2025 Alpine A290 review, good: yes, fun: no

It was one of those moments when you just knew, and it took less than a mile. That was all the time I needed to know for certain that the Alpine A110 was one of the finest road cars I’d driven. Nearly eight years and who knows how many drives later, I’ve seen nothing to tempt me to change that view. If you judge a car by its ability to do the job for which it was designed, it is an all-time great, in an era where such things are depressingly scarce commodities.

But none of us hacks could figure out what it would do next and nor it seems could Alpine, because no one would relaunch an entire brand like that with a low-volume, low-margin product and then choose to sit on its hands for the best part of a decade.

Now, however, we know the answer and within the world of what can be considered sporting, it’s about as far from the last Alpine as you can come.

For a start the A290 is not even an Alpine in the sense that the A110 was – a bespoke sports car built in the fabled Dieppe factory. The new ‘Alpine’ is in fact merely a hotted-up new Renault 5, so much so that when I was recently asked to judge the offerings for the Car of the Year award, me and my fellow jurors were asked to consider the Renault and Alpine as a single entry.

So while the last Alpine was a mid-engined, rear-drive, all-aluminium, petrol-powered two-seater, this is a front-drive, front-motor, steel-bodied four-seat hatchback. And electric. Some will think they can already hear the far off rumble of Jean Rédélé starting to rotate…

But wait. It turns out the Renault 5 and therefore this Alpine A290 went and won the Car of the Year award, with 25 of the 60 European journalists on said jury (myself included) putting it first. The second-placed car (the Kia EV3) was placed first by just 11. Wins rarely come more resounding than that.

And rightly so, because unless you’re actually expecting a massed produced electric hatch to have the same characteristics as an ICE-powered sports car, this is a truly likeable and broadly convincing effort.

And ‘effort’ is the right word. Because unlike, say, the rival Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce whose creators appeared to think that merely making it fast was somehow enough, Renault has been assiduous in all matters from the selection of spring and damper rates, the expansion of the front and rear tracks and even the development of a bespoke tyre for the A290. At 1479kg it sounds heavy, but it’s still 80kg lighter than the Alfa and an astonishing 125kg lighter than the electric Mini Cooper SE.

“Would I have more fun in a 10-year-old Fiesta ST? All day and all night I would”

Whether all this effort actually works depends entirely on your perspective. Would I have more fun in a 10-year-old second-hand Ford Fiesta ST? All day and all night I would, so while we praise each new step a new sporting EV makes, we should not forget how far down the ladder they started in the first place and how much more climbing is required just to reach the level good petrol hatchbacks have been at for years. On the other hand, it’s so much better to drive than the Alfa or Mini you have to say that on a like-for-like comparison basis, amazing stuff has been achieved here.

I really like the way the chassis handles its power, with just a touch of torque steer at the exit of slow corners; I like its poise, its ability to carry speed yet also its willingness to respond to your right foot and change direction instantly and accurately if there’s a mid-corner change of plan. Alpine has used the fact that unlike conventional front-drive hatches, the A290 has an almost even weight distribution front to rear and really capitalised on the advantages it brings. Yet it achieves all this without the ride being ruined.

Even so, I still can’t see many properly enthusiastic, appreciative drivers falling in love with it. There’s just too little to do, too little aural stimulation, and too little steering feel as well. It’s a car you might well find impressive, genuinely likeable too, but is it one in which you’re going to fall hopelessly in love? It’s hard to see and it is only cold comfort that I could say exactly the same about every other electric car on the market.

Some will doubtless regard it as a poor successor to the A110 without realising that’s not what it is at all. The A110’s real offspring is a new two-door sports car rumoured to be going on sale next year, and that is a car that will truly have its work cut out, and just about the hardest act to follow in the modern car world.

For now, then, I welcome the A290 while observing that, for the money, the Renault 5 from which it is derived is a more impressive achievement. Renault should be warmly congratulated for making so much effort to ensure the A290 is as good as it can be, and I think it probably is. But if what you want is a genuinely good, fun hot hatch, a car to spread a broad grin across your face rather than just a thin smile, in the domain of the EV, the wait continues.

Alpine A290

• Price £38,000 (approx)
• Engine Front electric motor 52 kWh battery hybrid
• Power 218bhp
• Torque 221lb ft l Weight 1479kg
• Power to weight 147bhp per tonne
• Transmission Single-speed automatic, front-wheel drive
• 0-62mph 6.4sec
• Top speed 106mph
• Range 226 miles (WLTP)
• Charging speed 195kW
• Verdict Much to enjoy… but still an EV.