RE: Spotted: Alpina B10 V8 S

[Luca Brasi]

Gruber said:

I think the 6er sold in about two months. The M5 has been with them since just before Christmas (not a great time to be selling!) and seems to have some interest already.

Is it that rather lovely Orinoco E34?

[dvs_dave]

I seem to remember reading this original story. Stories of toll plaza drag races and the cool air favoring the RS4's turbos...etc. Was it in Car Magazine?

[Gruber]

Luca Brasi said:

Gruber said:

I think the 6er sold in about two months. The M5 has been with them since just before Christmas (not a great time to be selling!) and seems to have some interest already.

Is it that rather lovely Orinoco E34?

No. It's the red e28.

[B10bri]

Seems one of the best e39s left but still well over priced.

You can't beat a couple of good Alpina tourings

[B10bri]

Not easy to choose a replacement car but I did like the 550i manual touring that was on here a while back

[van cleef]

Weird I was following one of those B10 V8 S's yesterday.... I was trying to keep up in a Caddy just to try and make out what it was, safe to say I was left well behind.

[only1ian]

E24man said:

Nice nostalgia but the V8S is hardly 'quite a step up from the V8' as the V8 had at that time time 347bhp (not the earlier car's 340bhp) so only 7.7% increase and just 6% more torque from the V8 car's 354 lb/ft ( the devil is in the details ). The V8S was more special due to the firmer ride and much improved Brembo brakes over the V8 car. As for the 'antiquated' gearbox well it's as sharp to use as the current F10 530d's eight speed auto and far more useful to a driver in not having endless gears to shift through to find any engine-braking.

As for the stash of bent wheels, I'll wager they are mostly the 18's and not the 19's - the 18's seem to be made of swiss cheese when comparing the two.

I own the same b10 monkey has found in 4.6 format. I've decatted her, gives me that extra 25bhp and still passes tge annual test without having to reinstall them and fitted 18inch wheels.

It's great! You have to work the box in manual mode through the steering wheel controls and I've just found a place that will fit a quaff diff for £1500 can I justify it?

[Cyrus1971]

Yup - I remember those cross continent blasts too. London to the Portes du Soleil in my case. One more planned in the summer in the M3, though fear of speeding traps keep means they take longer now :-(

[Agent Orange]

E24man said:

That steering wheel is an E46 SMG paddle shift wheel with the lower Alpina trim bolted on. You are correct in that Alpina switch-tronic steering wheel had discrete buttons on the rear of the wheel, they also had Alpina blue and green stitching as well as green and blue stitched gear direction arrows.

The Birds system was 'Switch-logic' which utilised a converted cruise control switch and allowed a similar control over the early 4 speed switchable mode gearboxes fitted to E24, E28, E32 and E34 cars. Unlike the Alpina system nothing was changed on the transmission at all, save for the gear switching electronics.

Ah yes I can see that now. Googled E39 SMG retrofit - seems amazingly straight forward.

You're right it was the "switch logic" system I was thinking off. I considered it on my E30 Touring at one point.

[Fun Bus]

I've lived in Nottingham all my life and being a BMW fan, Sytner and the Alpina brand have always been a little bit special to me. As a lad, I'd love looking at the Alpinas on the forecourt when Sytner were based on Huntingdon Street in the city centre. Alpina ownership is one box in life I really want to tick soon.

In fact, I'm off to Sytner later to look at this that's arrived this week in the showroom:

[Avantus]

I've shortly owned a 2002 B10 V8 with the later 347hp lump.
Best bits were the noise (oh my...), the torquey engine, Alpina details, supple ride, and looks with
those rare 2 piece wheels.

A bit after the facelift they changed to metal headgaskets. Before that you can be pretty sure
they go pop at higher mileages.
They gearbox is also a point of attention. They are sealed units, so they can not be rebuilt and only replaced
by a complete Alpina switchtronic gearbox.
The 2 piece rims need to be put upside down on a tyremachine, or the lip will be damaged.

I really did love the noise, such a smooth but loud enough rumble.

[only1ian]

The beast

[only1ian]

[g3org3y]

only1ian

Lovely car

Rubbish photos

You are hereby ordered to take some new photos to do justice to the car!

[Digger]

Lovely. The only thing I'd change would be those awful mirrors!

[anonymous-user]

Avantus said:

A bit after the facelift they changed to metal headgaskets. Before that you can be pretty sure
they go pop at higher mileages.
They gearbox is also a point of attention. They are sealed units, so they can not be rebuilt and only replaced
by a complete Alpina switchtronic gearbox.

The earlier head gaskets on the V8 are more likely to fail, yes, but I would be pretty confident in saying that if they've not gone by now they're likely to be ok, the affected cars are all over 12 years old by now. The new gaskets came in from a specific engine number some time around 2001 IIRC, the same gaskets as the X5 were used from then on.

Not true about the gearbox, it's a ZF unit which very similar to the 540 box, different torque converter and ECU are the main differences. It can be rebuilt and although it's designed to be "sealed for life" many owners do have the gearbox oil changed.

Completely in agreement about the noise, it's just glorious.

[E24man]

charltjr said:

The new gaskets came in from a specific engine number some time around 2001 IIRC, the same gaskets as the X5 were used from then on.

Engine number 14500 and onwards, sometime in 2001.

[M666 EVO]

I do like these, a lot but 16k? No. It's going nowhere

You could have my XJR for ALOT less than that and that has the same power and looks less chunky. Not as rare as the M5 though...

[Chris944_S2]

M666 EVO said:

I do like these, a lot but 16k? No. It's going nowhere

You could have my XJR for ALOT less than that and that has the same power and looks less chunky. Not as rare as the M5 though...

M5 are common as muck compared to these. Even the B10 V8 is very common compared to the S.

Most V8S's are north of 100,000 miles these days and have settled around the £9,000 mark. 16k for a car with only 42,000 on the clock is reasonable and will probably sell.

[RoverP6B]

B10bri said:

Not easy to choose a replacement car but I did like the 550i manual touring that was on here a while back

Hmm... is it just me, or do E39 Tourings look naked without roof rails? I've got so used to the look of mine with that I'd be irritated at not having them, even when I don't use 'em... would love to have a V8 Touring some day, with a manual 'box. My lowly 520i is pretty special for a glorified repmobile, though...