A few of us on here like a little French car

williamsmix

williamsmix

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574
Ewan said:
0% finance on the S and GT models currently (until the end of March). Add that to relatively low depreciation, and you end up in a fantastic car for a low monthly price. (For those that are happy to rent, rather than buy, their cars, and then use their saved capital to earn money - say, by buying Bitcoin…)
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Just been to Hendy Alpine in Southampton to check things out and I’m really impressed by the Alpine in the flesh. It’s lower, smaller and sexier than I thought it was going to be! Not much boot space for EU touring though unless you’re a minimalist and don’t want to import wine … It turns out that the 0% finance deal is only on stock cars, so no chance of specifying your own. I expect Alpine have put this offer together on the S and GT with some very careful cost management to deliver the 0% finance deal through RCI bank, which is owned by Renault. As an investor in RCI bank the prospect of offsetting monthly finance payments with interest they’re already paying me looks quite virtuous!
 
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TimR

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Hate to say it but I think I’d wanna stick a banana up the tail pipe after about a week…! Sorry Alpine. First world problems and all……:whistle:
 
Guy

Guy

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2,135
Mine was pearlescent white and sadly ran on metric michelins and had turbo lag measured in seconds but it was fun for a year.

430029187_18083067310435380_4495042859865804141_n.jpg
 
philw696

philw696

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25,472
Guy said:
I did. Late 80s. Mini 850 performance off boost and 911SC on boost! Fun in a scary sort of way as it felt as wide as it was long!
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When I was Rallying the Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 it was like that coming out of a corner and then put you through a fence.
 
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zagatoes30

zagatoes30

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Mate served his time at a Renault dealership in the turbo era, their regular test drive had a bend with a big hole in the hedge which they all called turbo lag. To get the turbo cars to accelerate out of the bend you had had to forecast the lag and boot them whilst still in the bend, if your timing was wrong the hole was where the car went when the boost came in.
 
philw696

philw696

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25,472
Maddest race ever or do you know better? Ten years of the UAE was celebrated in 1981 with a series of motorsport events including this a race of champions in Citroen CX GTIs...
it was a CelebrFB_IMG_1709836612419.jpgity Race with Abdul Wahab Galadari, Citroën importer, providing 16 CX GTi’s for the event. The cars were fitted with roll cages and some other necessary mods.
 
Phil H

Phil H

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4,167
In the 1970's Thruxton ran a few caravan races, not of the demolition derby type but decent cars pulling respectable (albeit stripped out) caravans. IIRC, the quickest guy towed with a Vauxhall VX and he had independently braked caravan wheels controlled from the centre console. Somewhere in my archive I'll have some pics but in the meantime:

26-Oct-2022-Timeline-Image-Z.jpg
 
Ewan

Ewan

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6,812
williamsmix said:
Just been to Hendy Alpine in Southampton to check things out and I’m really impressed by the Alpine in the flesh. It’s lower, smaller and sexier than I thought it was going to be! Not much boot space for EU touring though unless you’re a minimalist and don’t want to import wine … It turns out that the 0% finance deal is only on stock cars, so no chance of specifying your own. I expect Alpine have put this offer together on the S and GT with some very careful cost management to deliver the 0% finance deal through RCI bank, which is owned by Renault. As an investor in RCI bank the prospect of offsetting monthly finance payments with interest they’re already paying me looks quite virtuous!
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I’m not sure that’s quite right. My understanding is that any new GT or S ordered before the end of March is at 0%. Or 2.9% for the standard (i.e. Non GT or S) cars.
But if you go for a new car that is already in stock, you should be able to get a few grand off, plus the cheap finance.
Alpine are making a proper effort to make these easy to buy, so well done them.
Also, it’s worth playing one dealer off against another, as there’s plenty of stock available, so they need to compete to win your business.
 
williamsmix

williamsmix

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Messages
574
Ewan said:
I’m not sure that’s quite right. My understanding is that any new GT or S ordered before the end of March is at 0%. Or 2.9% for the standard (i.e. Non GT or S) cars.
But if you go for a new car that is already in stock, you should be able to get a few grand off, plus the cheap finance.
Alpine are making a proper effort to make these easy to buy, so well done them.
Also, it’s worth playing one dealer off against another, as there’s plenty of stock available, so they need to compete to win your business.
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Well, Hendy told me that 0% APR is only available on what they have in stock, which was pretty limited but discounted, as you say. I’ve had that same message from another dealer too; no 0% on newly configured orders (which have a 3-4 month lead time). I think Alpine are having a clear out, perhaps ahead of a transition to an electric replacement(?). Maybe they’ll hold 0% after the end of the month, but if they have a lot of new stock going out at 0% that may reduce demand for used stock along with the margins dealers are currently able to ask over GFVs …
 
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TimR

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2,731
I found the dealer interaction was a copy paste email reply, and zero interest in getting me in a car, despite the emailed enthusiasm…! Very weird.
BMW were the same. No response to test ride application but plenty of marketing dross and surveys about satisfaction. What this country knows about customer service you could put on a stamp….
 
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