Back in the late-eighties, when city bankers wore red braces and William Woolard was presenting Top Gear (usually with one foot up on the front bumper and his elbow on his knee), the Sierra RS Cosworth, Mercedes Benz 190-E Cosworth, and BMW M3 were the performance four-seater cars of choice. The debate about which is the one to have will go on ad-infinitum, but here we've found an alternative - although, yes, it's still basically another BMW...
Available only through Sytner's of Nottingham, the Alpina C2 featured a much-improved 2.7-litre version of the 325 engine and a raft of suspension improvements including re-worked geometry as well as a subtle (..compared with the M3's) body kit and some tasteful additions to the interior. It's hard to tell how many were built, but the number would appear to be under 200, which make this a much rarer car than the E30 M3. It could also be argued that, with a straight-six, it made a more appealing sound than any of its contemporaries too.
Alpina C2
looks like a beauty. Its current owner is a BMW devotee and has pretty much owned the lot over the years and searched long and hard for this C2, although he admitted "...the stripes might not be to everybody's taste, and it's appetite for fuel borders on madness. But sincerely it's one of the best BMWs to drive, and the noise is intoxicating."
The car appears to be in superb original order and comes with an extensive history file - including the original service booklet and owner's handbook - and all the numbers match on the engine and body shell. It's up for £8495 ono which, compared at least with the price of a good E30 M3 (you're talking at least £10k-£15k there), is very good value bearing in mind that there's probably not a lot of difference in the performance. Or would you prefer a Cosworth Sierra or 190-E?