By the end of the M5, as we turned off towards familiar Dartmoor roads, we'd come to a happy consensus: we both thought it was a damned fine car. Now, the sinuous moors roads, with their crests and dips, tightening turns and sheep chicanes are behind us, and the Alpine, with an auxiliary fan cooling its turbo and fuel injectors, sits in the china clay works, a match for its surreal surroundings. I've revised my opinion; I think it's superb.

Its predecessor, the long underrated GTA, is a rare sight on our roads, just 600 having been imported in the last six years. With its V6 engine slung out at the back, way beyond the rear axle line, the plastic-bodied 2+2 earned itself the title of 'the poor man's 911', although the only respect in which it was inferior to the Porsche was in its cabin ambience. What really made it poorer was its name. Say you drive a Porsche and you need not elucidate beyond three digits. Say you drive a Renault and the response is more likely to be 'Oh, which one? My granny's got a 5, loves it to bits, etc etc...' With its new model, Renault has decided to let the car do the talking. There isn't a Renault badge on it, just 'A610 Turbo' etched into the side windows and mysterious 'A's on the nose and tail. This isn't Renault being still more coy. In the UK it can't call it an Alpine (pronounced Alpeen) after the Dieppe-based division that builds it, because Peugeot Talbot holds the rights to the trade mark. I can't see anyone confusing the A610 with the rattly and rust-prone Talbot Alpine, but there you go.

So it's simply the 'A' to the casual observer, while to those curious enough to ask and get the above explanation, it's the 'Eh?' There were plenty of them on our two-day run to Land's End, each drawn helplessly by the car's striking looks, which are set off to such sizzling effect by its double yellow-line paint job. This suggests individuality, which suits the car perfectly; very little of the A610 is conventional. It constantly springs surprises, from interior door catches mounted on the floor, to offset, fall-away pedals, to wipers that do the splits before your very eyes. However, the best and most enduring surprise is the way it drives.

Porsche has been using and developing the rear engine configuration for many years, but Alpine has never been far behind. Its 1963 A110, a distant forerunner of the A610, was very successful in rallying, while the later GTA never earned itself the unenviable backwards-through-ahedge reputation of the 911, only now exorcised in the Carrera 2. More striking than pretty, the A610 is most obviously different to the GTA in its styling, which is undoubtedly important to Renault, as it should renew interest in the model. Gone are the glazed-in headlamps, replaced by pop-ups revealing twin rectangular lamps and, below, 928-like indicator/spot lamp clusters. The new bumper-cum-spoiler is obviously a significant factor in reducing drag to a fine cd 0.30, because the other changes appear minor: ducts just ahead of the rear wheels and an extended rear spoiler. As before, the resin-reinforced glass-fibre panels are bonded to each other and the steel chassis.

 

Satisfying matching of control weightings helps make driving A610 a rare treat

Beneath the skin is where the more significant changes lie. The steel girder chassis has been made stiffer, and its front end redesigned to improve protection in a collision. As before, double wishbones are hung off each corner, with revised spring and damper rates to suit the increase in weight - a substantial 4751b. The new V6 engine has no problem shrugging off this extra bulk. Its capacity is up from 2.5 to 3.0 litres, thanks to a longer-throw crankshaft. Bigger valves and increased boost from the single Garrett T3 turbo lift power by 50bhp to 250, while there's a similar gain in pulling power, up from 210 to 358lb ft. These improvements are even more impressive when you realise that the old 2.5 didn't have a catalyst. Although it's broader and longer than the Carrera 2, the A610 contrives to provide less luggage space. Open the front bonnet and you'll find that Alpine has already packed it with a few essentials: a 17.5-gallon fuel tank, space-saver spare and anti-lock braking actuator.

All of this helps improve the front/rear weight distribution and as many of the car's vital organs as possible have been shifted to the front. Even the new power - assisted steering pump is up front, to help create the 42/58 per cent front/rear balance. Release the glass rear hatch, lift the cover and all you'll find is the engine. Mike Bailie's camera gear and our overnight bags had to go on the tiny rear seats.  I admire the Carrera 2 greatly, but the sprint over Dartmoor en route to the crinkly Cornish peninsular makes it clear that the A610 handles better.

 

More striking than pretty, A610 has much in common with Cornish scenery

You can enjoy the sensations and benefits of its tail-heavy configuration without ever feeling threatened, powering early out of turns to make best use of the superb traction offered, yet turning into them with as much enthusiasm as you would in a fast hatch. Confidence builds quickly and is never betrayed. The A610 goes so quickly, and with so little apparent effort or fuss, as we also found on the motorway, that the hardest part of driving it is keeping your speed down. Initially, we reckoned the speedo was hopelessly optimistic - it wasn't. It's not worth mentioning understeer or oversteer, as in the dry the Michelin MXXs - 205/45 ZR 16s up front, 245/45s astern - stick like a boiled sweet to a blanket. There's little pitch and even less roll, and the car holds a perfect line, no matter how hard you push.

But that's not to say the A610 is inert - far from it. Some will assume that the switch from manual to power-assisted steering has dulled the feedback, but its weighting and feel are exceptionally good.

 

Like the Porsche 944S2, the Alpine achieves that satisfying matching of major control weightings - steering and gearchange, throttle and brake - a rare treat. Particularly good are the gearshift (remote, remember) and the brakes, which have as much power as you'd expect of 300mm vented discs all round, yet are sensitive and responsive to light applications. Turbo lag was an unwelcome feature of the 2.5-litre engine, but the new unit is never more than a moment or two behind the demands of your right foot. Whether you're powering away from a Dartmoor apex or nosing out to dispatch a string of early season holiday traffic, the A610 is there, spooling up rapidly to deliver an urgent but surgefree wallop. And it's quiet, too, most of the noise over your shoulder being sucked away magically in the car's wake.

 

Off the moor, we head for Tavistock and take the A390 to Liskeard and St Austell. It's not the quickest way to Land's End but proves, as if further proof were needed, that the Alpine can raise its game to suit any situation.

Interior still disappointing - too obviously a Renault

You rarely need to drop down to third for its sweeps, or to pass the numerous handpainted VW camper vans, but the gearshift is so good and the acceleration so strong that it seems a waste not to indulge just a little. From St Austell we cross the Cornish Alps to the much-improved A30 for the last leg. The front end is getting noticeably light now, the V6 having consumed the best part of 17.5 gallons, but it remains stable and composed. Remarkably, it looks like we're going to do the 400odd mile trip on just one fill-up, at an average of 26mpg, according to the trip computer. This figure is even more impressive in light of the performance figures spewed out by our test equipment a few days later. Wound up and unleashed, the A610 hit 60mph in 5.4sec, the quarter mile in 14 dead and stormed around the Millbrook bowl at 160mph. 165mph on the flat? No problem. Through the gears, it's every bit as quick as the 928 GT; not bad for a £38,000 car.

 

Superb traction and total cornering confidence - A610 handles better than Carrera 2

 

 

The catch, though it's only a small one, remains the interior. Renault hasn't missed the opportunity to have another go, and the A610 is better, with a neat wrap-around pod ahead of the driver presenting the instruments and switches logically. Trouble is, they are obviously Renault items. I was less offended than most - they work well and Ferrari uses tackier Fiat items, does it not? - but it remains a flaw in the A610's appeal. Less easy to forgive was the fit of the carpet and a couple of wobbly switches that suggested less than perfect build quality. This is a shame, as an otherwise more confidence-inspiring, solid-feeling GT you won't find this side of a 928.

 

The A610 is a greatly improved, superbly accomplished and, above all, individual sports car, that deserves to be enjoyed by a much wider audience. The changes over the GTA work, and work very well, which is more than can be said of those to Land's End. I've never been before but I wish I had - before it was turned into a mini theme park. We queued up, paid our £3 to park and walked around this spectacle to see where England falls into the Atlantic, but it wasn't the contemplative moment it should have been. A few yards behind were the 'Land's End Creperie' (charmingly built into an old fishing boat), assorted gift shops and a shiver-me-timbers fake galleon play area. Improbability drive had struck again. The only bright spot was in the car park; a mysterious yellow GT, humming quietly to itself under the Cornish sun.