RE: Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo spec confirmed
Discussion
AdamPT said:
That sounds like someone never to accept a lift from! Actually these are the only 2 cars written off but i've had near misses in lots of colours!!
He was banned at the time I worked with him - his 'wife' drove him to work everyday and parked on our carpark and then, apparently, walked a mile to a Metro Station to get to work 8 miles away - everyday - apparently...At the same place there was a guy who was caught driving without a licence at the age of 52 - he'd been driving since he was 17 and had NEVER passed a test - his cars were insured by his wife and he'd never been stopped.
He used to joke that the penalty was the same that it would have been if he'd been caught on Day 1 - he also joked that he was caught because someone crashed into HIM...
yellowstreak said:
There are a lot of people with that sort of company car budget though and the MPG figures have a direct impact on the tax they will pay. Isn't that what the last sentences of the article are getting at?
Yes. Company car tax is based on list price and CO2 emissions. That's why the petrol alternative is not usually attractive to the company car driver. In turn this has a knock on to the used market i.e. not many petrols coming through.There's got to be some sort of formula for what makes a good real world car. I guess you'd need to factor in cost, subjective appeal, usable performance (not sure if that'd be a plus or a minus?) and the proportion of the time you can actually use it.
It also begs the question of whether something genuinely practical would start to lose its 'specialness'. If you were in a position to drive an F40 to the shops every day would it still have the same sense of adventure? Or perhaps more aptly, if everyone else could drive an F40 to the shops every day would it still be special?
I think the latter is half the beauty of brands like Alpina. A 3-Series is a very good car. Turn it into something that only enthusiasts will fully appreciate and it becomes quite an emotive one too.
It also begs the question of whether something genuinely practical would start to lose its 'specialness'. If you were in a position to drive an F40 to the shops every day would it still have the same sense of adventure? Or perhaps more aptly, if everyone else could drive an F40 to the shops every day would it still be special?
I think the latter is half the beauty of brands like Alpina. A 3-Series is a very good car. Turn it into something that only enthusiasts will fully appreciate and it becomes quite an emotive one too.
I think an Alpina of some sort is probably the best car money can buy. Using my own money I'd prefer one to anything else. However 19 inch wheels look horrible and tyres cost £270 a corner compared to £80 for my 17 inch rims. Perhaps the best solution would be to buy car and get new rims with sensible tyre size, but that might be impossible due to caliper size. Second hand at around £30k i'd definitely go for a coupe version.
I use wheel size as a limit on what i will buy and 17 inch is the max, so this makes standard Porsches perversely attractive. Only the chocolate engines make me stop.
I use wheel size as a limit on what i will buy and 17 inch is the max, so this makes standard Porsches perversely attractive. Only the chocolate engines make me stop.
405dogvan said:
AdamPT said:
That sounds like someone never to accept a lift from! Actually these are the only 2 cars written off but i've had near misses in lots of colours!!
He was banned at the time I worked with him - his 'wife' drove him to work everyday and parked on our carpark and then, apparently, walked a mile to a Metro Station to get to work 8 miles away - everyday - apparently...At the same place there was a guy who was caught driving without a licence at the age of 52 - he'd been driving since he was 17 and had NEVER passed a test - his cars were insured by his wife and he'd never been stopped.
He used to joke that the penalty was the same that it would have been if he'd been caught on Day 1 - he also joked that he was caught because someone crashed into HIM...
The numbers are astonishing - 0-60, bhp, torque and emissions, this is a brilliant piece of engineering. Not exactly cheap at £50k for a diesel, if you really needed to save money on fuel you probably wouldn't be looking at dropping £50k on a car. Appreciate it makes huge sense as a company car though.
AdamPT said:
Sounds like a total w*nker!
He was actually quite a nice bloke and remember, he'd driver for 35 years without being stopped by the Police which suggests his driving was pretty good - I doubt many of us can claim that (if I discounted driving a delivery can, I've only been stopped once in 25 years - but I was stopped WEEKLY in that van!!)ahenners said:
The numbers are astonishing - 0-60, bhp, torque and emissions, this is a brilliant piece of engineering. Not exactly cheap at £50k for a diesel, if you really needed to save money on fuel you probably wouldn't be looking at dropping £50k on a car. Appreciate it makes huge sense as a company car though.
and for the 'lazy power' user - I know a fair few people who prefer diesels mated to decent autos because 'loads of lazy torque almost everywhere'...405dogvan said:
and for the 'lazy power' user - I know a fair few people who prefer diesels mated to decent autos because 'loads of lazy torque almost everywhere'...
I know quite a few people like this too (usually not the "car person" type). Hopefully the growing trend of mainstream petrol turbo cars and increasing efficiency will change this attitude and people will realise they don't "need" a diesel to get decent torque even in the lower rev ranges.There's a B3 biturbo that has masses of power and torque, but unfortunately it's a few K more expensive than the more efficient D3
Edited by ahenners on Thursday 10th October 19:54
Ive had a Brabus D6S albeit in e class cabrio form for the last couple of years. Awesome piece of kit and very much in the same vein as the Alpina. Pulls like a train and still averages 40+ mpg.
Beauty of these kind of cars is they maintain factory warranties and are far more insurance friendly than aftermarket tuned cars. Count me in.
Beauty of these kind of cars is they maintain factory warranties and are far more insurance friendly than aftermarket tuned cars. Count me in.
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