50 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 2 1 AUGUST 2019
Δ convinced by BMW’s curious new
instrument layout, it would have
happened by now.
But all that is overshadowed,
especially in a feature such as this,
by the one thing it has gained. Or,
I should say, regained. Being old
enough to remember successive
generations of early 3 Series, their
position as weapon au choix among
those in need of a compact saloon
but who liked to drive was nothing
less than inviolable. Okay, I’m not
so ancient as to have been
doing this job when the E21-
generation 3 Series was on
the market, but the E30, E36
and E46 ruled that particular
roost with impregnable
authority. But the more recent
E90 and F30, while more rounded
products, were also less distinct
and cars concerned with all their
occupants, not just the driver. Now
with the G20, though, the balance has
swung decisively back the other way.
It’s the car’s handling that does it,
the way it wolfs down a great road
with such authority and precision
that you might be tempted to look
over your shoulder to check this
really is a four-door family car,
and not some hunkered-down sports
coupé. The result is a 3 Series with a
character we’ve not seen for nigh on
15 years and it’s great to have it back.
It may not look it, but it is in many
ways the most surprising car here.
The least surprising should be the
Alpine A110. What more can we add
to the ocean of purple prose already
expended upon this remarkable,
game-changing little sports car?
Only this: despite it all, despite the
f a c t t h at it i s a s f a m i l i a r t o me a s
a n old pa i r of sl ipp e r s a f t e r h av i n g
driven plenty and living with one
as a daily driver for a few months,
surprising it remains.
There is so much about this car
that flies in the face of the purist’s
handbook – it has only four cylinders,
it’s turbocharged, it’s a third down
on the requisite pedal count and so
on – that if you spend any
time away from it and then
return, it is with the sense that
it simply can’t be as good as
your memory suggests. Yes,
it’s light and compact, but
y ou r br a i n i s t r y i n g t o k id y ou
there’s an experience here to
The only^ prancing^
horses^ you’ll^ see^
in the^ top^ five^
‘Spot the wiggliest lin
e on the map’ challenge`
Unlike the McLaren, the
911 is a car that invites
you to take it for granted
a