E39 Alpina B10 V8 Touring
Discussion
So I'm at a cross roads in my motoring life.
Had our current Audi A6 Avant for 5 years, and I fancy a change (probably next year).
Should I just go for a 3 or 4 year old similar kind of thing? The wife has touched on a Discovery (originally looking at 3's but have since moved onto 4's).
And that got me looking, and I found this:
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
And I thought...... what could possibly go wrong?! It will hold it's value better, I imagine, than a run of the mill 4 year old German estate. And it must be lovely to drive.
But could it cope with doing 10k miles a year, and how much would it cripple me to keep maintained and run?
I have literally no idea. So any info would be gratefully received!
Had our current Audi A6 Avant for 5 years, and I fancy a change (probably next year).
Should I just go for a 3 or 4 year old similar kind of thing? The wife has touched on a Discovery (originally looking at 3's but have since moved onto 4's).
And that got me looking, and I found this:
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
And I thought...... what could possibly go wrong?! It will hold it's value better, I imagine, than a run of the mill 4 year old German estate. And it must be lovely to drive.
But could it cope with doing 10k miles a year, and how much would it cripple me to keep maintained and run?
I have literally no idea. So any info would be gratefully received!
I'd recommend you start off on the Alpina Register website and go from there. That's where the expertise lives.
I had a saloon for a year and liked it. Amazing engine - just bags and bags of low down grunt. Ultimately not super-engaging to drive, due to the autobox, but a lovely continent crusher all the same.
Tourings are super rare, so you might find you're waiting a while to find one you like.
They suffer a lot of the usual e39 issues, so it's worth getting up to speed on e39s generally - cooling systems and so on. And at this age (and likely mileage) you might find they need suspension bushes replaced to tighten everything up again and remove knocks.
But the e39 is, to many people, the pinnacle of quality-over-accountancy car design. It's well worth hunting one out. But also don't discount "ordinary" e39s - a nice 540i won't give you quite the same grunt and ride quality, but it won't be far off... and for a lot less money.
I had a saloon for a year and liked it. Amazing engine - just bags and bags of low down grunt. Ultimately not super-engaging to drive, due to the autobox, but a lovely continent crusher all the same.
Tourings are super rare, so you might find you're waiting a while to find one you like.
They suffer a lot of the usual e39 issues, so it's worth getting up to speed on e39s generally - cooling systems and so on. And at this age (and likely mileage) you might find they need suspension bushes replaced to tighten everything up again and remove knocks.
But the e39 is, to many people, the pinnacle of quality-over-accountancy car design. It's well worth hunting one out. But also don't discount "ordinary" e39s - a nice 540i won't give you quite the same grunt and ride quality, but it won't be far off... and for a lot less money.
Edited by Gruber on Tuesday 26th September 11:47
Cheers.
Just found this one, seems to have a lot of the boxes you mention ticked:
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C820352
Just found this one, seems to have a lot of the boxes you mention ticked:
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C820352
I bought my e39 M5 through that dealer (of the sold car) earlier this year - the Alpina was there as well and looked very nice - would have been tempted, as it is that bit rarer / and having an estate is not possible for the e39 M5 - however the one big off-putting factor was that it is automatic where the M5 is manual (I also knew the previous owner of the M5, so knew the condition and history = low risk)
ref. running costs I have done c. 5,000 miles in 6 months - so a similar rate to your proposed usage - costs:
- 1/2 litre of oil
- lots and lots and lots of petrol
absolutely nothing else needed...
buy on condition and they are great cars - however the reckoning is that for every £1,000 you save on purchase price it will cost you £1,500 - £2,000 to get the cheaper car to the same condition... so you could buy a £5,000 M5 but it would def. cost you more than £10,000 to get it to the same condition as a £15,000 car... etc. as a simple example - replacing the front brakes with decent AP Racing brakes is c. £2,500 but if the car has them on you won't pay that much premium - yet a very good upgrade... I appreciate that these are M5 costs but similar enough...
As others have said - you will get a lot of similar car with a 540 if you want an estate - I have a couple of friends with one - they are very good cars and very cheap for what they are...
ref. running costs I have done c. 5,000 miles in 6 months - so a similar rate to your proposed usage - costs:
- 1/2 litre of oil
- lots and lots and lots of petrol
absolutely nothing else needed...
buy on condition and they are great cars - however the reckoning is that for every £1,000 you save on purchase price it will cost you £1,500 - £2,000 to get the cheaper car to the same condition... so you could buy a £5,000 M5 but it would def. cost you more than £10,000 to get it to the same condition as a £15,000 car... etc. as a simple example - replacing the front brakes with decent AP Racing brakes is c. £2,500 but if the car has them on you won't pay that much premium - yet a very good upgrade... I appreciate that these are M5 costs but similar enough...
As others have said - you will get a lot of similar car with a 540 if you want an estate - I have a couple of friends with one - they are very good cars and very cheap for what they are...
Rosscow said:
Cheers.
Just found this one, seems to have a lot of the boxes you mention ticked:
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C820352
That's my old car, sold for £8000 with circa 80k on the clock in 2011/12 to make room for my B7. I also had a 540 saloon before it and they were poles apart in terms of the overall ownership experience.Just found this one, seems to have a lot of the boxes you mention ticked:
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C820352
I spent quite a lot on maintenance & facelift components, pm me for more info.
Edited by Crombers on Tuesday 26th September 12:40
The challenge with Alpinas of this age is the bodywork and exhaust.
Do some googling around them. I nearly bought a B10s when i bought my old e39 m5. The performance was quite similar (in the real world) and the buttons on the steering wheel were a nice touch too.
The exhausts were hand / custome made and a replacement from Alpina was around 3.5k. I am sure there are specialists out there who now create an alternative, but if the exhaust needs doing its a big bill. mechanicals quite similar to a 540i - less than an e39 M5. The water pump is a weak point if i recall - and is a big job to get out due to its location.
Otherwise its a gem.
There was a time when you could buy a clean one for 6k, 9-10k for a face lift model (2001 model year) but with most tasty metal recently, the market has gone a bit berserk.
Good luck !
Do some googling around them. I nearly bought a B10s when i bought my old e39 m5. The performance was quite similar (in the real world) and the buttons on the steering wheel were a nice touch too.
The exhausts were hand / custome made and a replacement from Alpina was around 3.5k. I am sure there are specialists out there who now create an alternative, but if the exhaust needs doing its a big bill. mechanicals quite similar to a 540i - less than an e39 M5. The water pump is a weak point if i recall - and is a big job to get out due to its location.
Otherwise its a gem.
There was a time when you could buy a clean one for 6k, 9-10k for a face lift model (2001 model year) but with most tasty metal recently, the market has gone a bit berserk.
Good luck !
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