Alpina Roadster S...

C

Chrisg89

Member
Hey,

I'm looking for a new car, was looking for a Z4M when I found a few Alpina Roadsters. Has anybody got any experience of these?

How do part prices compare to a Z4M or 3.0?
How reliable are they compared to Z4M or 3.0?
Do you have to take them to a specialist dealer for servicing? Or will my local regular BMW dealer be good enough?

I've heard they suffer with head gasket failures?

Thanks in advance
 
Chrisg89 - welcome to the forum :thumbsup:

I'm not an expert, but an Alpina will cost more than a 3.0i of the same age. The Aplina had more power than the 3.0i and 3.0si. Alpina had rather a lot more torque than 3.0 and more than the ///M if I remember correctly.

I've heard of head gaskets going around every 60-80k miles, but I'm sure someone will be along with more knowledge than me to offer information.
 
This thread might be useful also chris. Its old (2008) but has some good info...

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3685&p=52153&hilit=Alpina+problems#p52153
 
Thanks for the replies and for the welcome!

What are they like for holding their value? Must have done most of their depreciating? Only 157(?) RHD made must be a good thing for residuals? Another £3-4k on a £12k example in the next 2-3 years?

Just bought my first house and started saving for an E92 M3 so don't want to loose a massive amount.
 
I've owned one for a few months and am totally in love with it. I thought about an M (which I also admire) but decided on the Alpina as a potential investment. Low mileage good conditioned ones can change hands for silly money. Higher mileage cars seem to have bottomed out at about £11K at the moment. The one I bought was on the market for £15K, the owner accepted £13,500 and it had 31K on the clock.

You'll get a wealth of friendly advice on Z4's generally here, and Alpinas specifically over at The Alpina Register. They don't seem to suffer from any particular foibles that I could see over those that any other Z4 has, and the exclusivity is nice. 2alpsade here is a regular contributor on The Alpina Register and has recently bought a Roadster to go with his D3 and did a lot of research before buying his. He's been very helpful to me. The only potential downside I can see is the "custom" nature and that if something goes bang it might cost more than a "standard" BM Z4. (I purchased a warranty, just in case!)

Anyway, Welcome! and i hope you enjoy whatever you decide to purchase :)
 
Had a look on the Alpina register, their classifieds section is shockingly bad. But already read up on the Roadster which is good.

The one I was hoping to view, advertised on here, has already gone. The previous owner part ex'd it mid december. It was 10 miles from my house as well, all the others are miles away.
 
My mate is selling his alpina. I borrowed his car for a weekend and that's what made me buy my z4! I'll get the spec for u later today.
 
Chris

Just a little bit of info on the Alpina Roadster S.

I have gone over to the dark side and purchased a Porsche Cayman S and to be perfectly honest theres nothing to choose between them with regards to performance.

You will find that the servicing costs are in line with a 3litre Z4 and you will also enjoy the benefit of the lower tax bracket unlike the Z4M.

I never had any head gasket problems but they do suffer rear coil spring failure as with all Z4's. Personally, I would recommend the Alpina over the Z4m because of the level of trim, things like the leather dash make a big difference I feel. If you have any other questions just drop me a line and I will attempt to answer them for you.

Wayne
 
If I had the money and a more understanding wife I'd by an M Coupe to sit next to the Alpina. Wouldn't that be a tough choice when it came to hit the road...
 
Wayne, it was me that emailed you last night, I think you're local to me aswell, I'm in Ellesmere Port.

I'm coming from a couple of Porsches, had a 987 2.7 Boxster for 2 years and a 997 Carrera 2S for 6 or 7 months. So performance wise, should be somewhere in the middle?

Was going to go back to a Boxster, but I've already had one and fancy something else.
 
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/largepic.asp?i=3506721&noPics=6&make=BMW&model=ALPINA&imgsrv=1&trade=1&current=6

Is this your old one Wayne?
 
I think it is as I know when Wayne put the old back lights on he couldn't find the curved plastic black strip on the lights.
 
inkey$ said:
Yeah, why not man? Seriously missed a trick.
Click to expand...

I have to agree, much as it pains me - given the proportion of coupes to roadsters a limited run of less than 100 ars would have made this a seriously exclusive car. I guess since the M was launched in both forms BMW didn't want Alpina stealing their thunder.

Is there an e89 Alpina available on the open market yet ?
 
inkey$ said:
Yeah, why not man? Seriously missed a trick.
Click to expand...

Just having some coupe banter mate :poke: :lol:

An E89 Alpina would be very nice, and at last we might see an E89 with a V8 under the bonnet :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Adamski said:
inkey$ said:
Yeah, why not man? Seriously missed a trick.
Click to expand...

Just having some coupe banter mate :poke: :lol:

An E89 Alpina would be very nice, and at last we might see an E89 with a V8 under the bonnet :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

If only!
 
Hi mate,

Well i've owner an Alpina Roadster no 039 for nearly 2 years, i now have a Z4MC

There are quiet a few differances.

Alpina is very rare, only 170ish in the country and for the money they now change hands for a lot of car for the money. Make sure you get the 'S' spec. You get heated seats, nav bluetooth etc. Servicing is less than an 'M' also you also get a far lower tax bracket as they are considered a low volume car manufacturer! The engine is a 3.4 unit based loosely on the E36 3.0m3 engine. Not a high reving unit but more torque and a unique sound. You get as standard an Eismann exhaust. it was a shame the seats were not 'nappa' leather

The Z4MC is harder, faster, but still very similar to the Alpina. The brakes are far better, the engine is high reving as an M3 so a very different characture to the Alpina.

Both are great cars and full of characture. You cannot go wrong with either of the cars!
 
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