Thursday 29th August 2013

Chris Harris video: Alpina B3 Bi-Turbo

Chris is back from his hols and laying down rubber in Alpina's twin-turbo 3 Series

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My wholesome and fulfilling relationship with Alpina came to a shuddering end one day on a Welsh hillside in 2005. Up until that point it had been fine wines and small talk with Herr Bovensiepen and a celebration of a company which understood what actually made a decent road car.

Then came the E60 B5 saloon, and an Autocar group test with an M5 of the same vintage, and a 535d. I just didn't understand what had happened. That lovely balance of speed and comfort had been skewed by vast torque and the subsequent velocity exposed the chassis. Comfort had mutated into sloth. It felt flabby and under damped.

The thinking man's M3 and available now!

Alpina didn't much like the story, and I didn't hear from them for a long, long time.

During that time Alpina became slightly swamped by the rapid rise of Audi RS, AMG and BMW's own M models. They couldn't trade on outright power and pushing a 'comfort' message didn't really work either. Punters seem to want firepower and not much besides. Equally, cars like the M5 now have such a broad set of skills that it must make life very difficult to define an Alpina model with a different personality using such similar hardware.

The new B3 is the case in point, but I think it marks a return to what Alpina should be all about: a sub-M car that combines interesting components to create an even more interesting whole. This is a car which will hit 190mph, but can be specified to look little different to a 320d. It can be ordered with an optional LSD, one developed especially for this car, and that really is important when you have so much torque. And you all know how much I like the ZF eight-speed auto.

This car reawakened my love for Alpina. I've owned them in the past. For a while I couldn't really see myself driving any other fast saloon or estate car. But that lay period saw my attentions diverted. This B3 changes that. It feels old-school Alpina cool - a car with an identity quite unlike anything currently made by BMW.

Enjoy the vid.

 

[peter8171]

Just need to be the touring version to be the perfect road car.

[BULLITT Rich]

Another good vid, even from someone who isn't a fan of BMWs etc. I do find Chris' vids more entertaining than Top Gear regardless of what car is on topic.

Nice car though, great performance and a lot cheaper than I thought it was going to be.

Only gripe is the oh so obvious product placement (Grid2). I know Chris did some work for the advert for the game but it does come across a bit... Santander ish.

[E38Ross]

call me sacrilegious but one thing i really don't like about Alpina's (or, most of them) are those wheels....just don't seem to go.

[e28525e]

Great video, great review, awesome car. I had no idea Chris didn't rate the B5 though, it's one of my dream cars.

[Wills2]

4.2 to 60 and 190mph and Chris says the M3 will be quicker! I would love an xdrive touring version, no reason why they can't do the xdrive for the UK either.

[NGK210]

Good vid, ta

Not sure it's "discreet", though? Not with those 20in wheels - am I alone in thinking they look dated/'90s? - and the less-than subtle 'ALPINA' badge on the front air dam - is the latter a delete option?

Still, the 4WD estate seems very tempting. But it's LHD only

[Wadeski]

An Alpina without pinstripes!?!

Madness.

[T16OLE]

Did I hear correctly 20mm profile tyres?

[Escort3500]

E38Ross said:

call me sacrilegious but one thing i really don't like about Alpina's (or, most of them) are those wheels....just don't seem to go.

I was just thinking the same thing. They look so Eighties and wholly out of character with the car's sharp styling. That aside, what a fantastic bit of kit it is. Understated, searing performance that would put many top end sports cars to shame and at a pretty reasonable price. Thanks for another great vid as well Chris.

Edited by Escort3500 on Wednesday 28th August 21:53

[E38Ross]

T16OLE said:

Did I hear correctly 20mm profile tyres?

no, you heard 20 profile tyres. that means the sidewall of the tyre is 20% of the width of the tyres (e.g. if they're 265mm wide the sidewall is 53mm

[Axionknight]

Get rid of the ALPINA badge on the back, stick some nicer alloys on it (sorry, but those are terrible) and that's a winner for me!

[panholio]

Call me crazy but I really like the alloys.

[juniorbox]

A touring, without privacy glass and with 18" wheels for me. My perfect all rounder. Am I alone in my hatred of privacy glass? Every bloody car with any performance pretension at all seems to have it now. Grrr.

[red355]

ALPINA turbine wheels are common factor thru out the variants, just like those dreadful tartan seats in Golf GTIs

love em or hate them ...

[Kolbenkopp]

red355 said:

ALPINA turbine wheels are common factor thru out the variants, just like those dreadful tartan seats in Golf GTIs

love em or hate them ...

Yup that's just the way it is supposed to be, aka tradition. Like both really, the rims and the tartan but I'm not a big fan of the current rim dimensions at Alpina. Makes no sense on a car like this, just a silly fashion thing.

[Cheib]

The wheels are definitely marmite but then it just wouldn't be an Alpina on anything else.

0-60 in 4.2 and 190mph...WOW! Unthinkable from a 3 series of any flavour only a few years ago.

Touring version will be very popular indeed I would think. Perfect family car.

[BULLITT Rich]

Kolbenkopp said:

Yup that's just the way it is supposed to be, aka tradition. Like both really, the rims and the tartan but I'm not a big fan of the current rim dimensions at Alpina. Makes no sense on a car like this, just a silly fashion thing.

Especially with UK roads, they'd make mincemeat of those wheels in no time!

[Zyp]

Why would you want to remove the Alpina badge?
Bizarre thinking.

And the wheels - those turbines look fantastic especially when viewed from an angle.

Absolute bds to clean though!

(Agree on the size though - 19's are big enough and ride beautifully)

Edited by Zyp on Wednesday 28th August 22:14

[anonymous-user]

Seems to be a pattern here, Touring, and 18" Alpina wheels for me please. Pretty much my perfect UK family car, and what fun it would be on international trips.

I priced one up and it came to £68,000 iirc. My man maths neurons are telling me it's a buy it and keep it forever purchase. Still isn't going to happen though :-(

edited to say- for me one of the points of Alpina was that they had gorgeous wheels (my opinion!) but not overly large. 20's on a 3 series just seem ridiculous to me. My B3 (worth the same as a couple of options on this) rides beautifully on 18's. This on 18's or 19's would be much better for the uk. I hope there's a no cost option for smaller and more discrete wheels.

Edited by Polynesian on Wednesday 28th August 22:14

[Wills2]

panholio said:

Call me crazy but I really like the alloys.

So do I they rock.