The effectiveness of a sports car can be measured by the agility with which it navigates a certain winding mountain road, but also by the skill it reveals when it comes to dodging an obstacle that appears in front of it. And the new Alpine A110 S has mastered the Moose Test, the avoidance maneuver that determines the vehicle’s ability to avoid unexpected obstacles without the driver losing control of the vehicle.
Who carries out the test is the Spanish publication KM77, which traditionally tests all the new models that are marketed on European and, obviously, Spanish soil. One of the last models tested was the Alpine A110 S, a sports car that costs around €84,500 in Portugal. According to the KM77, the A110 S was able to carry out a maneuver that consists of leaving its lane to avoid an obstacle that appeared ahead, and then returning to its lane, at 80 km/h without the driver requiring great skill at the wheel, or a miracle to be able to perform the maneuver.
To get an idea of the real efficiency of the Alpine A110 S, it is good to remember that its direct rival at Porsche, the 718 Cayman, was subjected to the same type of test by the KM77 in 2016, already in the most recent version of the model. And in what is considered one of the toughest tests on the market, the Porsche 718 Cayman reached a top speed of 79 km/hbecause above this threshold the German sports car began to knock down pins and lose control, thus being overtaken by the Group Renault rival.
Since Alpine beat its direct Porsche rival, the 718 Cayman, with the A110 S, we can up the ante and compare the performance of the French sports car with a higher level Porsche, specifically the 911 Carrera 4S, tested by the KM77 in 2019, in a version identical to the one currently on sale. It doesn’t make much sense to compare a rear-wheel drive Alpine for €84,500 in Portugal and a Porsche Carrera 4S for €171,677, which is more than double the investment, with the advantage of being equipped with an all-wheel drive system. and all that this represents in terms of efficiency.
But, despite everything that indicates that the Germans would have an advantage, the reality is quite different, since the 911 cannot exceed 80 km/h, the same speed that the A110 S reaches in the dodge maneuverAlthough the German model costs twice as much, it is more powerful, has all-wheel drive and suspensions with active anti-roll bars that prevent the suspension from leaning in these types of maneuvers, maximizing efficiency.
After all, the affordable A110 S turns out to be a good performer, being more effective and predictable, beating Porsche’s direct rival, the 718, for bucks.
Source: Observadora
