Alpine A110 vs Aston Martin DBS

What's the difference?

Dieppe. A pretty seaside community on the northern French coast. Established a mere thousand years ago, it's copped a hammering in various conflicts, yet retained its beautiful 'marine promenade', a handy reputation for top-notch scallops, and for the last 50-odd years, one of the world's most respected performance carmakers.

Alpine, the brainchild of one Jean Rédélé - racing driver, motorsport innovator, and automotive entrepreneur - is still located on the southern edge of town.

Never officially imported into Australia, the brand is virtually unknown here to all but committed enthusiasts, with Alpine having an illustrious rally and sportscar racing back-story including victory in the 1973 World Rally Championship, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1978.

Rédélé was always committed to Renault, with the French giant eventually buying his company in 1973, and continuing to produce brilliant, lightweight road and racing Alpines until 1995.

After a close to 20-year hibernation, Renault reanimated the brand in 2012 with the stunning A110-50 concept racing car, and then the two-seat, mid-engine machine you see here, the A110.

It's clearly inspired by the Alpine of the same name that wiped the rallying floor clean in the early 1970s. Question is, does this 21st century version build or bury that car's iconic reputation?

In mid-2018, to coincide with its global launch, CarsGuide was invited to a hush-hush, behind-closed-doors preview of the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera. 

Hidden within a maze of black velvet drapes at a low-key, inner-city Sydney location sat the famous British brand’s new flagship, a stunning 2+2 GT with the performance, dynamics and luxurious quality to match its exotic looks and $500K+ price tag.

On that day, for whatever reason, I never thought the opportunity to steer it would come my way. But two years later, almost to the day, the key to this ‘Sabiro Blue’ beauty was mine.

The DBS Superleggera sits at the top performance coupe table, mixing it with Bentley, Ferrari, and Porsche’s finest. But maybe you already have one (or more) of those. Which begs the question, does this imposing V12 machine do enough to qualify for an extra space in your garage?