Southern Spain in winter. Mild, warm winter sun, citrus fruits, palm trees in the deep sunlight that seems so golden and grainy, as if someone had put a Super 8 filter over reality. The Alpine A390 GT makes no noise as it takes off. No ritual, no warm-up, no drama. It rolls off. And perhaps that's the first difference you need to understand: This car wants to drive.
When you press the pedal, it delivers this seamless thrust that strains stomach walls. A sports fastback that doesn't roar. The experts call this "permanently excited" in electric motors, which basically describes nothing more than an incredibly strong muscle with maximum pre-tension, which also has almost no reaction time when it needs to tense up. 400 hp and 661 newton metres for 4.8 seconds to a hundred is that in hard currency, with the GTS version even 470 hp and 824 newton metres and 3.9 seconds to a hundred. Thanks to Active Torque Vectoring, the Alpine also claws its way into the tarmac out of pure desire for centrifugal force, pulls into the bend, holds its line and remains calm. No bruiser, no regulating theatre. Grip, balance, confidence.
