Alpine A390 GT - long-term review

Nearly had a heart attack the other day. Top Gear’s long-term Alpine A390 was quietly tucked away in the middle of a car park when I spotted a group of gentlemen circling it and pointing.

Specifically, one of these gents was pointing at the left-hand rear door, so I followed his gaze and for a brief moment had a full-on panic attack: from afar, it looked as though someone had smashed right into the side of the car leaving an enormous dent.

Turns out, it was just the setting sun’s glare over that bit of the A390’s indented curvature and surfacing. Panic over, the gent was rather friendly. “This yours?” I nodded. “Lovely car mate.” Been getting a lot of that recently. Seems the big lug’s a bit of a hit.

Or perhaps it was this test car’s colourway that swayed him. Our ‘Blue Alpine Vision’ car had to go back for some repairs – the air conditioning compressor went kaput and released metal fillings into the casing which caused a fairly horrendous noise whenever the climate control turned on. This happened in the middle of a heatwave. Not ideal. Would have cost £1,778.36 (£601 for the labour, £1,177.36 for the parts), though in this case it was fixed under warranty. 

While that was being checked over and having air conditioning hosed back in, we swapped into a more ‘regular’ A390 GT in a mature, sedate ‘Blue Abysse’ colour, with fewer bells and definitely no whistles. This car’s blue’s is a £900 option versus the Alpine Vision Bleu’s £1,800 cost.

Few other interesting differences too. First and most importantly, this one’s much cheaper, clocking in at £67,290 (versus the other car’s £72,340), chiefly because it does without a load of that car’s options. The wheels are standard-fit 20s and wrapped in Michelin EV tyres rather than PS4s, and back to back there’s a definite difference in ride quality – these 20s have more sidewall, so there’s a bit more squidge. Welcome squidge.

It feels a bit softer from inside too because this one also does without the optional £2,000 Sabelt chairs, instead getting Alpine’s standard fit sport seats. This too adds a bit more… cushioning to your derriere.

We didn’t miss the Alcantara headlining, the central blue steering wheel logo, nor the rear seat shells made out of carbon (saving just under £2k right there). Chiefly because there’s not a huge amount of space in the back, so your knees aren’t pressed up against something made out of carbon.

Of course, two Golden Retrievers didn’t find this too much of an issue because of course, their little furry knees didn’t extend into the rear footwell. Plenty of room for the good boys in the back, and they had their own little air vents so were kept comfortable.

And yet… the moment the electric blue car came back, the A390 burst back into life. So yes, the darker colour does suit it, but we’d still go for the classic Alpine colourway.

Range? In the dark blue car we extrapolated around 245 miles in mixed conditions and also by not really paying any attention to efficiency. Because it’s an Alpine, right? Back in the light blue A390, and under the same conditions (general ambivalence towards battery saving) it's looking more like 225 miles. Eek. Could probably extend that with a bit of careful motoring, and overall it's settling at 2.8mpkwh.