Anyone ever driven a Renault Alipine?

[AFC-911]

What are the A110 & the A310s like? Anything close to the 911?






They look like they could be fun...Especially the A110.

[Deschodt]

Been lusting after one for years. However, you and I are somewhat too late... $40K might get you one if you are lucky, often it take smore, a bit pricey for a 1600CC engine (at best) car with a plastic body ;-)

From what I've read, they hardly go straight, they want to slide into corners at the smallest twitch of the wheel, excellent rally cars ! I'd get one but I missed the boat, I do that a lot (also missed out on 60's 190SLs).

[Flank]

I used to live in Spain for many years and saw lots of the Alpines.
Blue was the color of many and I even remember seeing one that was a cab.

[dd74]

It seems as if high-performance Renaults are really difficult to find. I've seen almost every type of car on L.A. streets, but never an Alpine. I lust after the R5 Turbo, yet have seen maybe two or three here.

[jluetjen]

For one thing, I don't think that the A110's or the A310's were ever officially imported into the US. The A310's had the same 2.8 liter engine as the DeLoreans used. I've got an old article around I'll try to look for this weekend where a magazine compared an 911 2.7 with an A310. The design aspects of the car (dash, color schemes and such) are as French as a 911's are German.

[cstreit]

Never driven them, but know a few people that have...Both great lookign cars for their time, but the 110 was certainly slower than dirt compared to the Porsche of the era.

[Aerkuld]

I used to own a 1990 Renault Alpine GTA V6.
It was an interesting car. Very...erm...French!



I wouldn't really compare it to the 911, although it was obviously highly influenced by Porsche in it's concept, and I believed was originally designed as a competitor. The GTA V6 Turbo may be closer to a 911 in performance terms, but I would dare to suggest that the NA version was probably closer to my 944.

It did handle very well but, in my opinion at least, was spoiled by quirky design. Odd things really, like the windscreen wipers that were mounted together on the centerline of the car so they closed together like clapping hands. Why go to this trouble instead of having a single centrally mounted wiper? All it achieved was a line up the middle of the windscreen that never got wiped. The door mechanisms were wierd too. The pin for the latch was on the door and the catch mechanism was built into the body. In theory this would make the door simple, but then they put a door release handle on the inside of the door which actuated an electric servo mechanism on the catch in the body to open the door. They were obviously worried that this could go wrong, so there was an additional door release lever on the floor that attached via a cable to the catch. There were loads of things on the car that just seemed to be done for the sake of it.
The styling of the interior was heavily inspired by 911 and 944 interiors, the inner door panels were just like a 911, the rear seats folded down in the same way, the dash was yellow on black dials, just like the early 944's. The parking brake was on the door-side of the drivers seat, just like the 944 too. Thinking back it was uncanny how similar some things were.
It was a cool car to own, but obviously very perculiar. Some parts were ridiculously expensive, yes worse that Porsche parts, and the Renault dealer never had them in stock. There are no aftermarket parts available either. Rear tires, for example were some odd size made ONLY for this car and back in the late 90's were costing me at least 300 pounds sterling each - and they were the cheap ones.

All in all, I'm glad I owned it, wish I hadn't have bought it, was glad to get rid of it, and will never buy another Renault for as long as I live.

Now the older ones may be better, I do like the look of the A110, but personally I will be firmly in the Porsche camp from now on.

[Aerkuld]

For what it's worth - reading the comments about whether these were ever imported into the USA - I do recall a decal under the front hood on my car which read something to the effect that;

"This is a high performance motor vehicle that has not been designed to US federal standards."

I think it went on to say that Renault do not advise using this car in North America and the company is not liable for any incident resulting from its use. Or something like that.

I think it is an extremely safe bet to say that they were never imported, at least the later versions, and I would hazard a guess that the earlier ones were not officially imported either.

[jluetjen]

Here's a picture of an A310 that I took in Europe in 1982, along with a picture of a couple of R5s' at Lime Rock the late 70's.

[livi]

I believe they did rather well in the European Rally circuit, before Elford, Waldegård and others turned up in 911´s.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by jluetjen
Here's a picture of an A310 that I took in Europe in 1982, along with a picture of a couple of R5s' at Lime Rock the late 70's.

That yellow R5 looks like an Archer Racing car. They were big in the Lecar/Renault cup racing in the early 80's, but moved to Eagle when renault was phased out of the AMC.

I bought some NOS performance stuff from them for my R5 a few years ago.

[cstreit]

Picture of a friends 310 from our annual trek to the Montreal Grand Prix. These guys own a 110, 210, 510, R5 turbo and others... All cars are meticulous...

Funny thing, many years before I took over MotoDelta, it was strictly a REnault shop, one of the best in the US as the owner then was a rabid Renault fanatic...

The 993 with the MotoDelta sticker on the window is his car, the silver 930 was mine...

[svandamme]

the 110 is still gorgeous , but the 310's didn't age that well , they look very dated to me, unlike a 911 of any age, or even a 944 or 928...

and forget about the latter series, the 86-87 alpines were just downright ugly...

[Overpaid Slacker]

Originally posted by cstreit
Never driven them, but know a few people that have...Both great lookign cars for their time, but the 110 was certainly slower than dirt compared to the Porsche of the era.

Wait, what?

A110s won 1971 and 1973 Monte Carlo placing 1, 2 and 3, and finished 3rd in 1969 and 1970 behind 911s. Not exactly "slower than dirt". The A110 was only knocked off the Monte Carlo and Corse podia only by the Lancia Stratos (a legendary automobile after which I also lust), which kicked EVERYONEs' butts for almost 3 years.

A110s won the Tour de Course in 1968, 1970, 1972 and 1973 (there was no "Course" in 1971)

The 911 R won the Course in 1969, but I think in the late 60's the A110 beat out the 911R on several circuits... I can't find the rally win chart I'd remembered seeing, but the A110, 1600 or 1800 Gordini ran with 911s in Rallys and ate Porsche's lunch on a number of occasions.

Obviously, the A110 is on my wish list...

JP

[DaveE]

Originally posted by dd74
...... I lust after the R5 Turbo, yet have seen maybe two or three here.

Here's an R5 Turbo on Race-Cars.com.

http://www.race-cars.com/carsales/other/1157551824/1157551824ss.htm

[75'930cab]

Here's your chance for a A310.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1980-RENAULT-ALPINE-A310-GRP-IV-FLEISCHMANN-RARE-FAST_W0QQitemZ190054612917QQihZ009QQcategoryZ6385Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally posted by svandamme

looks like a Subaru SVX

[jkarolyi]

Renault actually had the GTA/A610 fully certified for sale in the USA around 1987. These were the last years of AMC/Renault, and when Chrysler bought AMC from Renault, the Alpine was just ready to launch. Chrysler decided not to import it, and stopped all Renault imports after a year. They did import the R11/Medallion for a year or two after the takeover due to the contract terms of the sale.

Automobile Magazine had a picture of a yellow one on its cover in 1987, and several were spotted while testing/certifying in the USA. I doubt this car would have been a hot seller in the US.

[scottmandue]

Originally posted by AFC-911
What are the A110 & the A310s like? Anything close to the 911?




They look like they could be fun...Especially the A110.

One of these used to drive around San Pedro... I have no idea who owned it or how it got here.

[jluetjen]