Just spent some time in a BMW Alpina B7...fascinating

[RDMcG]

I have not owned a conventional four door car for about fifteen years, though I have rented many.

I have had a chance in the past to try Alpina cars, and about ten year ago tried a new B7...and I recall it had lots of power and lots of turbo lag.

Then I tried this.

It is huge, Long Wheelbase, and massively, massively luxurious. First impressions are of outstanding quality. All the surfaces feel expensive. The seats are ver comfortable. The current iDrive relies on gestures and works brilliantly. It has a Heads up display which I miss since I had it on my old E63 M6.

This particular car is set up as an executive car...four seats, pop up tables, screens everywhere,brilliant sound system, all four seats with heating, cooling, massage. Retains the great Alpina wheels with no valve stems. ( there are under the central badges)

Driving impressions:

Dear God, its quick. O-60 in 3.7 seconds. 600bhp, twin turbo V8...and yet silky smooth, quiet. Sensitive steering. Hard to believe its a huge four door car. This is what I want to drive about 3000 miles in a single journey. Very, very sure footed. ... Of course its not a sports car but the people who would buy this are not going to worry about lap times.

Its one of the first cars I have tried when I want to be driven...

Some of the stuff is OTT....it has a fragrance dispenser and there is a nice jewel box containing various fragrances that waft through the car. from an electronic dispenser...last time I heard of this was the 1957 Caddy Eldorado Biarritz....

OK..this is the car i want when i become an oligarch. Preferably armoured.


My photos are not good...apologies. I set camera badly. I will have to speak sternly to my butler......

[Pioneer]

I like this a lot! I could even be persuaded to live with that colour interior. I wonder how much new though? At a guess I expect it to be in the same territory of a not-too-old Bentley or poss. RR. I know which would depreciate the quickest! Even so, I'd like one

[RDMcG]

I only have Canadian pricing which is about $180k pre tax. A loaded Bentley would be over $300k here

[hornetrider]

Awesome tables. That is proper.

[Pioneer]

Same here loaded. But pre-owned, you could get either of the below in the UK and have £5k+ in your pocket before any negotiating. In a couple of years both would be worth more than the BMW, a lot more. Makes buying a new 7 to this spec a very hard choice. You have to love BMWs and not care about the money. A retired chap at my local dealer just spent £130k+ on a new 760Li so these people are around for sure. I couldn't face that financial loss personally. He chopped in a 3 year old fully loaded 750. Dealer said he's does it every 2-3 years so I'm sure he knows about depreciation! The last car I bought was £130k but it was already 4 years old and I knew it wouldn't lose too much £££s if any. Couldn't chuck that into a new 7

But that Alpina does look beautiful

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

[JakeT]

That is utterly awesome. I would love to have one for a weekend, and then see that it is way too big for me and I would much rather a B4.

[Claire-i1bmr]

0-60 in 3.7, amazingly quick for such a lump of a car. The tables in the back are pretty cool. Bet it corners well enough for drinks not to slide off..

[E24man]

That looks gorgeous, and very similar in overall spec to the BMW M760Li XDrive MSport with its 610bhp twin turbo V12... and Alpina B7 is a significantly nicer, and tighter, title.

I looked around the M760Li etc at an Alpina meet at Sytner Nottingham last weekend but on returning home to my 1997 Alpina B12 5.7L I thought that things hadn't moved on in the luxury field a huge amount and that the 200-ish bhp shortfall wasn't worth the exhorbitant premium, or the massive increase in unnecessary complexity for a home maintainer.

I think there is only one UK Alpina B7 BiTurbo in rhd.

[RDMcG]

I am grabbing a new Panamera shortly to try...should be an interesting comparo. Am not interested in the Pana per se, but the wagon version looks looks like it might be practical for me, and has a nice twin turbo also, a little lower powered than the B7.

[g3org3y]

Sounds spectacular, thanks for sharing.

Is much known about the Alpina brand out in Canada?

[anonymous-user]

I accidentally bought an 04 alpina b3s coupe 3 years back and its the best accident that ever happened (and i was originally looking for e46 m3)

[RDMcG]

g3org3y said:

Sounds spectacular, thanks for sharing.

Is much known about the Alpina brand out in Canada?

It is relatively rare here.

I tried a much earlier ( car is below)..found it had a horrible turbo lag. The new car is one of the smoothest and most effortless I have ever driven. Not a car I would buy as I need a hatchback cue to large dogs...hence the new Panamera wagon might be the answer..will see.


[IMG]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n29/RMcG/B71-1.jpg[/IMG





Stil. for me, there is a certain purity about the old Alpinas, like this one I saw in 2015 at the Nürburgring:

Edited by RDMcG on Sunday 7th May 14:32

Edited by RDMcG on Sunday 7th May 14:34

[E24man]

RDMcG said:

It is relatively rare here.

I tried a much earlier ( car is below)..found it had a horrible turbo lag. The new car is one of the smoothest and most effortless I have ever driven. Not a car I would buy as I need a hatchback cue to large dogs...hence the new Panamera wagon might be the answer..will see.


[IMG]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n29/RMcG/B71-1.jpg[/IMG





Stil. for me, there is a certain purity about the old Alpinas, like this one I saw in 2015 at the Nürburgring:

I was going to ask how you experienced such 'horrible turbo lag' in a car that isn't fitted with a turbocharger as it was supercharged.

[RDMcG]

E24man said:

I was going to ask how you experienced such 'horrible turbo lag' in a car that isn't fitted with a turbocharger as it was supercharged.

An excellent point!..however there was nonetheless a horrible lag in acceleration,,and several of us she the same experience....

The current car is OTOH smooth as butter.

[Turn7]

No room for Great Danes in that tho OP......

[RDMcG]

Turn7 said:

No room for Great Danes in that tho OP......

Nope.. I have asked Porsche for the internal dimensions of the rear deck in the Panamera Gran Turismo..the rear door lower lip if slush with the floor and if the roof is not too low I will get one...the twin turbo V8 , which would be good for long distance. There are none of these in Canada yet, so will know next week, and will do the usual pickup at the factory. These things are built in Leipzig so at least will be a different pickup from the usual one in Stuttgart.

I want to visit the cathedral there anyway...the restoration was funded by the Porsche family, and the organ stops are buttons from a 911...........

[BlackLabel]

A nice review of the B7 here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFOlrUEvUwk

[muhnkee2]

i am looking to move to the US in a few months, and these in the US come in second hand at under $50,000usd.
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/70148330...
I previously ran a e60 M5 and i am used to reasonably high maintenance costs, but does anyone know if the costs of running one of these is like running a 730 or a m5?
for example, do they upgrade the brakes, or are they just standard 7 series brakes?
any insights greatly appreciated!
cheers
greg

[Burnham]

Im not sure how the 2011 model compares with the latest B7, but I wouldn't consider $50k as a bargain for the old one.

[muhnkee2]

Burnham said:

Im not sure how the 2011 model compares with the latest B7, but I wouldn't consider $50k as a bargain for the old one.

Of course all things are relative, i am coming from singapore, where the same budget would buy me this tired machine:
http://www.sgcarmart.com/used_cars/info.php?ID=633...

Not only that, but i could only drive it until november 2018, then i would need to fork out $60,000 to re-register it again.

So, for me this is a bargain!