb ft torque figure, while unchanged, is available up to 6400rpm, 1400rpm higher than before. 0-62mph now happens in 4.4 seconds, a drop of a tenth.

The chassis wasn’t crying out for changes, but regardless, Alpine has seen fit to add 50 per cent stiffer springs and 100 per cent firmer anti-roll bars. The car sits 4mm lower than before on new 18-inch wheels that wear ever-so-slightly larger Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres that measure 215mm across at the front and 245mm wide at the rear.

The changes have increased the A110’s weight by a few kilograms, at 1114kg the S still makes its rivals seem like a bunch of fatties.

To distinguish itself from other Alpines, the S wears special carbon/orange flag badges on the C-pillars, black Alpine script on the back of the car and orange brake calipers. Exclusive S options include ‘Gris Tonnerre’ matte paint and a gloss-finished carbonfibre roof that drops the weight by 1.9kg.

The orange theme continues in the cabin, where the contrast stitching and steering wheel 12 o’clock marker are finished in the colour. Elsewhere there are more flag badges, fancy aluminium pedals and Dinamica-trimmed Sabelt seats weighing just 13.1kg each.

Want one? It’ll set you back £58,700 before you start ticking options.