Alpine A110 Buying Guide: Common Problems and What to Check Before You Buy

The A110 is the car that restarted Alpine, and it does something almost nothing else on the market does: it goes fast by weighing very little. Alpine quoted 1,080 kg at launch excluding options, and Autocar’s scales put a fully specified car a little over 1,100 kg. Either way it is roughly a Cayman’s performance on a fraction of the mass, and it drives like nothing else at the price.

It is also a low-volume car from a brand that had been dormant for over twenty years, and that shapes what you should worry about. The A110’s mechanical record is largely clean. The risk sits in specification, in support, and in the gap between what a car advert claims and what that exact car could actually be built with. This guide covers both phases, what to check, and what the advert will not tell you.

At a glance: which A110 is which

Three things to fix in your head before you start looking:

• There is no manual A110, and there never was. The car was engineered from the start as dual-clutch only. Every A110 uses the same seven-speed twin-clutch gearbox, so unlike a 911 or an R8 the transmission is not a value decision.
• No A110 has ever had adaptive dampers. Whatever a car advert implies, this is a passive-damper car across every trim and both phases. The R’s coilovers are collar-adjusted at a workshop, not a driver-selectable mode.
• Phase 1 has no plain “A110”. Every phase-1 car is a named trim. A car advert that just says “A110” with a 2019 plate is missing the single most important piece of information about the car, because trim is what determines the specification.

Common problems and what to check

The mechanical record is genuinely good

What Car? reports no major issues with the A110, and PistonHeads notes that the car’s largely clean record is a real achievement given that most serious faults on a new model surface in the early years.

The 1.8-litre turbocharged four is shared with the Renault Mégane RS, though in a different state of tune, which helps with parts commonality on the powertrain. The gearbox is not shared: the A110 uses a seven-speed dual-clutch.

That is not a reason to skip checks. It is a reason to put your attention where the actual risk is.

Recalls, and the one that matters

The A110 has been subject to several DVSA safety recalls. The largest, issued in December 2023, covers 811 UK vehicles built between September 2017 and April 2022, and addresses a fuel pump impeller fault that can reduce or cut fuel supply to the engine. An earlier July 2021 recall covered 192 cars built between October 2018 and January 2020 for a fuel pump module fault that could cause a no-start, loss of torque or stalling. Two June 2019 recalls covered exhaust valve solenoid wiring and incorrectly torqued front luggage compartment bolts.

Read that fuel pump build window again: September 2017 to April 2022 takes in almost every phase-1 car and the early phase-2 cars. Owner reports of sudden non-starts and engine cutting out are consistent with the fault the recall addresses. Recall completion on a low-volume car with a small dealer network is not safe to assume, so check by VIN with an Alpine dealer rather than taking a service book on trust.

Aggregator sites disagree on the total number of A110 recalls, so treat any headline count as indicative and verify the individual car.

Battery and electrical items

Battery condition matters more than on most cars, and a weak battery can stop the car running at all. Test every electrical function properly during a viewing rather than sampling a few.

Wheels, tyres and cosmetic condition

Wheel damage and tyre wear are the routine things to look at. On a light car that is often used for weekend driving, tyres tell you about storage and use as much as about mileage. Old tyres on low mileage is a maintenance tell, not a bargain.

Track use

The A110 is light enough and good enough that a proportion of cars see track days. That is not a problem in itself, but it changes how hard the consumables and drivetrain have worked relative to the odometer. Establish the history honestly.

Specification is where A110 money is won and lost

This is the part a general buying guide will not give you, and it is where the phases genuinely differ.

On the S, five items that were paid options in phase 1 became standard in phase 2: the active sport exhaust, Focal audio, Alpine Telemetrics, aluminium pedals and the aluminium passenger footrest. A phase-1 S with all of those fitted was an expensive car when new. A phase-1 S without them is a different proposition from a phase-2 S at the same money, and the car advert will rarely make that clear.

The Légende became the GT in phase 2, and gained kit. The 320 mm high-performance Brembo braking system and the active sport exhaust both moved from option to standard. One item went the other way: aluminium pedals were standard on the Légende and became an option on the GT.

Brembo branding is not proof of the big brake system in phase 2. Anthracite Brembo calipers are range-wide, including on the base car. The discriminator is the 320 mm system, not the caliper.

Alarm provision changed, and it matters for insurance. Phase-1 cars carry a fitted anti-theft alarm. Phase-2 cars carry pre-equipment only, meaning pre-wiring rather than an alarm. A car advert describing a phase-2 car as alarmed is making a claim worth checking.

Heated seats are structurally impossible on a bucket-seat car. Alpine only ever sold seat heating as part of the Sabelt Comfort seat, so a bucket-seat A110 cannot have heated seats regardless of what an advert says. On the phase-1 Pure they were not available at all. On the phase-2 base car they became orderable with the Comfort seats.

Focal audio and Focal Premium are two different products and appear on different trims. “Focal” in a car advert does not tell you which.

Phase-1 infotainment is mySPIN, not Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Phone mirroring was present from launch, so an advert mentioning mirroring on a 2019 car is not necessarily wrong, but a claim of CarPlay on a phase-1 car is.

The Première Édition had a closed options list. Nothing on it was orderable separately, so anything additional on a Première Édition is aftermarket rather than factory.

Beyond the mechanicals: history and provenance red flags

Two A110s with identical mileage can be worth thousands apart on history and specification alone. Before you focus on condition, the paper trail has to stand up:

• Service history gaps, particularly on a car with a small specialist network where a missed interval is harder to catch up.
• Mileage that does not add up. MOT records should tell a consistent story year on year, and low mileage should be verified rather than assumed.
• Outstanding finance. A car cannot be sold cleanly with money owed against it.
• Accident or write-off markers. A recorded repair is not automatically a deal-breaker, but bonded aluminium construction makes repair quality worth understanding.
• Specification that does not match the car advert. On the A110 this is the single most common gap, because trim and options drive value more than mileage does.

None of these require you to be in the same room as the car. All of them are checkable in advance.

What a car advert and a test drive will not tell you

It helps to think of an A110 purchase as three layers of truth:

1. What the seller says. The car advert, the description, the conversation. Useful, but unverified.
2. What the records say. MOT and mileage consistency, finance, stolen and write-off markers. This is data verification, and it can be done before you travel.
3. What only a physical inspection reveals. Suspension and bushing wear, dual-clutch health, the things you can only find with the car on a ramp.

Most buyers do layer 1, go straight to a test drive, and only reach layer 3 on the car they have already half committed to. Doing layer 2 first is what stops you spending a Saturday on a car whose history was never going to check out.

To be clear about the limits: data verification confirms a car is what it claims to be on paper. It does not replace a physical, mechanical pre-purchase inspection. The two do different jobs, and a careful A110 buyer does both, in that order.

How Chequered Past helps

Chequered Past is the layer-2 step. You give us the registration; we check the official records on that car: the factory spec, MOT and mileage consistency, outstanding finance, stolen and write-off markers, keepers and the value, and we’re explicit about anything we couldn’t confirm.

What it does: tells you, before you travel, whether a car is what it says it is. What it does not do: replace a physical inspection of mechanical condition. We will always tell you where that line is.

Run a history check on an A110 you’re considering →

Frequently asked questions

Which A110 should I buy, phase 1 or phase 2? Phase 2 standardised several items that were expensive options on phase 1, particularly on the S. But a well-specified phase-1 car can carry the same equipment for less money. The decision is really about which options that individual car actually has, which is exactly the thing car adverts are vague about.

Does the Alpine A110 come with a manual gearbox? No. Every A110 uses the same seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The car was designed that way from the start and no manual was ever offered.

Is the Alpine A110 reliable? The mechanical record is good for a low-volume sports car, with no widely reported major engine or gearbox faults. The more realistic concerns are electrical items, battery condition, and confirming that the fuel pump recall work has been carried out.

Do I need the car’s registration? Yes. The free check and the £10 vehicle history check both run on the registration.

Can you check a tracked A110? Yes. We surface the signals and you decide what they mean for you. The goal is an informed decision, not a pass or fail.

Other Alpine guides: Alpine buying guide hub

Chequered Past is an independent analysis service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Alpine, Automobiles Alpine, Renault Group, or any vehicle manufacturer. Data is drawn from licensed DVLA and DVSA records via our data provider.