Potential purchase of Alpina D3
Discussion
For years I’ve have to put up with having the rubbish run-around car, and now with a change in work commitments I can finally justify having a decent car.
I’ve been thinking of getting a second hand D3 prop around the 07/57 reg, but have some general questions.
What should I be looking out for when buying one, has anyone had anyone started seeing problems arise after the 3-year mark?
I know fuel economy is good on these, but what is general running cost for servicing, tyres etc likely to be, as I don’t want to met with very steep bill. Granted this is a higher quality of car so I should expect a premium price for parts.
Spec wise, I could probably get a better spec on an equivalent price/aged BMW 320d or even Audi A4, however you not getting the prestige that come from a D3. I know I shouldn’t expect heated seats etc, but are there cruse control or parking sensors etc included on the Alpina spec?
I’ve been thinking of getting a second hand D3 prop around the 07/57 reg, but have some general questions.
What should I be looking out for when buying one, has anyone had anyone started seeing problems arise after the 3-year mark?
I know fuel economy is good on these, but what is general running cost for servicing, tyres etc likely to be, as I don’t want to met with very steep bill. Granted this is a higher quality of car so I should expect a premium price for parts.
Spec wise, I could probably get a better spec on an equivalent price/aged BMW 320d or even Audi A4, however you not getting the prestige that come from a D3. I know I shouldn’t expect heated seats etc, but are there cruse control or parking sensors etc included on the Alpina spec?
james_tigerwoods said:
Not having anything to contribute, but I have to ask - what does a D3 give you over a 335D?
The obvious answer there is: a manual gearbox.It'll also be more economical and not wear run-flats. But I wouldn't buy the D3 over a 330d or 335d myself. It's easy enough to fit normal tyres to any E90 and the lack of equipment on the Alpinas (caused by the £2k surcharge for a special order if you wanted to order *anything* above the standard spec) makes them very bare.
It's because of the rarity of a D3 and that I’ve always liked Alpina’s. I have driven a b10 in the past and loved the car. I know they are both very different so can’t really compares the two. I really need a car with ok fuel economy, as I will be driving 45mile round trip to work, mainly on bypasses and motorways.
I ran an Alpina D3 for 4 Years and 170k miles (I do believe that at the time it was the highest mileage one in the country) FJ06JHE where are you now?
It had the Recall for the Fuel Tank Leak - which was the same as all 3 series that age I believe.
Had an occasional slight hesitation around about 2500 rpm on the motorway (which I thought was a fault on mine but Evo reported the same thing on their D3 Long termer so maybe it was just a 'feature'
Tyres were expensive and mine seemed to average high 30's rather than low 40's mpg wise but it was fantastic fun to drive (certainly far more so that any of the 3 series I was given as courtesy cars when it was serviced (which was often due to the mileage I was doing) would cruise at an indicated 150 - although this may explain the mpg
In short was bullet proof go and buy one - I would have one over a 330 (although maybe not a 335)
2 Kids and more miles in London so was replaced with an Automatic F10
Edited to add
Tyres were about £265 for the Rears and £240 for the Fronts - if you scrape the Front Spoiler on a Kerb you are looking at a £1k + for the replacement spoiler (that is just the Spoiler on the underside of the Front Bumper not the Front Bumper itself) the Alpina Parts are V Expensive although 90% is std 3 Series
It had the Recall for the Fuel Tank Leak - which was the same as all 3 series that age I believe.
Had an occasional slight hesitation around about 2500 rpm on the motorway (which I thought was a fault on mine but Evo reported the same thing on their D3 Long termer so maybe it was just a 'feature'
Tyres were expensive and mine seemed to average high 30's rather than low 40's mpg wise but it was fantastic fun to drive (certainly far more so that any of the 3 series I was given as courtesy cars when it was serviced (which was often due to the mileage I was doing) would cruise at an indicated 150 - although this may explain the mpg
In short was bullet proof go and buy one - I would have one over a 330 (although maybe not a 335)
2 Kids and more miles in London so was replaced with an Automatic F10
Edited to add
Tyres were about £265 for the Rears and £240 for the Fronts - if you scrape the Front Spoiler on a Kerb you are looking at a £1k + for the replacement spoiler (that is just the Spoiler on the underside of the Front Bumper not the Front Bumper itself) the Alpina Parts are V Expensive although 90% is std 3 Series
Edited by andoverben on Wednesday 24th August 16:47
Well the D3 that I had actually seemed slightly better spec than the D3 BiTurbo I test drove when I was looking to replace, mine had Climate Control, the Seats were Half Leather but were very nice the only thing it would have been nice to have would have been in built Sat Nav however the BMW Sat Nav of that generation (in fact of the generation that is in my 9 month old F10 as well) is utterly crap
I had a THB Bury Car Kit fitted properly along with a Snooper s4 neo on the Dash, Radar Detector behind the rear view mirror and Tom Tom all wired in behind the Dash so although it obviously wasn't factory it didn't have wires trailing everywhere.
The only thing that got up my nose was the lack of isofix - but that only became an issue after the sprogs came along
it had everything I needed, nice Seats, decent Air Con, looked nice, was fairly quick and pretty economical at that point it was pretty much in a class of 1 (and underpriced I would say as well) The Only Items I wanted on top was a Car Kit and Sat Nav the combination of the two nicely fitted was less than £500 as opposed to nearly £2k in my 5 series
I had a THB Bury Car Kit fitted properly along with a Snooper s4 neo on the Dash, Radar Detector behind the rear view mirror and Tom Tom all wired in behind the Dash so although it obviously wasn't factory it didn't have wires trailing everywhere.
The only thing that got up my nose was the lack of isofix - but that only became an issue after the sprogs came along
it had everything I needed, nice Seats, decent Air Con, looked nice, was fairly quick and pretty economical at that point it was pretty much in a class of 1 (and underpriced I would say as well) The Only Items I wanted on top was a Car Kit and Sat Nav the combination of the two nicely fitted was less than £500 as opposed to nearly £2k in my 5 series
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