RE: Alpina D3: Spotted

Author
Discussion

Onehp

1,617 posts

283 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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CampDavid said:
A 335D can be had for £31,000, still in the wrapper, according to the deals I pulled up on Carwow in December. I'd probably spend the extra for the new, warrantied car
Does Birds do a fast road suspension package? Add light 19" wheels with proper tyres, some alignment to dial out some understeer, and you have a pretty compelling package there too, most probably.

Although the D3 can be had rwd with lsd, but not so easy to find one of those used...

Tuvra

7,921 posts

225 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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Lovely car but I agree with everyone else, it seems a lot of money for the age and mileage.

This 2016 335d X-Drive with 14,500 miles on it is sub £25k.

K50 DEL

9,237 posts

228 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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Tuvra said:
Lovely car but I agree with everyone else, it seems a lot of money for the age and mileage.

This 2016 335d X-Drive with 14,500 miles on it is sub £25k.
That may be true, but you're comparing apples with oranges really, one's a mass market rep-mobile and the other is a very limited edition afficionado's car.... I know where my money would be going

craigjm

17,953 posts

200 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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Agreed. Those comparing what they could buy from the standard BMW range are looking at it from a purely bang per buck basis. Alpina’s are not in the bang for buck game. Most people that buy them new spec them well and keep them for years because you won’t get a discount on purchase so initial depreciation is fierce but for those people that get it, it’s worth it.

Big GT

1,811 posts

92 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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Like others have mentioned comparing Alpina to a re mapped 335 or 330 is not like for like.
Alpina take an already good car, replace all the bad bits (tyres, suspension, firmware,) upgrade the breaks, cooling and engine , exhaust and hey presto the perfect BMW.

Burnham

3,668 posts

259 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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Onehp said:
CampDavid said:
A 335D can be had for £31,000, still in the wrapper, according to the deals I pulled up on Carwow in December. I'd probably spend the extra for the new, warrantied car
Does Birds do a fast road suspension package? Add light 19" wheels with proper tyres, some alignment to dial out some understeer, and you have a pretty compelling package there too, most probably.

Although the D3 can be had rwd with lsd, but not so easy to find one of those used...
I know of one with an LSD! ...but guess what, its not for sale tongue out

ZX10R NIN

27,598 posts

125 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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I know of one to & that's not for sale either.

craigjm

17,953 posts

200 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
quotequote all
Onehp said:
CampDavid said:
A 335D can be had for £31,000, still in the wrapper, according to the deals I pulled up on Carwow in December. I'd probably spend the extra for the new, warrantied car
Does Birds do a fast road suspension package? Add light 19" wheels with proper tyres, some alignment to dial out some understeer, and you have a pretty compelling package there too, most probably.

Although the D3 can be had rwd with lsd, but not so easy to find one of those used...
And something that would appeal to an even more niche market than the Alpina

aaron_2000

5,407 posts

83 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
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CampDavid said:
A 335D can be had for £31,000, still in the wrapper, according to the deals I pulled up on Carwow in December. I'd probably spend the extra for the new, warrantied car
Won't be spec'd close to this, I doubt anyone looking for a 335d would even think about the Alpina, and vice-versa. 2 different cars for 2 different kinds of people. The 335d is bought by someone who wants a capable family car that's usually paired with a very good lease deal, then they can get something else after 3 years. The Alpina is bought by someone who wants a car to keep it 5+ years that's different, in their own style, and has good improvements over the BMW counterpart.

Phil Dicky

7,162 posts

263 months

Friday 26th January 2018
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Well I didn't even get up to have a look. its been reserved already !!!!

sprintevo

13 posts

218 months

Friday 26th January 2018
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That engine is the best in any 3 series, had a 335D M sport with decat and suitable map, circa 380 BHP and mega torque. Gave M 3 performance with real life usable fuel economy

Wills2

22,813 posts

175 months

Friday 26th January 2018
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sprintevo said:
That engine is the best in any 3 series, had a 335D M sport with decat and suitable map, circa 380 BHP and mega torque. Gave M 3 performance with real life usable fuel economy
M3 already has usable fuel economy I get 450 miles from a tank on a long run and giving a car more power doesn't on its own make it better to drive.

The 335d xdrive is a pretty numb car out of the box adding more power just makes it a bit faster but no more fun and it certainly doesn't turn it into an M3.

I'm sure the Alpina is as far removed from the 335d as the m3 is.








dickieboy28

30 posts

147 months

Friday 26th January 2018
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stuart-b said:
The amount of "modern" diesels I see spewing smog is incredible - all of them, without question will start smoking. Usually the DPF cycle dumps the soot on the motorway as well.

I had one - so I know.

Yes the 50 mpg and incredible paper performance really is hard to argue with - but it is what it is.
What are you on about? I commute 15k miles a year up and down the M40, and I have never seen a "modern" diesel smoking, or as you say dumping soot from a DPF. A DPF works by burning off excess soot, not emptying it like you would a hoover bag or like a plane dumping fuel over an ocean. A DPF burns off soot internally using exhaust heat when running at sustained high speed........therefore if a DPF did dump soot like you claim they do, you wouldn't see it on a motorway.

Ultimately its these kind of scare mongering comments that are driving this knee jerk reaction to diesel. I am not a huge diesel fan, but I am a car lover and accept that if "used correctly" by drivers doing longer journeys etc, then diesels are perfectly acceptable and effective cars. As more and more people listen to this kind of uninformed anti-diesel commentary it is going to adversely affect the car industry and most likely create a problem elsewhere as government and car manufactures look for quick fixes to patch over the cracks.

A friend of mine on the back of all the anti diesel headlines, decided he too was also anti diesel and as a result decided to "tweak" his order for a Range Rover Sport from a 3.0TD to a 2.0L Petrol (surprisingly the 2.0l petrol model didn't exist until a few months ago). Do you know what, the car is distinctly worse for having a small petrol engine! You need to rev the nuts off it to move around and as a result it uses shi* loads of fuel (under 20MPG)........ how is this a good solution? In my opinion this is a prime example of simply sweeping one issue under the carpet and ignoring the obvious shortfalls caused by the supposed solution. Yet my mate honestly believes that he has made an environmentally informed decision to buy petrol, despite using huge quantities of petrol and chucking out a fair old chunk of CO2 whilst going about his daily business. Rant over.......sorry.


ZX10R NIN

27,598 posts

125 months

Friday 26th January 2018
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Phil Dicky said:
Well I didn't even get up to have a look. its been reserved already !!!!
That tells you everything about these cars, those that know (due to the small number that come to market) snap them up.

Shiv_P

2,746 posts

105 months

Friday 26th January 2018
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You guys are comparing a normal 3 series with a big engine to a car that isn't a 3 series anymore
Different (always better) suspension, brakes, to an extent interior, some styling, totally redeveloped better engine
Yet because it looks the same it's the same car right?

Rostyle

45 posts

75 months

Friday 26th January 2018
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Just to be controversial, the Alpina has naff wheels (the old 5 spokes were so much better), a naff not very different interior , naff stickers, the engine isn't all that different to standard , they ditch the runflats to improve the ride and it has no X drive . You pay more. How very German.

Wills2

22,813 posts

175 months

Saturday 27th January 2018
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Agreed on the interior barring a plastic plaque and blue dials it's just the same although some posters would have you believe different, it has crappy Dakota leather as standard just like a 320d.


craigjm

17,953 posts

200 months

Saturday 27th January 2018
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Wills2 said:
Agreed on the interior barring a plastic plaque and blue dials it's just the same although some posters would have you believe different, it has crappy Dakota leather as standard just like a 320d.

You need to go for either of the Lavalina leather interiors to get anything special otherwise it’s the same as standard BMW. The top Lavalina II pack on the 3 covers everything in semi analine leather entirely but its a 14k option.

Wills2

22,813 posts

175 months

Saturday 27th January 2018
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craigjm said:
Wills2 said:
Agreed on the interior barring a plastic plaque and blue dials it's just the same although some posters would have you believe different, it has crappy Dakota leather as standard just like a 320d.

You need to go for either of the Lavalina leather interiors to get anything special otherwise it’s the same as standard BMW. The top Lavalina II pack on the 3 covers everything in semi analine leather entirely but its a 14k option.
I know, I've specced them up every time I've ordered a new M car and every time they don't add up.



oilbethere

908 posts

81 months

Saturday 27th January 2018
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Onehp said:
Does Birds do a fast road suspension package?
Yes it's a very reasonable £14798.