Only a few weeks ago on this page, I wrote about the revived Renault 5 and what it means for small cars in this new era. Now, we’ve been behind the wheel of its exciting performance sibling, the Alpine A290, and pondering what it might mean for the future of hot hatches.
When Alpine returned to the scene in 2017, it was applauded for its A110. Indeed, we rank it among the best driver’s cars of the past decade. Then came the inevitable: the firm was going electric and expanding to include SUVs – necessary for almost all modern-day automotive businesses. This A290 drive (p24) is our first taste of a post-A110 Alpine.
First reports from Matt Prior are resoundingly positive. The car’s success is achieved partly through synthetic trickery…
