Alpine Renault A310 V6

Our Alpine A310 is one of the latest series with a large bumper and improved suspension equal to the Renault 5 Turbo. The current owner bought the car in 2001 from the first owner and handled it very carefully. The engine has been completely overhauled and the gearbox has been replaced. In the past it has been repainted in the original color and the paint still looks beautiful. The car has always been parked in a garage. For long journeys where the weather is not always sure it is weatherproofed by applying a Dinitrol treatment. The interior is still in original and good condition which is rare for this model and shows the care that the owner has given this car.

The history of Alpine A310

A310 signaled a change of direction for Alpine. Previous Alpines, most notably the famed A110, were pure sports and race cars, thus they were tiresome or even punishing to drive for long distances. Alpine determined to design the new generation car as a grand tourer. It should offer a lot more space, comfort, practicality as well as a more upmarket look. Because of the vast differences, the A310 was not exactly a direct successor to the A110. Both cars would be built in parallel in the following 6 years to suit different kinds of customers.

The A310 retained the classic features of Alpine, i.e. glass-fiber body shell, steel backbone chassis, all-independent suspensions and a rear-mounted Renault-sourced powertrain. However, it was made considerably larger than A110, being half a meter longer, 70 mm wider and weighing 200 more kilograms. A 170-mm stretch of wheelbase allowed it to add a pair of rear seats to accommodate children or average adults for a short ride. Having said that, the Alpine was still remarkably compact by the standard of GTs. Only a rear-engined car could manage to extract so much interior space from an exterior so compact!

Exterior design was as much space-age as the A110 was classic. Inside, the car did the GT thing pretty well. Its front seats were mounted right to the floor as in a supercar (due to that low roof), but the seats themselves were comfortable. Access to the cabin was easy. Space up front was excellent except for those very tall. The rear seats were larger than most other 2+2.

Naturally, the backbone chassis was redesigned to be stronger than the one on A110. There were few Renault components left, only the rack-and-pinion steering, ventilated disc brakes and upper control arms of the double-wishbone front suspensions came from the Renault parts bin. The rear suspensions switched to bespoke double-wishbone items to improve camber control and tame oversteer. Up front, the nose contained a radiator, whose coolant flowed to the engine via pipes running inside the tubular backbone.

Located between the rear wheels was again a longitudinal inline-4 engine. Alpine originally hoped to be benefited from the new “PRV” V6 program jointly developed by Renault, Peugeot and Volvo, but since that program was delayed, it had to settle with existing Renault four-pot. Derived from the 1565 cc Renault 12 Gordini engine.

1976 finally came the 2664 cc. PRV engine. This 90-degree SOHC V6 was neither as smooth nor as musical as the best V6 engines, but its 150 hp output lifted performance to 138 mph and 0-60 mph in 7.4 seconds, finally justifying the looks and price of A310. Even so, it was far more popular than the four-cylinder, capturing 9,276 units of sales until production ended in 1984. The A310 is therefore the best selling model in the 40 years history of Alpine.