RE: Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo: Driven
Discussion
Matt Bird said:
Kawasicki said:
Back in 2013 PH reviewed the B3 and said this
"In Comfort mode the steering is spookily light. Around the straight-ahead position there's often a sense that the steering column has been disconnected entirely from the wheels. The Sport modes address this with added weight, but never do you have total faith in the steering and nor is there any degree of feedback.
Muddied waters
On a twisting, narrow road that can become an issue because you find yourself unable to place the car with total accuracy. Allied to a chassis that, even in one of the Sport modes, feels a little blunt you do find yourself having to second guess your steering inputs and correct your lines. The B3 soon feels uncomfortable being hustled down a demanding stretch of blacktop for there isn't the precision and iron-fisted body control to make such a thing enjoyable."
So I would question your opening line in this review.
Is the steering in the D3 better?
Hello,"In Comfort mode the steering is spookily light. Around the straight-ahead position there's often a sense that the steering column has been disconnected entirely from the wheels. The Sport modes address this with added weight, but never do you have total faith in the steering and nor is there any degree of feedback.
Muddied waters
On a twisting, narrow road that can become an issue because you find yourself unable to place the car with total accuracy. Allied to a chassis that, even in one of the Sport modes, feels a little blunt you do find yourself having to second guess your steering inputs and correct your lines. The B3 soon feels uncomfortable being hustled down a demanding stretch of blacktop for there isn't the precision and iron-fisted body control to make such a thing enjoyable."
So I would question your opening line in this review.
Is the steering in the D3 better?
I didn't write the review for the D3 but did drive that car. Having spent time in our 4 Series recently I think the fact the D3 felt so much better resolved than that car was the overriding impression.
The steering isn't feelsome in either car but, for me, the weighting was OK in the D3. On the roads I drove the D3 on the lack of precision didn't manifest itself; maybe I wasn't pushing hard enough! As mentioned it lacks the outright focus of an M car but that seems befitting of its role.
We'll have a chat with Alpina and see if there are any fundamental differences between the two cars and investigate the kerbweights/distribution too.
Matt
Going up the M6 in the "fast lane" last wednesday a silver 3 series tried to bully me out the way as they do .
Anyway thinking as it was a 57 plate it was just a 320d il squeeze the throttle and watch him disappear .Well he held onto some figures before he went backwards , i then in a clearing moved over and let him catch up and go past . D3 badge on the back ,wtf i thought .
Impressive for a diesel rep box with posh tuning.
Anyway thinking as it was a 57 plate it was just a 320d il squeeze the throttle and watch him disappear .Well he held onto some figures before he went backwards , i then in a clearing moved over and let him catch up and go past . D3 badge on the back ,wtf i thought .
Impressive for a diesel rep box with posh tuning.
ortontom said:
Another way to look at it you could find a 964 RS at £50k and run it for 2 years and make £10k not cost £30k during a 2 year period...i know its an odd statement...
I suppose that train has long gone though... case in point the £220K 964 RS featured last week. 
From another perpective, looking at the fact that I can buy any number of old 330d Beemers for fag money even here in The Netherlands, but none of the cheaper-when-new- 4 cylinder D3s have dipped under the 10K euro barrier yet that I'm aware of, it's fair to assume that going Alpina saves a fair bit of depreciation long-term compared to the regular high(ish) spec diesel saloon/estate options...
pimpchez said:
Going up the M6 in the "fast lane" last wednesday a silver 3 series tried to bully me out the way as they do .
Anyway thinking as it was a 57 plate it was just a 320d il squeeze the throttle and watch him disappear .Well he held onto some figures before he went backwards , i then in a clearing moved over and let him catch up and go past . D3 badge on the back ,wtf i thought .
Impressive for a diesel rep box with posh tuning.
That would have been the 'old' D3 with 197 bhp. This new one has 350 bhp!!Anyway thinking as it was a 57 plate it was just a 320d il squeeze the throttle and watch him disappear .Well he held onto some figures before he went backwards , i then in a clearing moved over and let him catch up and go past . D3 badge on the back ,wtf i thought .
Impressive for a diesel rep box with posh tuning.
Same here, but 35-40K commuter miles in my daily driver would cripple my finances even more in any petrol car that's got something resembling an engine in it... LPG may be an alternative if I could find something to my liking that's already been converted (where's that E39 Alpina that Evo ran at some point then sold off at a fairly sizeable loss, these days? 
).
).Pugland53 said:
pimpchez said:
Going up the M6 in the "fast lane" last wednesday a silver 3 series tried to bully me out the way as they do .
Anyway thinking as it was a 57 plate it was just a 320d il squeeze the throttle and watch him disappear .Well he held onto some figures before he went backwards , i then in a clearing moved over and let him catch up and go past . D3 badge on the back ,wtf i thought .
Impressive for a diesel rep box with posh tuning.
That would have been the 'old' D3 with 197 bhp. This new one has 350 bhp!!Anyway thinking as it was a 57 plate it was just a 320d il squeeze the throttle and watch him disappear .Well he held onto some figures before he went backwards , i then in a clearing moved over and let him catch up and go past . D3 badge on the back ,wtf i thought .
Impressive for a diesel rep box with posh tuning.
I'm an original owner and I've just hit 110,000 miles in my E90 Alpina D3.. fabulous fabulous cars!! Really surprised that there aren't more of them around.. M cars are common as muck compared to these. I had a play in the new B3 and it's just TOO fast (190mph).. far classier than an M3 too (flame suit on) 
No, no, no, no and no RE: Torque.
Complete red herring. It's power at the wheels that determines the acceleration.
Turbocharged cars produce more torque across more of the rev range, meaning ultimately that more power is generated for any given revs.
Put it this way, you could have an engine producing 5252 lb/ft of torque and at a maximum of 1rpm.
The end result is.. 1 bhp.
It wouldn't be very fast.
Complete red herring. It's power at the wheels that determines the acceleration.
Turbocharged cars produce more torque across more of the rev range, meaning ultimately that more power is generated for any given revs.
Put it this way, you could have an engine producing 5252 lb/ft of torque and at a maximum of 1rpm.
The end result is.. 1 bhp.
It wouldn't be very fast.
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