A DIFFERENT KIND OF ALPINE (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Renault's ultimate Rafale is this E-Tech 300 atelier Alpine version. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 56

Renault wheels out its choicest engineering in this car, the Rafale E-Tech 300 atelier Alpine. It's got 4WD, four-wheel steering, Plug-in Hybrid tech and a healthy dose of Alpine motorsport tuning. The resulting unusual, complicated confection probably won't have been on your wish list if you're after a £50,000 fast saloon or hatch. Should it be?

Backgroundword count: 147

Renault's halo cars all used to be motorsport-tuned Renault Sport models, but all that expertise seems in recent years to have migrated to the company's Alpine brand. So what are we to make of a performance model badged as both an Alpine and a Renault; this car, Renault's Rafale E-Tech 300 atelier Alpine. The Rafale, should you be unaware of it, is the closest Renault these days gets to a big executive class model - in the UK anyway. The 300hp PHEV drivetrain in play here is the ultimate power source you can get in this car. And if you're considering it, spending a bit more on this flagship 'atelier' trim level gets you the full Alpine tuning treatment. All of which must work with no fewer than four power sources; a turbocharged combustion engine, front and rear electric motors and an integrated starter generator. Sounds intriguing.

Driving Experienceword count: 254

If you want your Rafale in the 'hyper hybrid 4x4 300hp' flagship plug-in hybrid form being served up here, you get quite a technical CV. This PHEV model uses basically the same drivetrain as the ordinary hybrid Rafale, but adds a turbocharger to the little 1.2-litre engine and pairs the front motor with an extra 132hp electric motor at the rear, so creating the advertised '4x4' system. With all these components added together, there's 300hp. And the drivetrain works with a vastly bigger 22kWh battery pack that you can plug and charge, enough when fully replenished for the car to run on pure battery power for commuting distances of up to 62 miles. When you're feeling frugal, you can exercise three 'EV Mode' settings - 'Hybrid', 'Electric' and 'E-save'. And when you're not, with the engine chiming in, 62mph from rest in this 'hyper hybrid' takes 6.4s. There's an extra 'MULTI-SENSE' driving mode too -'snow'. Here, we're trying the Rafale hyper hybrid 4x4 300hp model in its top 'atelier' form, in which guise it gains specific Alpine tuning for the anti-roll bars, the shock absorbers and the springs. And 'chassis control', which allows you to adjust the parameters of the car's 4Control 4-wheel steering system via three settings - 'comfort', 'dynamic' and 'sport'. This 'atelier' model is the only Rafale that comes fitted with adaptive damping (Renault calls it 'active suspension'). Ten engineers apparently spent three years developing it and, sure enough, there's a real polish to the way this car handles uneven surfaces.

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