Alpine A390 Review: Price, Specs, Availability

Performance. Agile handling. Personality and character. Motorsport heritage.

Cramped rear. Interior plan lacks coherence. Poor switchgear.

Oft-compared to Lotus, the Alpine marque has drifted successful and retired of absorption implicit the years contempt 7 decades of idiosyncratic roadworthy cars and regular motorsport success. It’s presently successful Formula One and the World Endurance Championship, and its A110 sports car is simply a masterpiece of lightweight analogue driving entertainment. No slouches, then.

On apical of each this, a planetary enlargement of Alpine is planned, too, seeing the marque participate caller markets, including the US, wherever it's expected to motorboat a three-car electrical lineup successful 2027.

For now, arsenic the aboriginal is electric, the request for greater planetary consciousness rests with the A390. It’s an antithetic proposition, connected the look of it—a genuine five-door sports coupe that builds retired connected the plan attributes that made the A110 truthful overmuch much than a retro pastiche. You tin spot the transportation successful the broadside illustration and shoulders, though the beforehand end’s aerial curtains and bonnet blades person a model-specific aero functionality.

We’re little definite astir the triangles etched into the chemoreceptor (Alpine names them, rather unforgivably, “cosmic dust” for immoderate reason), oregon the snowflake-aping alloy instrumentality design. Overall, though, it’s idiosyncratic (Alpine is calling it a “race car successful a suit”), and that’s a triumph fixed the soul-crushingly generic quality of truthful galore caller EVs.

The A390’s electrical motors are manufactured successful a dedicated installation successful Cléon, the NMC batteries sourced from a institution called Verkor, but with modules produced successful Dunkirk and assembled successful the Renault Group installation successful Douai. The chassis, meanwhile, was designed and built astatine the company’s Le Mans plant.

As with the smaller A290 and so with assorted Renaults (the 4, 5 and incoming Twingo), this is an EV for the committed Francophile. Alpine isn’t conscionable leveraging its quirky past, it’s an avatar for the wider Group’s method prowess.

The level is an improvement of the AmpR Medium architecture that’s already successful work beneath the Megane E-Tech and Scenic, and Nissan’s Arya and Leaf, a indispensable synergy fixed the immense outgo of processing these things. But immoderate notable lengths person been gone to present successful bid to differentiate the A390 and warrant the concern and Porsche-baiting aspirations.

“The driving unit down the A390’s dynamics was to marque it arsenic accelerated and agile arsenic the A110,” Vehicle Projects VP Robert Bonetto says. “To execute this, we had to destruct the interaction of the battery’s value with a method solution to heighten the perceived lightness.”

“Perceived” being the cardinal connection here. The A110 is beloved of diehard car fans due to the fact that it lone weighs 1,140 kg, a stellar accomplishment successful this time and age. The A390 is astir doubly that, unavoidable fixed its mode of propulsion, but sticks arsenic adjacent arsenic imaginable to Alpine’s superior recipe. The 89 kWh artillery uses a caller chemistry and cooling strategy for much sustained powerfulness and performance, and much businesslike charging and discharging.

The A390 is besides unsocial successful this conception by having 3 motors, a coil 1 connected the beforehand axle and 2 imperishable synchronous ones connected each of the rear wheels, for a full powerfulness output of 396 bhp successful GT guise, rising to 463 bhp successful GTS form.

That’s enabled the engineers to present autarkic instrumentality power astatine the rear, and to sharpen the dynamics and obviate the car’s value via progressive torque vectoring. That varies the magnitude of gaffe astatine each instrumentality and adjusts the magnitude of torque close to near to optimize handling responses. There’s an further torque divided with the beforehand motor, too.

This is clever stuff, backed up by Alpine’s determination to usage passive damping successful its suspension alternatively than an adaptive, multi-mode strategy that adds weight, outgo and complexity. Nor is determination four-wheel steering oregon progressive anti-roll, hi-tech tricks mostly utilized to atone for dynamic failings. This is the benignant of assured reasoning you’d anticipation for from a institution steeped successful motorsport, and tally by a erstwhile Ferrari R&D brag (Philippe Krief, though he’s French not Italian) with immoderate of the Prancing Horse’s top modern hits connected his CV.

Despite the undeniable constituent of cost-saving here, the effect is an EV whose handling and thrust are satisfyingly axenic whilst feeling grown-up and expensively engineered. Although Alpine insists it’s a fastback alternatively than a quasi-SUV, you beryllium precocious capable to effect doubts astir a compromised halfway of gravity, contempt the batteries’ skateboard configuration. Yet the A390 moves with a grace and fluidity that confirms that the aforesaid radical who worked wonders connected the lissom mid-engined A110 coupe person delivered the goods here, too.

Only the GT was disposable to test, but it’s easy accelerated capable for astir drivers, 0 to 62 mph taking 4.8 seconds, the punchy mid-range a much utile mundane metric. Five thrust modes are available, including a Sport and Track set-up that allows the operator to reconfigure steering effort, throttle response, and the aggressiveness of the torque vectoring. A Live Data graphic connected the cardinal show allows you to spot precisely what each instrumentality is contending with successful circumstantial moments, up to and including a small oversteer, if that’s your bag. Although, if you are going sideways, it won’t beryllium the information show you’ll beryllium looking at.

Mostly, the A390’s torque vectoring wants to sharpen the beforehand extremity and neutralize the rear, and the upshot is simply a car of little extrovert behaviour but much polished wide dynamics than the highly amusing Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. The brakes are good, too, a bluish rotary dial connected the steering instrumentality offering levels of regen up to one-pedal operation. There’s besides a reddish “boost” fastener for an other slug of powerfulness oregon erstwhile utilizing motorboat control. It’s that oregon your close foot.

Inside, the kinship with the Megane E-Tech is apparent, though the A390 does its champion to fell it with a assortment of tactile materials including Alcantara and Nappa leather. The instrumentality show is configurable and dense with info, arsenic is the cardinal touchscreen whose menus are nevertheless casual to navigate. A leafage of telematics and coaching bundle underscores the Alpine’s racy mien, and there’s besides a terrific audio strategy from French specialist, Devialet.

Some of the parts bin switchgear, however, feels a small clunky and old-fashioned. But astatine slightest it’s inactive physically there, and Alpine hasn’t migrated everything to the touchscreen. As with the thrust modes, the ADAS settings tin beryllium personalized and saved. It’s a neat solution. Less truthful the rear accommodation, wounded by the precocious seating presumption and debased roofline.

The A390 features bi-directional charging, which is becoming much commonplace but inactive retains an aerial of novelty. So it delivers vehicle-to-load (V2L) charging arsenic standard, enabling you to complaint the e-bike which is the likeliest accompaniment to the A390, fixed Alpine’s high-ish level manner aspirations.

Assuming you person the due location charger, it besides offers vehicle-to-grid compatibility, truthful you tin bargain cheaper complaint powerfulness astatine night, store it and merchantability it backmost to the grid. Renault’s Mobilize part has been moving connected this for a portion for UK customers; it should hap successful 2026, but it’s disposable successful different markets already.

Peak accelerated charging is 190 kW for the GTS (150 kW for the GT, owed to differing artillery chemistry), which is bully if not outstanding. Alpine insists that maintaining a precocious charging powerfulness for longer periods is conscionable arsenic significant. The A390 volition complaint from 10 to 80 percent successful little than 25 minutes, and you tin manually acceptable the artillery to pre-heat.

Google Maps navigation includes an EV way planner, which helps trim the accent of a longer travel by considering each the large variables: route, complaint level, artillery temperature, and real-time consumption. Alpine claims 325 miles scope connected the WLTP modular for the GTS, 340 for the GT. WIRED saw astir 2.9 miles per kWh, but that was during enthusiastic driving. Expect astir 290 miles existent satellite successful the GT.

Prices are yet to beryllium fixed, but the A390 GT is apt to commencement astatine astir £60,000 successful the UK, £70,000 for the GTS. That drops it straight into territory patrolled precise efficaciously by the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, Polestar 4 and Porsche Macan, among others. But successful summation to utile tech and its undoubted handling smarts, the A390 besides locates thing that’s rarer than it should beryllium successful the fast-evolving EV world: existent character.