IF you can overlook the fact that there is no official agent in Northern Ireland, the Alpine A110 is arguably the best real-world sports car on sale today, writes William Scholes.
It's a four-wheeled psalm of praise to the merits of light weight, compact dimensions, delicacy of touch and sensible power outputs.
As a result, the A110 feels like a car that you wear, a sort of slack-free second skin hardwired to the commands you issue to the steering, pedals and gearbox.
The standard car is a brilliant thing, but Alpine has already given us a more hardcore 'S' model and now there's this, the limited edition Légende GT which is said to be "the most refined interpretation of the A110 to date".
Translucent LED taillights, pale gold alloy wheels - the badges are finished in the same colour - and 'warm amber' leather upholstery are among the upgrades. There's also a custom three-piece luggage set.
It shares its mid-mounted 1.8-litre turbocharged petrol engine and double-clutch gearbox with other A110 models, its 246bhp output the same as the regular non-GT Légende version. Top speed is 156mph and 0-62mph quoted as 4.5 seconds.
Expect it to cost around £60,000 in the UK.
Meanwhile, Alpine has announced a further colour-themed special edition; it says it plans to offer such models on a yearly rotation, with a different bespoke colour annually.
For 2020, the colour is 'sunflower yellow', a shade that harks back to the marque's sixties and seventies origins.
The car is based on the potent A110S, and will cost upwards of £61k.
