Alpine A110 vs Ferrari GTC4

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?

You want a V12 Ferrari, but you have growing responsibilities. A strictly two seat supercar just isn't quite right when kids start to arrive.

Sure, you can add a Ferrari F12 to your collection, and pick up a Merc-AMG family truckster to cover the functional stuff.
 
But it's not the same. You want to have your Italian torta, and eat it, too. Enter the Ferrari GTC4Lusso, the prancing horse’s latest take on a rapid, luxurious, four seat coupe, able to leap continents in a single bound without so much as a bead of perspiration forming on its forehead.

It's fast, suitably furious, and able to accommodate family or friends on a fast blast to anywhere you choose to go. And as usual with Maranello’s finest, the name says it all.

'GT' stands for Gran Turismo (or Grand Tourer), 'C' is short for Coupe, '4' relates to the number of people it accommodates, 'Lusso' means luxury, and of course, Ferrari is Italian for fast.