There is a problem with electric cars, which is that they are no fun. You see, even from the very earliest days of the motorcar in the waning days of the 19th century, people were instantly cottoning on to the idea that speed and sporting prowess would be a fabulous marketing tool for this new technology, and so the sports car, born as a road-going relative of the racing car, wasn’t long in coming into being. Both fame and infamy, desire and darkness thus beckoned.
For electric vehicles (EV), it’s been a bit less instant. The first EVs hit our roads 15 years ago, but while there has been the occasional blip between now and then, for the most part, they have been more worthy than wow. True, there are plenty which can out-accelerate a lower-tier Ferrari, with plenty boasting sub-four-second 0-100km/h acceleration times, but straight-line speed doesn’t really cut it with true car enthusiasts. It’s fun for five minutes, but that kind of lighting-strike speed then proceeds to either make you feel sick or in trouble with the law. Or both.
Sports cars, true sports cars, are more about feel than fast. They’re about the tactility of control and feedback, not just bolting for the horizon. Thankfully, there are at least a handful of EVs that are genuinely fun to drive, and one of them might just be the electric car’s Golf GTI moment.
You see, 50 years ago, the first VW Golf GTI arrived on the scene, and showed car buyers that you could have a practical, sensible family hatchback, but one that was also fast, fluent, and huge fun. Fast-forward a half-century, and meet the Alpine A290.
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Now, you will be more familiar with the Alpine’s more sensible brother, the Renault 5 E-Tech, but Renault is keen for its rebuilt sporty brand to make an impact, and so now it’s focusing on selling a line-up of fast, fun, electric cars. The A290 will, by next year, be joined by a new electric two-seat A110 sports car, and a powerful A390 crossover that rivals the likes of the Porsche Macan.
Whatever those two cars are like, the A290 is utterly adorable. As you approach it, you instantly fall in soppy love (well, I do anyway) with the little rally-car-style spotlights that jut upwards from the edge of the bonnet. Those, and a very muscular body kit and mean-looking alloy wheels, give the A290 a visual identity that leans away from the chicness of the Renault 5. This is clearly a car for enthusiasts.
Thankfully, Renault and Alpine haven’t given in to the temptation to endow the A290 with the wherewithal to win a traffic light Grand Prix. You have a choice of 180hp or 220hp electric motors, and both are considerably less powerful than, say, the MG4 Xpower, which has 435hp and Ferrari-crushing acceleration.
Here’s the thing, though – in the MG, you’ll shatter the land speed record in a straight line, but when it comes to corners, it just drives with the same bland detachment as the standard MG4. It’s fine, but not fun.
In the Alpine, though? You’re grinning as soon as you start moving. There are little gimmicks, like a trio of tactile steering wheel buttons that adjust how the A290 accelerates and brakes, but the real sweetness is in the steering itself. The regular Renault 5 has pretty sharp steering, but the Alpine’s has been honed against a whetstone and feels fantastically rewarding and communicative in your hands. You feel genuinely plugged into the road, not something that comes as standard with all, nor even many, EVs.
It’s not really the speed that thrills you in the A290, it’s the way it constantly chats to you about what the tyres are doing, how much grip you have, and how the car is flowing down the road. Even the brakes feel firm and responsive, and that’s an area in which more than a few supposedly sporty electric cars fall down badly.
Are there other fun EVs? Of course, there are. There’s the electric Porsche line-up of Macan and Taycan, both of which are a touch more remote in their feel than the lovely Alpine (not to mention a mortgage or two more expensive). Still, they are also superbly well-honed in the great Porsche tradition, and firmly entertaining when the road turns twisty.
Or there’s the BMW i4, although in this instance, avoid the bells-and-whistles four-wheel drive M60 model and instead get the eDrive40 version, which not only has more range but also has much nicer steering and more of a genuine sense of fun about it. The opposite advice applies to the larger BMW i5, skip the standard model and get the 600hp four-wheel drive M60, which is an absolute hoot.
Or there’s the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, based on the Korean carmaker’s hugely successful electric crossover. This is a big, heavy car, usually not a great recipe for something that’s fun, but Hyundai has given it a whopping 650hp from two electric motors. This means that, yes, you can go Ferrari-baiting with its ridiculous acceleration, but the Hyundai N engineers have also made it feel genuinely responsive and rewarding in corners, not to mention adding giggle-inducing tech such as imitation gearshifts and engine noise. Better yet, the same power and poise is coming, in 2026, to the lower and sleeker Hyundai Ioniq 6 N, and that could be an electric ultimate when it comes to low-slung sports saloons.
Want something smaller and more affordable? Well, the Alpine’s biggest competition in the fun-but-frugal stakes is the Mini, either in Cooper S E hatchback form, or the slightly roomier Aceman crossover style. Both have plenty of power, 218hp, and super-sharp steering and feel genuinely amusing to drive in that grand Mini tradition. Mind you, both also have incredibly hard-edged ride comfort, so neither is entirely happy on a traditional stretch of Irish country road. Equally, as with the Alpine, you’re limited to about 250km of real-world range. The Alfa Romeo Junior can do a bit better than that in its standard form (say, 350km) and is superbly entertaining to drive, and the upgraded 280hp Veloce version of that car is a proper laugh-riot.
Perhaps, then, the true Golf GTI moment for electric cars – the point at which sense and sporty sensibilities meet in the middle – will come from VW again, but this time with a Polo.
In 2026, Volkswagen will launch its new small electric car, called the ID.Polo. In standard form, this will be the sensible EV Polo hatchback you’re expecting, but at the recent Munich motor show, VW also showed off that car’s naughty little sister – the ID.Polo GTI. You’ll have to wait till 2027 for that one – rather perfectly, that’s the 50th anniversary of right-hand drive versions of the Mk1 VW Golf GTI, which were first engineered in Northern Ireland (but that’s another story) – but you can expect 225hp initially, rising to 280hp for a hard-core “Clubsport” version. So far, we’ve only seen the ID.Polo GTI, and not driven it, but you know the phrase, “if it looks right, it’ll fly right?” Well …
