Alpine A290 first drive: on road and track in the electric French hot hatch

The Alpine A290 is an electric hot hatchback based on the Renault 5. It has extra power – to the tune of a further 100 horsepower – sportier, rally-bred styling, revised suspension and an upgraded interior. Alpine even goes as far as to call it a sports car, not just an EV hot hatch.

Coming from the same French company that has a Formula One team and a 2025 Le Mans entry to its name, it's fair to say the A290 already has a reputation to upheld – and not least because of its highly-praised sibling, the A110.

Has Alpine done enough to set the A290 apart from the Renault 5? Read on to find out.

Price and availability

The Alpine A290 is expected to be priced from £33,500 for the entry-level GT model. This rises to £36,500 for the better-equipped GT Premium and hits £38,000 for the more powerful GTS. Lastly, the Premiere Edition – which is available in a set of five unique colours and is limited to 1,955 examples worldwide – will cost around £39,000.

This price range puts the A290 approximately £10,000 above its sibling, the Renault 5, but about on par with the Mini Cooper SE and fractionally above the Mini John Cooper Works Electric. Alpine says it expects the A290 order books to open in early 2025, with the first deliveries arriving in the spring.

Battery, range and performance

All versions of A290 are powered by the same 52 kWh battery pack and 400-volt electrical system. They are also all front-wheel-drive and have a single motor on the front axle producing 300 Nm of torque. The only major difference is power output, which is 180 hp for the GT and GT Premium, but 220 hp for the range-topping GTS.

Weight is 1,479 kg and the GTS driven here has a claimed 0-62 mph time of 6.4 seconds. For comparison, the Renault 5 has the same battery capacity, but produces 120 or 150 hp and has a 0-62 mph time of either 8.0 or 9.0 seconds, depending on model.

Alpine claims a maximum range of 236 miles WLTP (pending homologation) and we saw a real-world efficiency of 3.9 miles per kWh. Multiplied by the battery capacity this gives an indicated range of 202 miles. As expected given the extra performance, this puts the Alpine’s efficiency and range some way behind the 4.66 m/kWh and 284 miles of the Renault 5.

The A290 can fast-charge at up to 100 kW, which is enough to fill the battery from 15 to 80 percent in as little as 30 minutes, Alpine says. It also promises V2G and V2L tech for the A290, where the battery can be used to feed energy back to the grid, or power domestic appliances or even a home battery pack. A heat pump is fitted as standard on all variants of A290.

Driving impressions

Alpine knows extra power and sportier styling aren’t enough on their own to make the A290 stand £10,000 clear of the Renault 5. Considering Alpine has both a Formula One team and a 2025 Le Mans entry to its name, the A290 needs to drive like a true hot hatch to succeed.

Before that though, the styling is worth taking a detour. It’s clearly a close relative of the Renault 5, but the familiar quad headlight design of the Alpine A110 sports car is carried over, complete with X-shaped lights intended to look like the crosses of tape applied to the lenses of rally cars of old. Alpine fans will also notice the ‘swoosh’ on the rear door panels, while behind the 19-inch wheels sit brakes related to the A110.

There’s also a bespoke suspension setup with hydraulic bump stops that help the car to deliver agility when it’s wanted, plus comfort during daily driving. A bespoke subframe improves the position of the motor, Alpine says, but it won’t be drawn to comment on whether the A290 was designed with space for a second motor on the rear axle.

All this adds up to create a car that is fun from the off. It’s not outrageously quick, but as with some many sporty EVs there’s enough of a shove, especially from low speed, to make it feel relatively potent. This is aided by the A290’s bespoke soundtrack which uses the lower frequencies of real motor sound recordings to create something that feels authentic without copying an engine, like that of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.

Accelerate hard and, even on a bone-dry road and with those 19-inch tyres wrapped in Michelin tyres made specifically for Alpine, the A290 serves up plenty of torque-steer. This is where the front wheels tug at the steering wheel as they hunt for grip while following the camber of the road. It’s the sort of trait usually found on older, front-wheel-drive hot hatches, and makes me wonder quite how wayward the Alpine might be on a wet road. To be clear, this is only under heavy acceleration from low speed, but it suggests 220 hp is plenty for the chassis to deal with.

The rest of the car is properly enjoyable. It isn’t hugely quick, but pressing the metal OV button (which basically gives you 100% power, no matter how much you’re pressing the accelerator) is surprisingly addictive. It raised a smile every time I used it to slingshot my way past slower traffic.

Grip levels are high, with the Alpine tucking its nose into tight corners and maintaining its composure through the twisting Mallorca roads of the test route. At these speeds, rarely straying over 50 or 60 mph, the A290 is great fun and hides its weight pretty well. At 1,479 kg it’s far heavier than it would be as a petrol car, of course, but rarely on the public road does it feel like you’re engaged in a losing battle against physics.

Perhaps most surprising was the A290’s comfort when driven normally. The Renault 5 is remarkably comfortable, so I’d expected in a bid to differentiate itself the Alpine would ride a little too firmly to be enjoyable all of the time. But I was wrong. I’m yet to drive it on broken British roads, but after my initial drive I’m pleased to report how comfortable the Alpine is. It’s described by its makers as a sports car, but it rides well enough to be used every day and for any occasion.

Alpine A290 on track

Switch to the race track, and the A290’s fun levels are ramped up a gear. Introduce the Alpine to a compact circuit, and it’s a joy to throw around. The stability control can be fully disabled, and with sport mode enabled there’s just about enough power to have fun down the straights as well as through the corners. The brakes are strong and the car feels like it’s completely on your side; it’ll even be provoked into a bit of lift-off oversteer if you try hard enough, and Alpine even suggests keen drivers can “adjust the pivot point from front-to-rear balance.” There’s also a bit of brake trickery going on, where the discs of the inside front and rear wheels are pinched to help pull the car into tight corners.

Interior and technology

Inside, the hatchback gets unique, heavily bolstered seats and a steering wheel punctuated by a blue switch for adjusting regenerative braking strength, a drive mode button, and a red switch for engaging the OV – Alpine’s name for an overtaking power boost, and also found on the French team’s F1 car.

The dashboard has the same pair of 10-inch displays as the Renault 5, and the same Google-powered Android Automotive operating system too, complete with Google Maps navigation, Google Assistant voice control, and the Play store for apps. It’s a great system that works very well, and the mapping knows both the car’s battery status and where chargers are en route.

There’s no custom avatar, as there is with ‘Reno’ in the Renault 5, and instead the Alpine has a whole suite of performance features. These include graphics showing brake, battery and motor temperatures, tyres pressure, G-force, steering angle, and pages of track driving advice. There’s even a collection of video game-style challenges, although these feel like something very few A290 owners will actually engage with.

First-drive verdict: Should you buy an Alpine A290?

Just as with the Renault 5, the A290 feels like good value. It comes from a company known best in the modern era as a Formula One team and makers of a highly-praised sports car bought by enthusiasts lured away from a predictable Porsche. Yet it costs about the same as a Mini Cooper SE.

I think the Alpine looks as good as a Mini - perhaps more so if you like your cars with a side of quirk - and the performance is right up there too. It actually feels more special, more driven focused, thanks to the F1-inspired steering wheel controls and the rally-bred headlights.

I wish it were a little quicker, but equally feel the torque steer would only worsen if more power were thrown at the front wheels. Instead I’ll live in hope that a dual-motor version will be along later.

The A290 will likely forever be regarded as a niche car bought by enthusiasts, but if that’s you - or you simply want an EV hot hatch that stands out from the crowd - then the little Alpine should be high on your shopping list. For now though, I’ll reserve my final judgement until I’ve lived with one in the UK.