Alpine A290 Review & Prices

The Alpine A290 is a small electric hot hatch that puts an emphasis on putting a smile on your face – whether that be every time you look at its baby rally car looks or in the brilliant way it drives. Rear seat space is pretty poor, though, while the lack of cup holders further impacts daily practicality.

It’s the Adidas tracksuit to a pair of H&M joggers. Both might look out of place at a dinner party, but the tracksuit has at least been designed with sporty endeavours in mind, rather than taking a leisurely approach to your day.

There are a few small, speedy EVs you might also consider alongside the Alpine A290, including the Mini JCW Electric and Abarth 600e. The Smart #1 Brabus is more expensive and an SUV, but might be worth a look, budget allowing. There’s also the Ford Puma Gen-E, which is nowhere near as sporty but still good to drive. Or the Renault 5, which the Alpine A290 is based on – it looks almost as cool and drives just as well while costing less.

Yet while the Renault 5 is undoubtedly a cool-looking car, the consensus (among the Carwow reviews team at least) is that the Alpine A290 might just be worth the extra money on looks alone. It’s small, but with sharp lines and a retro-inspired boxy silhouette. Couple that with the extra lighting on the front that’s distinctly rally car-esque and you have one handsome little EV.

Alpine A290: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 226-236 miles
Efficiency: 3.7 miles per kWh
Battery size: 52kWh
Max charge speed: 100kW
Charge time AC: 7 hrs 15 mins, 10-100% @ 7kW
Charge time DC: 30mins, 15-80%, 100kWh
Charge port location: Left side rear
Power outputs: 180hp / 220hp

The interior is fantastic, too with a wrap-around twin-screen setup on the dashboard and physical switchgear that’s easy to use on the move. A boost button and toggle switch on the steering wheel for the regenerative braking add some extra sporty appeal.

The infotainment system is Google-based, so you get built-in apps like Google Maps and voice control, plus it’s quick and easy to find your way around.

Space is okay up front, a touch tight for taller drivers but more comfortable for longer drives than you might expect given the car’s proportions. Rear seat space is almost non-existent, and the lack of cup holders is annoying, but at least the boot is a respectable 326 litres. That’s considerably more than you get in the Mini Electric JCW and Smart #1 Brabus.

There’s a choice of two power outputs – 180hp and 220hp – with official range figures of 236 and 226 miles respectively. Efficiency is fine, if nothing to boast about, so we saw around 180-200 miles to a charge – not fantastic, but about the same as alternatives at this price.

The maximum charge rate of 100kW isn’t amazing either, but we added about 50% in the time it took to wolf down a quarter-pounder, which is respectable enough.

And if you want to do long journeys that require top ups, the Alpine A290 performs admirably. It’s small but comfortable and will happily sit at 70mph without too much wind and road noise. Its dimensions also make it great for nipping about in town.

It’s at its best on a twisty road, though. Mini might be known for saying its cars have the agility of a go-kart, but there’s a new kid in town. The Alpine A290 is an absolute joy to drive on a country road, with sharp changes of direction and loads of grip. Perhaps the only complaint is that despite the extra power over the Renault 5, it doesn’t feel particularly rapid – you get a punch of acceleration when you put your foot down but then it all fizzles out rather quickly. It’s much more composed and usable than the frenetic Mini Electric JCW, though.

The Alpine A290 is a joy – it looks great and it’s fantastic to drive. However, the same can be said for the cheaper Renault 5, so if you just want something cool to nip about in, that might be the better option.

If you like the rally-inspired looks and the extra power appeals, though, you won’t be disappointed, and you can get a great price with Carwow’s Alpine A290 deals and A290 lease deals. You can browse used Alpines from our network of trusted dealers, and when it’s time to sell your car, Carwow can help with that, too.

The Alpine A290 starts at £32,000 for the base model GT, rising to £38,000 for the more powerful GTS. That makes it reasonably priced among alternatives, with the Mini Electric JCW starting at £35,000 and the Abarth 600e from around £37,000.

There are four trims, starting with the GT, which gets less power and less kit. Then the GT Premium and GT Performance sit in the middle of the range, both costing £34,500. GT Premium models get extra kit but with the lower-powered motor, whereas the GT Performance does without a couple of creature comforts, but gets the more powerful motor from the GTS, which sits at the top of the range.

Great fun to drive and more comfortable than you might expect of a hot hatch, but it’s not quite as quick as you might expect, either

In town

The Alpine A290 is fantastic around town, in part thanks to the fact it’s quite small so it’s easy to nip about in traffic and squeeze into parking spaces most modern cars couldn’t dream of.

What’s perhaps more surprising is just how comfortable it is over bumps, given its sporty credentials. Where a Mini Electric JCW crashes into every rut in the road like its tyres are made of bricks, the Alpine skips along unfussed. It means this is a little performance car that won’t test your resolve when used every day.

There are various drive modes so you can put the car into ‘save’ to maximise range, and there’s a dial on the steering wheel that lets you adjust regenerative braking on the move.

On the motorway

You might expect a small car to be a bit noisy and unrefined on the motorway, but the opposite is true of the Alpine A290. It can cruise along at 70mph quite happily, suspension dealing admirably with bumps and wind and road noise kept to a minimum. By small car standards it is almost luxurious.

Impressive too that you get adaptive cruise control as standard, which helps maintain your speed and distance to the car in front. Lane-keeping assistance is also included on all models.

On a twisty road

It’s a twisty road where the Alpine A290 is at its best, with those small dimensions again paying dividends because you’re not constantly worried about being able to keep the car between the lines. Meanwhile the suspension, upgraded over the Renault 5, stays composed on a bumpy B-road. Flick the steering wheel and the A290 changes direction instantly, like a big go-kart for the road.

Perhaps the only slightly underwhelming feeling is that of the acceleration – it pushes you back in your seat when you put your foot down at lower speeds, but quickly feels like it runs out of puff. The upside is that the front wheels don’t scrabble around in quite such a frenetic way as the Mini Electric JCW, making the Alpine feel more composed and purposeful on a twisty road – though the Mini does feel quicker, which is unsurprising as more powerful

Reasonably sized boot and respectable space up front, but there’s not much room in the back and no cup holders

Space up front is pretty good, though if you’re used to the tall driving position of an SUV you might feel a bit low down, and the low roof can make it feel dark inside. Still, even taller drivers should be able to get a comfortable driving position as there’s a good amount of movement in the wheel and seat.

Storage is extremely limited, though. The centre console has a small ledge for the card-shaped key to sit, and a recessed area to store (and wirelessly charge) your phone. The armrest has a deep if not particularly wide cubby, while the door bins are just about big enough for a small water bottle. There are no cup holders anywhere in the car, though, which is very annoying.

Space in the back seats

Space in the rear is quite limited, and you’ll struggle to fit a six-footer behind another six-footer. This isn’t uncommon among alternatives though, and at least the Alpine A290 is a five-door, so you don’t need to squeeze yourself behind the folded front seats like you do in the three-door Mini Electric JCW.

There are no door bins in the back, and the only creature comfort is a 12v socket, which isn’t ideal for anyone wanting to charge their devices.

It’s surprisingly accessible if you have a child seat, though. Although there’s not much space, the front passenger can push their seat forward to get the child seat in, and the cutout shape of the dashboard means their knees have somewhere to go instead of being squished up around their ears. If you need to place a second seat behind the driver it could get tricky, though.

Boot space

Boot space is respectable at 326 litres, which is more than most alternatives you might be considering. The Mini Electric JCW has 210 litres and the Abarth 500e has 185l, with even the seemingly larger Smart #1 Brabus falling behind the Alpine at 273 litres. The Ford Puma Gen-E isn’t a performance car, but if you need the biggest boot possible it has up to a massive 523 litres available.

There’s quite a large lip to lift heavy items over, but the deep boot shape is what gives it that useful capacity, so feels like a fair trade off. You can reach in and fold the rear seats, which leaves a small ridge in the boot floor.

Slick infotainment and a cool interior design, but there are some cheap materials to be found

Like the Renault 5 it’s based on, the Alpine A290’s interior is a near-perfect mix of old-school physical controls and modern technology.

There’s a twin-screen setup on the dashboard, with the infotainment system running through the central 10.3-inch display and running Google software. That means you have built-in Google apps, including Maps, which can plan long routes to include battery top ups, which is really useful.

It’s quick to respond and fairly easy to find your way around, but you also have Android Auto and Apple CarPlay available if you prefer.

The 10.3-inch screen ahead of the driver is crisp and displays all the relevant driving information you need, and you can scroll through various layouts to display the information you prefer. Another neat Google feature is that your phone maps can be displayed in the driver screen, ahead of you.

Along with this useful technology, there’s also a bank of switches beneath the main screen for your climate controls. Having these means it’s easy to make changes on the move, rather than poking and prodding at a touchscreen.

Material quality is good on the whole, with the leather seats of our GTS test car being soft and supportive, while the chunky steering wheel feels suitably sporty. However, there are a few cheap materials dotted about, such as on the door cards. They’re by no means a deal breaker, just a little less forgivable here than they are in the cheaper Renault 5.

There’s a choice of two power outputs in the Alpine A290, both of which are paired with a 52kWh battery. GT and GT Premium models get 180hp and have an official range of 236 miles, while GT Performance and GTS models get 220hp and a range of 226 miles.

We saw efficiency of 3.5 miles per kWh in our time with the car, which would indicate a real-world range of about 180 miles, though closer to 200 should be possible if you avoid too many sprints down your favourite country roads. That’s a bit less than we saw in the Mini Electric JCW, but there’s not much in it. However, the Abarth 500e’s range is much lower, and we saw just 135 miles in our time with the car.

Whichever version of the Alpine you go for, you can charge from 10-100% on a typical 7kW home charger in seven hours and 15 minutes, though the A290 actually accepts up to 11kW through AC charging, so if you have access to a suitably quick charger then this drops to less than five hours. Fast charging speeds of up to 100kW aren’t amazing, but because the battery is relatively small the 15-80% time of 30 minutes isn’t too bad.

Being an electric car means that the Alpine A290 gets the most favourable Benefit-in-Kind rates for company car drivers, and it falls into the cheapest category for first-year road tax, too.

The Alpine A290 has a Euro NCAP safety rating of four out of five stars – though it hasn’t been tested specifically, its score is borrowed from the Renault 5. Scores of 80% for both adult and child protection are pretty good, if not exceptional.

You get all the basic safety kit as standard, such as driver monitoring and emergency braking assistance, while adaptive cruise control is nice to have. The only extra you really get by upgrading to top-spec models is the addition of grippy sports tyres. All versions can be optioned with a driving pack (which adds a hands-free parking system and a smarter cruise control) and a safety pack (which includes blind-spot warning among other features), both costing £700.

Being such a new model means it’s tough to know just how reliable the Alpine A290 will be. However, sharing construction with the Renault 5 should be reassuring as the French brand was ranked an impressive sixth out of 31 manufacturers in the latest Driver Power owner satisfaction survey.

As standard you get a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty, though you can pay extra to improve this. Although the standard warranty length isn’t great in the grand scheme of things – you get up to 10 years in a Toyota, for example – it’s the same as you’ll get with a Mini Electric JCW or Abarth 500e.