Handling built around you
Without supercar numbers to boast about, hot hatches live or die by the way they go around corners. And the Alpine A290 delivers in spades.
On tight B-roads, it feels nimble, alive and light on its feet. With a kerb weight just under 1,500kg – modest by EV standards – it turns in eagerly and stays flat through bends. Torque steer can tug at the wheel when the road surface is uneven, but far from being a flaw, it gives the driver a sense of mechanical connection that’s increasingly rare.
What’s remarkable is the breadth of ability. On track, the A290 reveals a playful side: it’s throttle-adjustable, capable of lift-off oversteer, and happy to move around under braking – all the traits that made the golden era of hot hatches legendary. On the road, it’s supple and composed, riding broken surfaces with a fluency more like a Golf GTI than a stripped-back racer.
As Autocar’s group test verdict put it, the A290 feels “polished and laboured over”, the sort of car you can enjoy all the time rather than just in bursts. That balance of agility and usability is precisely what sets it apart.
It doesn’t just handle well for an EV. It handles well, full stop.
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