- 15 hours ago
Can an electric SUV capture the spirit of Alpine’s lightweight A110? In this Alpine A390 GT test drive and review, Marek explores the French brand’s first all-wheel-drive model, with three electric motors and active torque vectoring, and finds impressive grip and rapid acceleration—but a very different kind of driving thrill.
The review covers real-world performance, handling, braking, range and charging, plus the cockpit, rear-seat space, boot and pricing. See how the 400-hp A390 GT compares in character with the A110 and whether this sporty electric SUV makes sense as an everyday car. A detailed electric car review for drivers researching the Alpine A390, performance EVs, AWD electric SUVs and a possible Porsche Macan alternative.
The review covers real-world performance, handling, braking, range and charging, plus the cockpit, rear-seat space, boot and pricing. See how the 400-hp A390 GT compares in character with the A110 and whether this sporty electric SUV makes sense as an everyday car. A detailed electric car review for drivers researching the Alpine A390, performance EVs, AWD electric SUVs and a possible Porsche Macan alternative.
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MotorTranscript
00:00you're a car maker who has in their lineup a small agile and lightweight car but it's 2026
00:05and now you have to make eco-friendly vehicles so you pump up your icon to the size of an
00:11suv
00:11you add a ton in weight and so much power that it makes the driver sick in the corners
00:16this is the alpine a390 gt and it kind of sort of makes sense
00:29launched in 2017 alpine a110 was a wonderful modern interpretation of the original a110 from
00:36some 60 years ago unfortunately its days are numbered as alpine became an electric only brand
00:42it currently offers the reno 5 based a290 and this a390 which looks like the a10 on steroids
00:53the alpine a390 is about the size of the vw id5 it's slightly longer lower and has a bit shorter
01:01wheelbase however at over 461 centimeters long over 188 over 188 centimeters wide and with a wheelbase
01:12of almost 271 centimeters this car should offer a lot of space for the passengers and their luggage
01:19but as alpine is a sporty brand let's start with the driving segment of this review hop in
01:34the alpine a390 is available either as a gt or a gts this is the gt with only 400 horsepower
01:42the gts has
01:43470 horsepower but from the point of view of a regular driver i'm not sure this alpine needs any more
01:49power
01:55the a390 is alpine's first all-wheel drive model the car has three motors one on the front axle and
02:02two
02:02on the rear these two motors at the rear enable active torque vectoring it's like an active differential
02:08in a combustion engine car it allows for the left rear wheel and the right rear wheel to be driven
02:14separately because these motors are electronically controlled the on-board computer can precisely
02:19distribute torque between the front and the rear axles as well as between the rear wheels thereby
02:25increasing traction and stability this model also features dedicated michelin tires
02:30tires and a stiff suspension with hydraulic bump stops all that means that even in track mode which
02:39limits traction control intervention i couldn't break traction on dry asphalt and believe me i tried
02:48i tried during the acceleration runs as well as during taking sharp corners faster than i really should
02:54this experience in the corners is like kind of driving on a truck ideally with a racing driver behind the
03:01wheel and the g-forces are so intense that in my opinion it's simply unpleasant you could try it once
03:11or
03:11twice on your own and then maybe take a mate out for a ride so he knows that your alpine
03:17generates g-forces like
03:19his 911 but that's it especially since there doesn't seem to be like any real feedback about the limits of
03:27the grip
03:28i don't know when the wheels are going to break traction and how will the car behave then i'm afraid
03:37that
03:37by the time i'm going to break traction i'll be going faster than my skills would allow to kind of
03:47save myself
03:47from a nasty crash so the a110 it danced on the road it was a pleasant instrument in the driver's
03:55hands
03:55it felt like a much more powerful mazda mx5 yes i know the a110 is mid-engined but the a110
04:03was fun to
04:04drive while the a390 feels like a soulless computer the a390 accelerates well but doesn't offer the thrills of
04:13the a110 and it also weighs a ton more than the a110 the a390 weighs 2100 kilograms over that actually
04:23whereas the a110 weighed just 1.1 tons
04:31interestingly the a110 with a 252 horsepower 1.8 liter petrol engine which i reviewed a few years ago
04:38had a 0 to 100 kilometers per hour time of four and a half seconds the a390 gt should do
04:440 to 100
04:45kilometers per hour in 4.8 seconds but when i tested it i got four and a half seconds both
04:50in normal and
04:51sport modes the top speed is limited to 200 kilometers per hour for the gt and 222 kilometers per hour
04:58for
04:58the gts the latter sprints to 100 kilometers per hour in 3.9 seconds
05:07the steering is quick but too light in my opinion now there are some switches on the steering wheel
05:14one is completely unnecessary it's called ev which stands for overtake and you can achieve the same
05:23effect if you floor it the second is the drive mode switch which i think would be better as a
05:31knob
05:31because you have to cycle through all the modes anyway one by one and then you have something called
05:37rch which stands for recharge and this is a knob with settings from 0 to 3 and in the highest
05:45region
05:46setting you can also use one pedal driving mode the car will stop automatically without using the brake
05:53this mode must be reactivated every time you start the car
06:00okay so the a390 corners like it's on rails it accelerates like a bullet but how does it break
06:07this test car has relatively new tires but i suspect the brakes have been abused during previous test
06:14drives in traffic the brakes like to squeal more than a little bit during acceleration tests the braking
06:22felt weaker than expected for this vehicle's speed and mass additionally during like kind of mid to heavy
06:29braking on the expressway i felt slight vibrations on the steering wheel
06:39this car needs at least new brake pads if not the entire brake discs which by the way are 365
06:47millimeters
06:47in the front and 350 millimeters in the rear both ventilated of course also during fast driving the wind
06:55noise is terrible but let's face it you're not going to use an ev as a gt car despite the
07:01name you'll throw
07:02this around some twisty mountain roads without reaching the speed where the wind noise becomes a
07:08problem and if you really want to drive your a390 fast take it to a track this is also where
07:15you can
07:15take advantage of the telemetry suite which is embedded in the infotainment system
07:24below motorway speeds there is some artificial engine noise
07:30pumped through the speakers
07:34this is supposed to be some sort of feedback for the driver regarding acceleration as far as i'm concerned
07:40i'd probably turn it off at least in normal mode and leave it for sport mode and yes it is
07:47possible to
07:49arrange it to set it like this let me see uh modes engine noise yeah and you can configure it
07:58to be off
07:59nice and quiet
08:04visibility is better than one might expect from a car of this shape okay maybe rear visibility isn't
08:10stellar but to the sides it's okay and since this is an electric car we'll have to mention the elephant
08:16in the room which is the energy consumption range and charging alpine a390 has an 89 kilowatt hour traction
08:24battery claimed energy consumption is between 19 and 20 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers combined
08:30without regenerative braking this would mean around 470 kilometers of range but alpine claims this car can
08:37drive for up to 550 kilometers so i assume this includes regen after resetting the on-board computer i
08:46saw a range of 430 kilometers but after a few days of driving very carefully by the way i got
08:53the energy
08:54consumption down to barely 26 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers so 340 kilometers on a good day as long
09:02as you're not using your alpine as it should be used if you floor it the a390 will use more
09:08than 30 kilowatt
09:09hours per 100 kilometers to be fair this is a sport ish car so if your megan rs wasn't particularly
09:19efficient when you floored it let's not expect the a390 to be any different but at least it charges
09:25quickly right right right unfortunately no the gt peaks at 150 kilowatts and charges from 15 to 80
09:36state of charge in 29 minutes and the gts does it 190 kilowatts and 25 minutes respectively but these
09:43aren't class leading figures by any measure on the plus side you can order a 22 kilowatt
09:51onboard charger instead of the standard 11 kilowatt charger so you'll get more juice during longer
09:57lunch or shopping spree also the a390 can tow up to 1350 kilograms
10:10the turning circle is 11 meters this is on the upper end of the average for a car measuring
10:16over 460 centimeters in length from a four meter wide street where i live the alpine easily reverses
10:23into a three meter gate the 360 degree camera system makes this task easier one time the emergency
10:30braking system reacted aggressively while reversing but that may have been because the passenger was
10:36opening the gate for me and was still within the range of the rear sensors
10:43other driver aids work well and aren't overly intrusive isa and other distractions can be deactivated by
10:52double pressing a button above the driver's left knee in front of the driver is a 12.3 inch display
10:58with
10:58several presentation modes in the center is a 12 inch display unfortunately the entire interface looks like
11:05that of many renault products and on the one hand i have nothing against renault interfaces but on the other
11:13hand alpine isn't cheap and i'd like something more than the drive selector buttons here under these
11:21uh carbon fiber winglets which are optional by the way beneath the central display are some physical
11:28buttons for the ac and then we have a phone cradle with a wireless charger which sometimes works under the
11:37console is a hard plastic shelf you'll certainly hear the items you leave there but you won't necessarily
11:46be able to reach them without crawling under the steering wheel there's only one cup holder on the
11:52console however the storage compartment under the armrest is deep it's narrow like fist narrow but quite deep
12:01the glove box and the door pockets they're okay
12:09a few words about the a390s looks from a distance it's supposed to resemble the a110 and i see where
12:15the designers are going with this looking at it i have no doubt it's an alpine i like the details
12:21like
12:21the light bars in the front and in the rear the arrow on the nose and the sculptured profile it's
12:28all
12:28cohesive and it doesn't feel like the a390 was designed in a rush if only they could have done
12:35regular door handles i know renault and alpine want to greet me when i approach the car with the key
12:40in
12:40my pocket but i really don't need my car locking and unlocking every time i carry groceries home
12:49okay so the rear door handles are less bad than the ones in the front but let's keep it normal
12:54shall we
12:54now when we open the door here we see very wide sills which are fine if you're a cat less
13:00so if
13:00you're a normal person who has to climb over them now i'm 175 centimeters tall and i have sufficient
13:09leg room and just about sufficient headroom now someone rightly assumed that since you already own
13:15an alpine a110 for the weekends you might need something a bit more practical for everyday commuting
13:21let's face it all that power is just for show now the flat floor in the middle is a plus
13:27it's a
13:27shame there is no armrest though there are air conditioning vents and usb-c ports and door pockets
13:34which are quite tight but uh you know barely i managed to squeeze my water bottle but apparently french
13:44they don't hydrate they seem to like fire much more the a390s boot is surprisingly large
13:56it may not have the practical rail system or shopping bag hooks or a double floor which would
14:02help create a flat loading area but it is capacious my gear case i shall demonstrate
14:09it uh rarely fits on its long narrow side we're talking about a boot as deep as in the skoda
14:16enyak
14:18alpine says the boot capacity is 532 liters i measured it and the boot is 100 centimeters deep
14:25by the floor 98 centimeters wide between the wheels and 53 centimeters high from the floor to the parcel shelf
14:32together with the niches behind the wheel arches alpine's number is realistic and now for my three
14:39random suitcases test i can fit them in various configurations with room to spare for at least
14:45one golf bag or even more luggage
14:49prices of the alpine a390 start at 67 500 euro this car with options costs 80 000 and 40 euro
15:02the alpine a390 is an interesting car for someone who already owns an a110 or some other weekend toy
15:10however something tells me that if you can afford an 80 grand suv you can also afford an electric macan
15:17and what do you think about the alpine a390 let me know in a comment section below
15:25if you like my sarcastic down-to-earth and possibly mildly amusing car reviews join me every friday
15:313 pm central european time and don't forget to subscribe and like this video as it helps me
15:37move the youtube algorithm thanks for watching and i will see you in the next one