Alpina for sale

inkey$

inkey$

Lifer
 Sevenoaks & Suffolk
No, not mine [I haven't pulled the trigger again/yet!]. 2005 S Lux on 57k miles, offered up at £12250 and looks a fine example. Am sure Perry might be able to shed some historical light on it.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/bmw/alpina/bmw-alpina-roadster-s-lux-convertible-2005-z4/2595705?isexperiment=true
 
Is it just me or is that a really good buy?

After following Grumpy Brian's Alpina at the National I'm impressed. . .when did they stop production? Any facelift?

:driving: :thumbsup:
 
I'm always in a dilemma with the Alpinas. While I love them they are a classic so need keeping straight. Amber lights etc. that would bug me.
Also for an old car so close to double the value of a 3.0 and price of a later ///M, seems high, but equally is cheap for a bespoke built car.

As I say my dilemma with them


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They seem to be held in very high regard but personally, apart from the engine which I can't comment on, they seem to be made on a budget, a bit of body kit (which I think is ugly, especially the wheels) with no really meaningful upgrades like the M.
 
paulgs1000 said:
Is it just me or is that a really good buy?

After following Grumpy Brian's Alpina at the National I'm impressed. . .when did they stop production? Any facelift?
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It does look quite nice and the price is good - but lots of cars look good on the web and you never really know until you see them in the metal. I don't recall this particular registration plate and they don't give the build # but, from the plate, I would think that it's a build # around 165 or so.

EDIT: I've checked the reg with Kees at Alpina-Archive and it's #158

The Alpina RS was made from October 2003 to October 2005, so were all based upon the pre-facelift E85. A total of 373 cars were produced with 167 of them in RHD for the UK - the build numbers are sequential and assigned according to order of production and the 167 RHD cars have build numbers ranging from #002 to #344

The earliest UK cars are on an 04 plate, except for #002 which was the very first RHD display car and got a 53 plate, and the last few registered snuck onto an 06 plate - they were all manufactured in early 2005, but they hung around because they were a batch of std rather than Lux models and, as such, less desirable... most people who were paying the extra for an Alpina wanted the extra equipment as well and purchased later, Lux spec, cars as they became available
 
Sim_Simma said:
They seem to be held in very high regard but personally, apart from the engine which I can't comment on, they seem to be made on a budget, a bit of body kit (which I think is ugly, especially the wheels) with no really meaningful upgrades like the M.
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and so on and so forth, but that 'bit of body kit' is anything but cheap... it's actually aerodynamically active - Sport-Auto conducted tests in the Daimler-Chrysler wind tunnel with, amongst others, an Alpina Roadster S and a 3.0Si coupe. The tests showed that at 200km/h (124mp/h) the standard Z4 front bumper generates 28kg of lift and the Alpina bumper produces 2kg of downforce. The rear of both still produce lift but the coupe produces 43kg and the Alpina spoiler reduces this to 40kg 
 
PerryGunn said:
Sim_Simma said:
They seem to be held in very high regard but personally, apart from the engine which I can't comment on, they seem to be made on a budget, a bit of body kit (which I think is ugly, especially the wheels) with no really meaningful upgrades like the M.
Click to expand...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and so on and so forth, but that 'bit of body kit' is anything but cheap... it's actually aerodynamically active - Sport-Auto conducted tests in the Daimler-Chrysler wind tunnel with, amongst others, an Alpina Roadster S and a 3.0Si coupe. The tests showed that at 200km/h (124mp/h) the standard Z4 front bumper generates 28kg of lift and the Alpina bumper produces 2kg of downforce. The rear of both still produce lift but the coupe produces 43kg and the Alpina spoiler reduces this to 40kg 
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You gotta give it to the guy he knows his Alpies. :D :thumbsup:
 
srhutch said:
Ewazix said:
That looks like a cracking example :thumbsup:

Was the Alpina fitted with nasty EPS or 'proper' steering?
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EPS and no LSD
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Umm so when the ad' says it's a far better option than an ///M that's referring to cheaper road tax, a bit less/different power delivery, different flavour of styling and an Alpina badge then? Not knocking the Alpina just trying to get the reason for the premium :?
 
Ewazix said:
Umm so when the ad' says it's a far better option than an ///M that's referring to cheaper road tax, a bit less/different power delivery, different flavour of styling and an Alpina badge then? Not knocking the Alpina just trying to get the reason for the premium :?
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The Alpina is not better, or worse, than an ///M, per se, they're just two different approaches to producing a higher-performance E85. The Alpina is rarer and has a more bespoke feel with a huge number of changes covering everything from a hand-built engine and tuned s/s exhaust through to a custom interior - Apparantly Alpina made over 2000 changes to the interior of the car, most of them hidden!

If you haven't already done so, you might find it interesting to read Stuart Truman's posts regarding the swap from an Alpina to an ///M http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49348
 
PerryGunn said:
Ewazix said:
Umm so when the ad' says it's a far better option than an ///M that's referring to cheaper road tax, a bit less/different power delivery, different flavour of styling and an Alpina badge then? Not knocking the Alpina just trying to get the reason for the premium :?
Click to expand...
The Alpina is not better, or worse, than an ///M, per se, they're just two different approaches to producing a higher-performance E85. The Alpina is rarer and has a more bespoke feel with a huge number of changes covering everything from a hand-built engine and tuned s/s exhaust through to a custom interior - Apparantly Alpina made over 2000 changes to the interior of the car, most of them hidden!

If you haven't already done so, you might find it interesting to read Stuart Truman's posts regarding the swap from an Alpina to an ///M http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49348
Click to expand...

What he says.

Struggle to see how they made 200 chamges in the interior though, unless they are counting every stitch :lol:
 
I would think sound proofing and rattle prevention could all be passed off as separate parts ... Just guessing
 
srhutch said:
Struggle to see how they made 200(0) chamges in the interior though, unless they are counting every stitch :lol:
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That's why I say 'Apparantly', it's something that's mentioned in contemporaneous reviews of the RS' launch and, I presume, is quoted from the press packs that are supplied to the reviewers. I do know, however, that Alpina are renowned for trying to get things 'just so' with their cars and there are anecdotal reports of Alpina engineers swapping driver's seat pads while tooling down the Autobahns so that they got just the right compromise between comfort and 'seat of the pants' feel...
 
PerryGunn said:
Ewazix said:
Umm so when the ad' says it's a far better option than an ///M that's referring to cheaper road tax, a bit less/different power delivery, different flavour of styling and an Alpina badge then? Not knocking the Alpina just trying to get the reason for the premium :?
Click to expand...
The Alpina is not better, or worse, than an ///M, per se, they're just two different approaches to producing a higher-performance E85. The Alpina is rarer and has a more bespoke feel with a huge number of changes covering everything from a hand-built engine and tuned s/s exhaust through to a custom interior - Apparantly Alpina made over 2000 changes to the interior of the car, most of them hidden!

If you haven't already done so, you might find it interesting to read Stuart Truman's posts regarding the swap from an Alpina to an ///M http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49348
Click to expand...

That's a great write-up thanks for the pointer :thumbsup:

I've always seen Alpina as the outsourced pre-development house for performance upgrades before ///M get their version together. But clearly there is more to it than that and the Alpina is a valid alternative and a bespoke product, cool 8)
 
I'm no Alpina authority but I have driven the Alpina on two different occasions (both Sytner Nottingham test drives).

Whilst the on-paper performance of the car is very similar to the M, in practice they catered for different tastes. Alpinas are softer, more relaxing, less frenetic cars than their M counterparts. The Roadster S continues the theme. It's a really lovely car to drive and is an easier car to live with if you use it as a daily driver. It's not quite as quick as the M and the engine doesn't sound quite as good but we are talking minimal difference really. To these eyes it looks different enough to a stock 3.0 E85.
 
PerryGunn said:
srhutch said:
Struggle to see how they made 200(0) chamges in the interior though, unless they are counting every stitch :lol:
Click to expand...
That's why I say 'Apparantly', it's something that's mentioned in contemporaneous reviews of the RS' launch and, I presume, is quoted from the press packs that are supplied to the reviewers. I do know, however, that Alpina are renowned for trying to get things 'just so' with their cars and there are anecdotal reports of Alpina engineers swapping driver's seat pads while tooling down the Autobahns so that they got just the right compromise between comfort and 'seat of the pants' feel...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, definitely opened my eyes a little! :)
 
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