Alpine A390: three electric motors can’t turn a 2.1-tonne SUV into an A110

This may not be the car readers of this august journal have been waiting for, for these last 10 years, but it is the car its creator has wanted and, every bit as much, needed to build ever since it first showed the then all new Alpine A110 at the Geneva International Motor Show in 2017.

And what a way to relaunch a brand it proved to be, a car accorded the most positive reception from the motoring media I can recall in the modern era. Not that it did any good, and it will not be the first car to show that merely being scintillating to drive is no guarantee whatsoever that it will be matched by a similar performance in the showroom. It wasn’t. In the meantime there’s been a Formula 1 team bearing its name since 2021 and a top-level WEC prototype since 2024. A lot of money has been spent making the Alpine name more visible to the right kind of punter over the years and, while the A290 hatchback may or may not claw back a few euros, what the Renault-owned brand now needs desperately is a big-volume, big-ticket money-spinner. Otherwise it will be hard to work out what it’s all been for. And that breadwinner is this new A390. Or at least that’s what it’s meant to be.

It’s one of those once curious-but-now-commonplace crossover types of car that appears unsure of what it wants to be, other than everything to everyone. So, and as the theory goes, what you have here is part family holdall, part teeth-bared sports car and part sleek, svelte coupé.

It is Alpine’s second of four EVs it plans as model lines by 2030, the other two being the all new A110 that made its debut at Goodwood this summer and a new 911-bashing (it hopes) A310 super coupé.

The A390 exists in a class populated by some capable cars, including the Polestar 2, Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 N but brings to the party the USP of having not two, but three electric motors, two at the back allowing unlimited opportunity for torque vectoring across the axle, the aim being to make it the most nimble, driver-centric car in the category.

Indeed Alpine has made some pretty punchy claims for it, not content with saying it provides “the exhilarating driving experience of the A110 with added versatility” but that it is nothing less than “a racing car in a suit”.

Twaddle. Utter twaddle. Even making allowances for the usually overblown puff found in manufacturer launch releases, these statements bear so little relation to reality they can be considered not merely a joke, but entirely counterproductive to their aim; because the car can only be seen as a disappointment in their light.

“Its range is nothing special and its charging speed’s a little less than that”

Which is why it is really important to judge it for what it is, not as the frankly ludicrous caricature its manufacturer makes it out to be.

And it’s not bad. Some have criticised it for not being fast enough but I was sent the 396bhp GT rather than the 463bhp GTS and it seemed to have enough get-up-and-go for the kind of car it is. The interior is well laid out, the driver assist systems delightfully easy to turn off, and the central infotainment system not too annoying to use, especially once you have CarPlay up and running.

The rear package runs into the usual problem of a high floor (because there are batteries beneath) and sloping roofline, but kids will be fine there until at least their late teenage years and the boot is commendably large and well-shaped.

It does things like provide easy access to three levels of brake regeneration via a steering wheel switch, and there’s an overtake button which I don’t think provides any more torque but provides a super-sharp throttle map, so it gives you all it has as soon as you ask for it. It’s not transformation but it is useful.

So far, so really quite good. But I thought it would be more involving to drive. To have gone to all that effort to put two motors on the rear axle and have so little to show for it is the great disappointment of this car. No, I never expected a racing car, an A110 or anything close from a 2.1-tonne SUV, but I did expect some real verve, and it’s just not there. The steering feels a little light and vague about the straight ahead and has little feel on lock. There’s decent grip, but if you want it to materially adjust its line with the throttle, you have to be quite aggressive with it, which is not the way it naturally wants to be driven. Its range is nothing special, and its charging speed’s a little less than that.

The shame is that its static qualities – such as the way it looks, how easy it is to operate and the nicely built and finished interior – are not matched by the way it drives. That would matter less were there a Hyundai or Kia badge on the front, but this is an Alpine and I, for one, not only wanted more, I expected it too.

Alpine A390 GT

• Price £61,390
• Engine Front and rear electric motors, 89kWh battery (usable)
• Power 396bhp
• Torque 488lb Ft
• Weight 2124kg
• Power to Weight 86bhp per tonne
• Transmission Single-speed, four-wheel drive
• 0-62mph 4.8sec
• Top Speed 124mph
• Range 345 miles (WLTP)
• Charging speed 150kW
• Verdict Flies in the face of the badge.

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Verdict: Solid, dependable competence.

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