NEW ALPINA D3 BI-TURBO

[LeeZ4MR]

I have always thought of an Alpina as being more individual & standing out a little more than an M car, Alpina's have historically had massive rims & writing all over them that's not discreet in my book.

I think you'll find that most of that disappeared some time back and most of the cars you'll see with a full complement of graphics tend to be the older models, the side stripes and spoiler graphics are still available as an option but you don't see many newer cars with side stripes.

I have the ALPINA graphics on the front spoiler but it's not exactly 'shouty'

I do love an Alpina & I remember seeing a E90 D3 & the first thing I noticed was the wheels & graphics on the front spoiler, I have just always seen them as slightly more showy than an M car but that could just be my own personal perception of them, I do love how individual & different they are & that's a great thing.

 

[2alpsade]

Loved my old D3Biturbo: best handling saloon car by a country mile, and for 214hp and 450Nm, went like stink and you could attack curves with wild abandon knowing it would stick. On challenging roads, it could hold onto the tail of our Roadster S as it outhandled the Zed and made it look clumsy. The new one will challenge my current 400hp, 540Nm B3SBiturbo for performance, and p1$$ on it for fuel economy (I get around 29mpg, but I do DRIVE it ). Going on my experience, the 6-cyl lump in the new car will probably spoil the front-end grip a little compared to the E9x 4-cyl version, but I found the F30 in standard format handled better than the standard E9x versions...so it has a chance to be brilliant when ALPINA have done their magic.

Comparing M cars and ALPINA's....M's are track cars prepared for road use and are much more raw than the 'equivalent' ALPINA. Performance-wise, my B3SBT is on a par with the M3, but is a much nicer drive as you can drive it normally for 90% of the time, and then when you feel like being a white knuckled lunatic, she responds in style. Plus, on the autobhan when the M3 hits its speed limiter at 155mph, I'll carry on to my top speed of 186mph (only in my dreams! LOL). With the M, you end up as a lunatic 100% of the time as that's what the car demands. Running costs: the ALPINA version wins hands down as it's lower servicing, fuel, RFL and insurance.

As regards ALPINA 'shoutiness', my E90 D3BT was fully war-striped and it suited the car style and I loved the fact it was 'different' to bland run of the mill E90's. However, my E92 version (same colour as the D3BT was) only has the front spoiler graphics which I decided to fit. Full-on striping does not suit the shape and colour I have...I have a kit and tried it for looks and thought it looked gash. The wheels on mine are the 'new classics' as fitted to the new F30 ALPINA's, but an inch smaller thankfully! Cleaning is a doddle: you just need to get the right kit and I never complain that I have/need to clean my ALPINA Class cars, properly engineered, often misunderstood.

Now, I did say that the current ALPINA would be my last, BUT if they bring an x-drive F31 version of the D3BT to the UK, it could be on my shopping list after a couple of years' depreciation....