New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby JonT » Sun Oct 25, 2020 4:04 pm

Sports exhaust question (mine has the optional upgrade) - should it be noisier when in sport mode? It pops on the overrun in sport mode, and idles higher in sports mode, but I'm not convinced it's actually any louder when you're driving. Just wondering if my valve might have got stuck - if there is one (not sure open or closed!). If it matters, it's a late 2019 car so will have the particulate filters.

I had a courtesy car a couple of months back when the windscreen was done with only a couple of hundred miles on it - that was definitely quieter, but Chris (salesman at St Albans) mentioned they generally get a bit louder with a few thousand miles on; and again, I don't think it made much difference which mode it was in. But I thought the sports exhaust should be appreciably louder in sports mode?
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby S111DPC » Sun Oct 25, 2020 4:44 pm

My S has just done 3k miles and I haven’t really noticed the exhaust being any louder in sports mode beyond the pops and bangs on overrun or changing down to be honest.
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby bcr5784 » Sun Oct 25, 2020 5:04 pm

Mine's a PE and therefore pre particulate filter.

Cruising on the motorway the exhaust isn't noticeably any louder in Sport than Normal. Where it is louder is under significant acceleration. The "cracks" on upchanges are louder too and the flatulence on the overrun increases markedly (to what I find embarrassing levels about town).

There has been a recall to re-route the wiring to sports exhaust, so if you think yours isn't working properly it may be worth checking this has been done.
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby JonT » Mon Oct 26, 2020 6:33 am

Thanks both, sounds like it might be normal then. FWIW I'm up to 8k miles in mine, just coming up to its first service too.
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby JonT » Wed Nov 18, 2020 7:54 pm

nyc863 wrote:skid pan report.

although I have racing experience am not a drifter. did a wet skid pan session for fun, and to see. To be honest it was a little frustrating!

The other cars were the usual collection of high torque rwds: amg, bmw m, lexus and a camaro zl1 etc.

The “problem” I had was too much rear grip and light weight. Anyone planting it in a c63, on a wet concrete pan, would instantly have a slow motion heavy pendulum. My a110 from low speed when booted even in wet would squat and grip and add speed which would create understeer almost immediately.

Got it to break loose without gaining unwanted speed with a left right flick technique but then 1st gear would run out of revs - and very easy to get a fast pirouette. Not coordinated enough in the five or six 3 minute attempts to find the paddle and change to 2nd where there is more throttle control. Starting in second had a twin issue of yet more grip time when you boot it, and then the dct might go back to first anyway a little later. (track mode esc off).

The coaches were frustrated, at first they did not believe traction/stability control was fully off, and I was frustrated but because corona they were not allowed fo jump in and show me how beautifully it can be held all around a circle or figure 8

It was surely my lack of talent but I will pretend it was the setup (low speed wet pan) is not ideal for finding the edge in a mid engined car with low polar moment of inertia? yeah thats my story.


It's interesting to come back to this post. I visited http://www.centregravity.co.uk/ today to get them to have a look at my geo, and swap it to something possibly closer to the various Life110 options, based on their assessment of the car.

They started with the basics - right down to tyre pressures, tread depths, checking ride height etc. Then a short test drive to look for anything obviously amiss (eg wheel off centre, car pulling to one side), before discussing what I'd noticed and wanted out of the car. We'd both noticed a problem with understeer - it's been increasingly annoying me as I've hopped from my BRZ to the Alpine and back. I found the Alpine while it initially turns quickly, very quickly then starts to push or understeer. All you can do is wait to get steering lock off before eventually getting on the power. They also noticed the steering was fidgety.

On checking everything it was pretty much as expected, close to the OE numbers on their system, although it had "sunk" a bit to the right - apparently most cars settle on the drivers side, especially if primarily driven 1-up. Their observation was that the significant amount of rear toe-in contributes to the understeer (preventing the rear from rotating), while the front toe-out makes the front nervous. We discussed options and they suggested something similar to the Life110 "Sport road" setup - I'm on OE suspension and springs and it's a Pure. So basically remove most of the rear toe, and change the front to a smidge of toe-in, rather than toe out. Negative camber was increased marginally from OE. After a long time adjusting everything and making sure it was just-so, they did another road test to check they were happy with it (this isn't a jolly, they have lots more exotic stuff in than Alpines and everything is captured on a dash cam), and came back surprised how different the car felt. I can share the printouts if anyone is interested.

It also got weighed - ~1130kg with a full tank of fuel and their alignment kit on the wheels (which they estimated about 12kg). Probably had another few kg that could be lost - mats, tyre gunk etc, but I'm fairly happy with that. Diagonal cross-weights were good too.

I came home the pretty way, and I'm inclined to agree with the "transformed" assessment. It's a fantastic improvement. The understeer has gone - the back is now lively/playful (especially on the greasy roads at the moment) so you can steer on the throttle better and it does feel more stable in a straight line rather than diving after every little bump in the road. This also seems to have improved steering feel mid bend too.

The only question they had was around front caster - the design of the wishbones means this isn't adjustable, and they were irritated they couldn't get the L/R sides closer to equal. Looking at the french forum where there are some geo printouts, this seems a common problem, but it would be interesting to hear from anyone else who has had a full alignment what your caster looks like and whether this is a known issue with Alpine.

So back to the quoted post - I wonder if geo isn't helping you, and some small but important modifications might help with a similar session in the future? In particular the rear toe causing excessive understeer (and tyre wear!)
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby bcr5784 » Wed Nov 18, 2020 8:54 pm

I've tested a couple of A110s and both had a 1 degree difference on Caster left to right.
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby JonT » Wed Nov 25, 2020 3:14 pm

First annoyance today. In for its first service (St Albans). Had reported when I booked it in about a passenger door rattle, was reassured they could sort it at the same time. Service done pretty promptly while I waited, only to be told "oh yes, we can fix the door but we'll have to order parts in". It's a bloody 3 hour/120 mile round trip. Presumably the parts are peanuts, and as it's a known issue couldn't they just keep a few in stock? Can't blame the dealer, they can only do what Alpine let them, but I'll see if I can send feedback via the sales team (or is there any other route to corporate?)

Had someone posting elsewhere about the sparsity of dealers and it being a concern - issues like this really don't help them, and does feel very "lotus" like. :(
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby cloudburst » Wed Nov 25, 2020 6:42 pm

I wouldn’t really expect the dealer to stock the parts unless it’s a recall issue or unless the specific parts were agreed upon prior to your service visit.

Count yourself lucky you don’t have a ferry crossing to get to your dealer! What I’d do for a 3hr round trip...

CB
Renault 5 Turbo2 (previously) - met. brown
Renaultsport Clio V5 255 (previously) - met. red
Alpine A110 Première Édition - met. blue
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby jimbobc » Sat Nov 28, 2020 10:24 pm

JonT wrote:First annoyance today. In for its first service (St Albans). Had reported when I booked it in about a passenger door rattle, was reassured they could sort it at the same time. Service done pretty promptly while I waited, only to be told "oh yes, we can fix the door but we'll have to order parts in". It's a bloody 3 hour/120 mile round trip. Presumably the parts are peanuts, and as it's a known issue couldn't they just keep a few in stock? Can't blame the dealer, they can only do what Alpine let them, but I'll see if I can send feedback via the sales team (or is there any other route to corporate?)

Had someone posting elsewhere about the sparsity of dealers and it being a concern - issues like this really don't help them, and does feel very "lotus" like. :(


I had the same with that dealer with the same part. In the end I didn't hear anything and had to remind them a year later at the next service. Not particularly impressed but the mechanic seems good.
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby nyc863 » Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:51 pm

this car is really surprisingly comfortable for long trips

I just came back from driving sydney to melbourne then many days driving around tasmania and then did the melbourne sydney trip back, in one single shot. I thought 9 hours straight was something only my young self could manage without nodding off half way.

On coarse-chip cabin noise from tires is loud (this is a noise challenge in almost any car) but on smooth tarmac it is super quiet for what it is, no exhaust drone no engine drone or wind noises.

despite the fixed seat bucket, I drove from 7am to 4pm with one stop for fuel and no rest at all, and my back is totally fine. Consumption with AC on, at mostly 120kmh was ~6.7/100, range per tank was ~620 and though range to empty ceases to show at ~60km, it doesn't lie, I filled up 41 liters (meaning, 2 left) after driving another 25 minutes into the blank range to empty. In sport mode the fuel shows a red block that doesn't change size but in normal mode the needle still moved down, eventually to the first “0” pixel.

For going nuts in the hills of course you temporarily drink fuel but factor in the boring bits and the average fuel for a long day feels like a petrol cheat code.

one minor problem the sun visor isn’t extensible to cover the side window so if the sun is coming from low and side, that sucks.

Another issue is the wiper water at speed is not much good for getting rid of bug spatter. Most of the water is just blown away.

Over hundreds of miles of tassie B and C roads with lumps bumps drops and heaves, at enthusiastic speeds, the nose never touched anything and the suspension never hit the bump stops, never had a traction or car control scare.
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby nyc863 » Tue Dec 08, 2020 12:36 am

talking to myself here do owners just have to use facebook groups now?

but in case if anyone is annoyed by a rattle coming from the door, most obvious with base heavy music but also from just driving, lightly bang the armrest pad, if it rattles, wedge something under it at the front, like a folded business card.Voila, no more rattle.
Both of mine were the source of the most annoying rattles. There is obviously a better fix perhaps involving removing the door card - unless the pad can be pulled off if it is attached with plastic friction studs and not screws. Not willing to try that.

I have also developed a v slight creak noise coming from behind, maybe from the chassis, upon acceleration. Doesnt really bother me though. Just if I was picky.

On the whole the interior is holding up, noise wise.

Also,
the dash has a software update the makes the mode transitions look cooler. Has to be removed to reflash it.
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby JonT » Tue Dec 08, 2020 7:26 am

nyc863 wrote:talking to myself here do owners just have to use facebook groups now?

I hope not, since I'm not on facebook. It is a bit disappointingly quiet, but maybe everyone is just out enjoying their cars? Forums tend to get more active when there are problems. And in the UK there are only a few hundred cars in the country. The french forum is much more active, just the minor language barrier problem. It's annoying since I've got increasing numbers of technical questions that it's hard to know where to look for answers (eg jacking points - are there any other than the obvious wheel change ones? They feel precarious for putting a car on stands - as well as having the problem that you can't jack and put a stand in the same place). Maybe no-one else is interested in spannering their own cars?

My door rattle goes away when you push at the rear end of the door on the plastic trim, rather than the arm rest.

Dash updates sound interesting, I noticed some minor changes in the menu text after the service a couple of weeks ago, but I've not driven the car since and I don't think I bothered with sports mode.
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby S111DPC » Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:22 am

Agree with JonT, not talking to yourself :) I read this forum with interest but don’t have much to post as the car isn’t getting used much at present.
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby cloudburst » Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:54 am

Similar from me.

My PE has recently had its 2nd service. My partner and I both drove it last weekend and she volunteered for the first time that she loves driving it now - after previously preferring to drive my little oddball BMW Z3 M Coupe. To be fair, she hasn’t driven either car all that much.

The A110 has done just over 4600 miles, so as you can see, it’s not being used half enough.

My only gripe is that I have to drive from Northern Ireland to Glasgow for a service and that involves a ferry crossing which is a pain in the ass, especially in current times. The stopover in Glasgow city centre this time was beyond miserable. And that comes from someone who lived there for 6 years and still has close connections with other members of his band still living there! :-)

CB
Renault 5 Turbo2 (previously) - met. brown
Renaultsport Clio V5 255 (previously) - met. red
Alpine A110 Première Édition - met. blue
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Re: New Alpine A110 owners experiences and photos.

Postby MikeA37 » Thu Dec 10, 2020 4:08 pm

[quote="nyc863"]talking to myself here do owners just have to......"/quote]

Certainly not, but know what you mean! Probably a reflection of there being so few of owners out here?

Like most, my mileage is very low at the moment. Very frustrating.

I can report I had the front bumper of my A110 Pure, Paint Protection Filmed at Azuri Car Care in Stevenage. An amazing invisible, job, and a huge improvement from the film put on my Lotus over a decade ago.
Azuri may not be the cheapest but they handle some extraordinary cars in their workshop. Take a look at Website or usual social media platforms. They had a mint, factory restored Miura in there recently.
https://azuricarcare.co.uk/
(....I have no interests in the business )
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