Alpina B3 3.3 Touring
Discussion
I've wanted one for a few years now, had a string of BMW tourers and never thought I'd find one as there's rumoured to be only 8 RHD in the UK. Luckily this came up, and eventually after some checks with the factory and importers, it ended up mine 
2 weeks after getting it we took it on a trip to Italy, going via France, Bavaria, Austria & Switzerland. The car was faultless apart from a puncture but hardly was the cars fault! It was the perfect holiday car - it's very relaxing to drive, and deceptive as to how fast you're going. I'm wanting to keep this one for a bit, it's on 117K miles now, but drives so well, can't think of anything else for the money that's such a great all rounder for me.
On the Stelvio
In Switzerland
Visiting Alpina!
2 weeks after getting it we took it on a trip to Italy, going via France, Bavaria, Austria & Switzerland. The car was faultless apart from a puncture but hardly was the cars fault! It was the perfect holiday car - it's very relaxing to drive, and deceptive as to how fast you're going. I'm wanting to keep this one for a bit, it's on 117K miles now, but drives so well, can't think of anything else for the money that's such a great all rounder for me.
On the Stelvio
In Switzerland
Visiting Alpina!
Rouleur said:
I'd love one of these. Have you driven 'normal' E46s, and if so how does it compare?
I had an e46 328 touring, followed by an e36 328 touring, both manual, before this. The B3 has the damping/ride bias nailed for this sort of car. It feels smooth, but controlled. at 8/10's on a country road it's quick, over that you feel it's size but I don't think Alpina's or e46's are for that. Motorways, autoroutes, autobahns are obviously brilliant in it! The 328's feel brisk but quite a bit slower in comparison. With this you feel you've got loads of low-down pull and it doesn't give up, it really is very easy to drive quickly. The e46 328 felt like it took more effort, and was less composed, but again, that's pretty much what Alpina are all about. I know something from M would be technically quicker, but this is so relaxing it's perfect for a daily driver. I was sceptical of Switchtronic, but after Stelvio Pass I'm a convert, find I use it about a third of the time in semi-auto.
bmthnick1981 said:
Nice. Camber looks odd on rear wheel in last pic?
It does look odd. We found out we had a puncture on the NSR tyre straight after, but it was also fully loaded and the surface undulated quite a bit (but can't be seen).A few hours later
Edited by A S P on Thursday 15th September 23:48
Nearly one year on and nothing significant to report apart from it fitting into daily life superbly. When you need a relaxing car to waft in, it's perfect, but when you want to press on its deceptively quick.
I'm getting married in a few weeks and we're heading off to Provence for a long week afterwards, just gonna book it in for a quick checking over and maybe a gearbox oil change. Not trusting the sealed for life original BMW reccomendations and it seems Alpina no longer share that view..
I'm getting married in a few weeks and we're heading off to Provence for a long week afterwards, just gonna book it in for a quick checking over and maybe a gearbox oil change. Not trusting the sealed for life original BMW reccomendations and it seems Alpina no longer share that view..
DJC said:
I wonder if you would be able to give a rough breakdown of the costs of running this Alpina? Perhaps in comparison to your previous 328? I for one would be interested not only in the figures but how they compare to a run of the mill E46...
I've not got to hand right now the actual costs of servicing, but it's taken to both a reputable indie and a main dealer, and they class it for servicing as a regular 6pot e46, so it's the same as a e46 330i. Differences are though that Alpina specific consumables items are Shocks/springs, brake pads and oil - which it can go through Castrol Edge 0W-30 at circa 1L per 1000miles, they pretty much all do that. It's very fussy about tyres, but in reality you probably wouldn't put much less than Pilot Sports on.It's not cost any more than the e46 and e36 328, although I've not had to replace any Alpina specific components.
orangesrule said:
Just seen one of these in work. Very nice looking car. Shame they arnt manual, though thats personal preference more than anything.
The UK are Switchtronic only, EU has manual gearboxes as an option. It's my first auto, I was thinking it'd be a compromise but now wouldn't have the manual version over it. 
tommy vercetti said:
Wow, love it.
SVX said:
That's utterly lovely OP, coming from a diehard Merc fan.
Thank guys!Funnily enough I've been looking at future potential replacements, and a C55 estate is looking pretty tempting. There's a real lack of e90 B3 tourings around, less I think than the e46's, and the e60 B5's are equally rare. Purely speculative as I don't see myself getting rid for a few years.
Just been to Snowdon and back in it this weekend loaded up with 4 blokes and all our walking gear. It absolutely tipped it down but it handled it perfectly. It's the perfectly sized smallish everyday, do everything car, think they're awesome for the money
Small update:
Car still going very strong, now on 143,000 miles and feels very tight, no different to how it did when I got it to be honest. There's been no dramas either, just regular maintenance schedule done by my indie, and approx 1L of Castrol Edge 0W-30 every 1000miles.
We've just made a recent trip to the Applecross Peninsula. Long haul journeys are where it excels. Like previous trips to Tuscany and then to Provence, it's great at being cosseting on long journeys, just enough power for not much to bother you, then be entertaining on smaller roads. Which reminds me, there is a problem with it! There's a baffle stuck open in the exhaust, when the exhaust has got hot after a big run, it's LOUD coming off motorways. Not enough for me to get it fixed though
And the amazing Bealach na Bà to get there
I suppose the main gripe with it is it's thirst, in town driving I can get 18MPG. However mixed is around 23-25 and a steady 70mph is 30mpg so I try to keep it off short local journeys and use the tram
when I can.
Not long ago, a previous owner contacted me through the Alpina Register asking if when I sell if he can have first refusal. I get why he asked. It's not happening any time soon, but the answer is of course
Car still going very strong, now on 143,000 miles and feels very tight, no different to how it did when I got it to be honest. There's been no dramas either, just regular maintenance schedule done by my indie, and approx 1L of Castrol Edge 0W-30 every 1000miles.
We've just made a recent trip to the Applecross Peninsula. Long haul journeys are where it excels. Like previous trips to Tuscany and then to Provence, it's great at being cosseting on long journeys, just enough power for not much to bother you, then be entertaining on smaller roads. Which reminds me, there is a problem with it! There's a baffle stuck open in the exhaust, when the exhaust has got hot after a big run, it's LOUD coming off motorways. Not enough for me to get it fixed though
And the amazing Bealach na Bà to get there
I suppose the main gripe with it is it's thirst, in town driving I can get 18MPG. However mixed is around 23-25 and a steady 70mph is 30mpg so I try to keep it off short local journeys and use the tram
when I can. Not long ago, a previous owner contacted me through the Alpina Register asking if when I sell if he can have first refusal. I get why he asked. It's not happening any time soon, but the answer is of course
Edited by B3MX5 on Tuesday 14th May 19:30
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