Alpina D3 biturbo touring or 330d touring

[welshnobby]

Hello BMW forum

This is my first visit over here. I am looking to buy a 3 series touring having just off loaded my wifes A3. We are having a little 'un so need the extra practicality of the 5door touring. My dilemma is do i buy a new Alpina D3 for £32k or a used 330d for circa £20k? Fortunately i live in Nottingham so i have the Alpina main distributer at the Sytner BMW garage. I have test driven the D3 and was very impressed with it's ride quality on the 19" rims. It was much more composed than the 320d msport which i felt was a bit crashy and had quite a noisy engine esp at slow speed. The D3 sounds much nicer and quieter. The performance felt very similar to the 330d in real world conditions. The 330d having a couple of extra cylinders also sounds less agricultural. I quite like niche cars so the Alpina appeals. So is the Alpina worth spending £10k more? I would have a used one but there aren't any Biturbos out there only the black ex autocar long termer which has 9k miles and is on for £31k!!!! Am i going to be stung come resale on the Alpina VS 330d, i intend keeping it for about 4yrs and 40k miles
Last question, can anyone advise if a Quinney pram and a set of golf clubs will fit in the 3 series touring and still be able to pull the cover over?

Many thanks in advance

WN

[RacingTeatray]

330d gets frequently voted "best real world car" so that'd get my vote over the Alpina D3. Plus there are more around so you'll have a wider choice of colour/spec.....not least because the Alpinas tend to be quite low-spec bizarrely.

[_bryan_]

Have you thought about a used 335d

That's where my money would be going...

[dave_s13]

_bryan_ said:

Have you thought about a used 335d

That's where my money would be going...

Fvck that.

On that budget you'd get a few year old 535d E61.

All the car you would ever need, ever.

[SonicHedgeHog]

Alpina buy a stock car from BMW and then do their thing to it. Getting interesting options like, for example, Sat Nav means a special order by Alpina to BMW and that is very expensive. That is why most options on the D3s tend to be cosmetic.

I think your choice comes down to how much performance you want and how fussy you are about spec. Choice will be endless with the faster 330, but the D3 will depreciate less and probably handle a bit better. I'd be heading to the Alpine dealer.

[gmarks1]

SonicHedgeHog said:

Alpina buy a stock car from BMW and then do their thing to it. Getting interesting options like, for example, Sat Nav means a special order by Alpina to BMW and that is very expensive.

...there is no additional premium now for optional extras on the Alpina D3 biturbo as there was on the previous model; you just pay for the cost of the option. That said, they are very expensive in my opinion.

[PhilLL]

I love Alpinas but 32K for a 4 cylinder 3 series with manual air con and cloth seats? Sod that. I couldn't make the figures work for the D3 Touring and don't regret going for a very lightly used 335d instead for one second

[fluffnik]

SonicHedgeHog said:

Alpina buy a stock car from BMW and then do their thing to it.

ALPINAs never exist as complete donor spec BMWs, they're either supplied incomplete to Buchloe or assembled using ALPINA parts by BMW.

AFAIK the fixed spec D3 was down to Sytner rather than ALPINA.

[SonicHedgeHog]

fluffnik said:

SonicHedgeHog said:

Alpina buy a stock car from BMW and then do their thing to it.

ALPINAs never exist as complete donor spec BMWs, they're either supplied incomplete to Buchloe or assembled using ALPINA parts by BMW.

AFAIK the fixed spec D3 was down to Sytner rather than ALPINA.

By 'stock' I meant that BMW (used) to send them identical 3-series. So they might not have seats or wheels or whatever, but the car that Alpina started with was the same. I didn't mean BMW sent them a complete 3 series. Anyway, that is now irrelevant as an earlier poster has said they no longer do that. Must be a very recent change because the journalist running the (I think) EVO D3 (could be the Autocar one) said he was restricted by the process I described.

[welshnobby]

Thanks for input. I may take a look at the 335d tourer as an option too.

[derin100]

A friend and I used his 335d Touring a few weeks ago to drive to the Dordogne on a fishing trip. It made such short work of the journey.

An awesome tool!

He's selling it now (wants to buy a 911 Turbo). It's been Cat D repaired but it'll be very 'cheap', low miles, looks and drives perfectly! If interested contact me.

Edited by derin100 on Sunday 2nd August 18:50

[gizlaroc]

I would go 335d, only available as auto but I wouldn't want any diesel with a manual gearbox, such a short rev range it becomes a real chore, if you have been used to an Audi diesel manual you will probably be fine as the gearing is better on the BMWs so you're not swapping cogs quite as much, but still a chore compared with the auto.

You could also look at the 330i, just as economical if you get a 272bhp version, not the earlier 258bhp version so be careful. It is a the best non M BMW available at the moment in my humble opinion, I have owned the 535d sport touring and then the 335i sport touring and have to say that after two days with the 330i I decided I would probably never buy another turbo car again. There is just something about working a NA engine that you don't get with turbo cars.
Plus the fact it was 10mpg better than the 535d and the 335i was also really impressive, over 2 days and 500 miles I returned 38mpg, the other two would have been 29-30ish.

Why do you want a diesel??

You may find that you can pick up a nice petrol for a fair bit less than the diesel equivalent due to the UKs unfounded fear of petrol.


If it has to be diesel buy the 335d and put £400 to one side for some proper tyres, the run flats are the things that make the big difference between the BMW and Alpina models, nothing more.

[derin100]

gizlaroc said:

I would go 335d, only available as auto but I wouldn't want any diesel with a manual gearbox, such a short rev range it becomes a real chore, if you have been used to an Audi diesel manual you will probably be fine as the gearing is better on the BMWs so you're not swapping cogs quite as much, but still a chore compared with the auto.

You could also look at the 330i, just as economical if you get a 272bhp version, not the earlier 258bhp version so be careful. It is a the best non M BMW available at the moment in my humble opinion, I have owned the 535d sport touring and then the 335i sport touring and have to say that after two days with the 330i I decided I would probably never buy another turbo car again. There is just something about working a NA engine that you don't get with turbo cars.
Plus the fact it was 10mpg better than the 535d and the 335i was also really impressive, over 2 days and 500 miles I returned 38mpg, the other two would have been 29-30ish.

Why do you want a diesel??

You may find that you can pick up a nice petrol for a fair bit less than the diesel equivalent due to the UKs unfounded fear of petrol.


If it has to be diesel buy the 335d and put £400 to one side for some proper tyres, the run flats are the things that make the big difference between the BMW and Alpina models, nothing more.

As above ... when we drove the 335d sensibly we got 38 mpg.... Granted, not hugely impressive...but the performance from a diesel car was superb! Auto with paddle shift ..over the 1000 miles each way we encountered little in the real world to better it! Indeed through France we had French BMW drivers giving us the thumbs up!

Edited by derin100 on Monday 3rd August 02:35

Edited by derin100 on Monday 3rd August 09:24

[RacingTeatray]

The 335i is awesome but, as mentioned: (a) it only comes with an auto-box and (b) possibly partly as a result has not that spectacular fuel consumption.

I've driven a 330d manual and, if you want a diesel touring, I'd say that's the one to go for. I hear the fuel consumption is around 5mpg better on the manual than on the automatic.

[dh5927]

I needed 4 doors and swapped my Z4MC for D3 biturbo 2 months ago... im amazed at how the alpina handles, its got enough power for daily driving and pulls nicely along the motorway, it also looks fabulous! im not here to tell you what car to go for, choose what suits you best...

[welshnobby]

Again, all good useful info there guys.
I think i am drifting towards the 330d. I really like the looks and ride of the alpina, espcially that lovely alcantara steering wheel however I sat on the m25 for several hours over the weekend in stop start traffic in a manual car and realised why the auto is so much more relaxing in those conditions. Unfortunately i would have to wait until next year for teh alpina auto and have to swallow a further £1500 for the euro exchange rate plus the additional cost of the autobox. This is going to put it at around £35k!
This is going to be a family car so i'm not too fussed about driving too fast as i will have the precious nipper and wife in the car on most journeys. I can live without the manual shift. It doesn't need the be the last thing in performance either, just needs to be able to cruise motorways comfortably and have enough of a turn of speed for safe overtaking. If i need to have an involving drive then i will take the GT2 out on my own on some of my favorite roads and get my dose there
I would tend to go for the diesel due to the better fuel consumption and also the superior torque appeals for effortless progress.
What are the real word mpg figures like for the 330d/335d/330i/335i?

Regards

WN

[Inverness]

welshnobby said:

Hello BMW forum

This is my first visit over here. I am looking to buy a 3 series touring having just off loaded my wifes A3. We are having a little 'un so need the extra practicality of the 5door touring. My dilemma is do i buy a new Alpina D3 for £32k or a used 330d for circa £20k? Fortunately i live in Nottingham so i have the Alpina main distributer at the Sytner BMW garage. I have test driven the D3 and was very impressed with it's ride quality on the 19" rims. It was much more composed than the 320d msport which i felt was a bit crashy and had quite a noisy engine esp at slow speed. The D3 sounds much nicer and quieter. The performance felt very similar to the 330d in real world conditions. The 330d having a couple of extra cylinders also sounds less agricultural. I quite like niche cars so the Alpina appeals. So is the Alpina worth spending £10k more? I would have a used one but there aren't any Biturbos out there only the black ex autocar long termer which has 9k miles and is on for £31k!!!! Am i going to be stung come resale on the Alpina VS 330d, i intend keeping it for about 4yrs and 40k miles
Last question, can anyone advise if a Quinney pram and a set of golf clubs will fit in the 3 series touring and still be able to pull the cover over?

Many thanks in advance

WN

Hi
I feel I should be able to help as we have the latests e90 330d m sprot touring (2009 MY) and have 2 little ones of 1 and 2.
So first thing first, will a Quinney pram and a set of golf clubs fit in the 3 series touring and still be able to pull the cover over? I would of thought so, as we have a phil & teds vibe plus all the crap for two toddlers and can always pull the cover over, but this will depend on the size of your golf bag, as we all know there are golf bags and then there are GOLF BAGS!

The whole BMW engine thing is a bit of a minefield at the moment in the e90 model due BMW Efficient Dynamics which means they have made a lot of changes to the engines during the model life to date. So I'm guessing that as you are considering a 2nd hand car this is a private purchase and CO2's is not a large factor. If this is the case and you are only going to be doing 10,000 miles a year then do consider a petrol for the following reasons
330d will do say 40mpg real world driving so will need 250 gallons of fuel, say £1 per litre, total cost £1,114 on fuel
330i will do say 35mpg real world driving so will need 285 gallons of fuel, say £1 per litre, total cost £1,270 on fuel so a differance of £156 per year, but a 2 year old petrol will be a lot less than a 2 year old disel.

Some people have also commented on the run flats, we have the very latest generation runflats and they are a vast improvement on the old ones.

HTH

[welshnobby]

Inverness said:

welshnobby said:

Hello BMW forum

This is my first visit over here. I am looking to buy a 3 series touring having just off loaded my wifes A3. We are having a little 'un so need the extra practicality of the 5door touring. My dilemma is do i buy a new Alpina D3 for £32k or a used 330d for circa £20k? Fortunately i live in Nottingham so i have the Alpina main distributer at the Sytner BMW garage. I have test driven the D3 and was very impressed with it's ride quality on the 19" rims. It was much more composed than the 320d msport which i felt was a bit crashy and had quite a noisy engine esp at slow speed. The D3 sounds much nicer and quieter. The performance felt very similar to the 330d in real world conditions. The 330d having a couple of extra cylinders also sounds less agricultural. I quite like niche cars so the Alpina appeals. So is the Alpina worth spending £10k more? I would have a used one but there aren't any Biturbos out there only the black ex autocar long termer which has 9k miles and is on for £31k!!!! Am i going to be stung come resale on the Alpina VS 330d, i intend keeping it for about 4yrs and 40k miles
Last question, can anyone advise if a Quinney pram and a set of golf clubs will fit in the 3 series touring and still be able to pull the cover over?

Many thanks in advance

WN

Hi
I feel I should be able to help as we have the latests e90 330d m sprot touring (2009 MY) and have 2 little ones of 1 and 2.
So first thing first, will a Quinney pram and a set of golf clubs fit in the 3 series touring and still be able to pull the cover over? I would of thought so, as we have a phil & teds vibe plus all the crap for two toddlers and can always pull the cover over, but this will depend on the size of your golf bag, as we all know there are golf bags and then there are GOLF BAGS!

The whole BMW engine thing is a bit of a minefield at the moment in the e90 model due BMW Efficient Dynamics which means they have made a lot of changes to the engines during the model life to date. So I'm guessing that as you are considering a 2nd hand car this is a private purchase and CO2's is not a large factor. If this is the case and you are only going to be doing 10,000 miles a year then do consider a petrol for the following reasons
330d will do say 40mpg real world driving so will need 250 gallons of fuel, say £1 per litre, total cost £1,114 on fuel
330i will do say 35mpg real world driving so will need 285 gallons of fuel, say £1 per litre, total cost £1,270 on fuel so a differance of £156 per year, but a 2 year old petrol will be a lot less than a 2 year old disel.

Some people have also commented on the run flats, we have the very latest generation runflats and they are a vast improvement on the old ones.

HTH

Thanks Inverness.
The pram and golf clubs issue is settled then. I have a fairly small carry bag and i'm pretty sure the phil and teds pram is bigger than the Quinny. I was thinking i may need to look at the 5 series tourer if boot wasn't big enough.
The petrol vs diesel is a matter of preference and i would prefer an automatic which inclines me to the diesel over the petrol. There isn't much in it cost wise as you righly point out esp considering the cheaper purchase costs.
I might go for a very lightly used 330d. You mention the engines being reworked, has this made much of a difference in terms of consumption/co2/performance?

[gizlaroc]

Massive difference between the newer 245bhp 330d compared with the old one in both power and economy.

Same with the 330i, my point on the 330i is they loose more money, so if you buy one a year old you could fine that it is a good £3-4k cheaper than the 330d, they then even out price wise by about year 4, and buy years 6-7 the petrol can start to command a premium.
So be careful as the diesel is sometimes only the cheapest car to run when buying brand new.

If buying auto the difference between diesel and petrol becomes a little more blurred anyway imho. If buying manual then it has to be petrol for me.
Torque is the figure I quote when I don't have a rev range, nothing more than that!!

One thing to bear in mind, I had to sell my 8 month old 3er touring as we couldn't get the off road buggy etc. in the boot, shame as I love them and preferred it over the 535d touring, but it is very small. So I bought a 3.2 A6 Avant instead as I fancied a change and didn't want another diesel BMW estate, but couldn't find any 530 or 545 tourings. But it's not all bad as I bought another M3 to go with it, couldn't possibly on a dAudi as my only car!!

[PhilLL]

Reading through your posts and with the GT2 in the garage I would go for a lightly used 245bhp 330d M Sport Auto, see how you get on with the newer runflats but you could always change them out. Then give Evolve or DMS a call. Best of all worlds IMO.