DRIVEN: Top Gear Gives The Alpina B3 A Walloping And Writes To Tell Us ALL About It — Eager For The Next-Gen M3? Might Want To Look At This

Alpina is the defacto tuner for BMW aside from the company's M division. It's been working on the organization's products for decades and, quite frankly, they typically do a bang-up job.

And if there's on thing Alpina does well, it's how it leaves a lasting mark on the vehicle. Mostly the vehicle's look stock except for the relatively discrete aerodynamics kit and large diameter radial spoke wheels.

But how good is the all-new B3? The souped up 3-Series. Well, only one way to find out and the U.K.'s Top Gear has found out. Turns out there's quite a bit of a story to the B3.

Take, for example, the motor, which is actually the N54 twin-turbo that BMW used to use. It puts out over 400 horsepower and over 440 lb.-ft. of torque, which is much more than the just ceased production M3 that had 295 lb.-ft.

Does this add up to a 10 out of 10? Well, not quite. But it is close.

**Click "Read Article" to read the FULL review

...

But the B3 must be pretty much as fast as an M3, isn't it?

I reckon it's faster. It is on paper, with a claimed 0-62mph of 4.2secs and a non-limited top speed of 190mph. And while the turbocharged motor might not have the sparkling response of the M3's naturally aspirated V8, it makes up for it with a massively forceful mid-range that's more useful and exploitable in everyday driving...
...

Some come on then, is it worth a ten out of ten?

If it was under £50 grand, then I think it would be. It does move the game on from a standard 335i and I can't think of a single upgrade or change that I don't agree with. It's a genuinely superb car. And for what it's worth the amount of work that Alpina has done is probably worth the asking price. Yet £55 grand for a 3-Series sticks in the throat. It's a nine...

Read Article

ErnestHouse - 8/7/2013 7:17:14 AM

+1 Boost

After the page loads on the Top Gear site, it goes blank. Happens on both Safari and Firefox. Pity.

Agent00R - 8/7/2013 9:32:12 PM

0 Boost

Working on my end in Firefox!

Satriani1 - 8/8/2013 1:16:38 AM

-2 Boost

Alpinas tend to be overhyped cars.

Most Germans are smart enough not to waste their money on Alpina tuned BMWs. In 2012, only 222 Alpina BMWs were sold in Germany (97 Alpina D3 and 125 Alpina D5 BiTurbo). In the first six months of 2013, only 56 Alpina BMWs were sold in Germany (all D5 BiTurbo, the Alpina version of the 5 series). Why would any rational German pay a base price of 71,000 Euros for a tuned 5 series car that accelerates 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in only 5.2 sec and 0-160 km/h (100 mph) in only 12.1 sec? For 73,000 Euros, an Audi S6 rockets to 62 mph in about 3.9 seconds and to 100 mph in 9.2 seconds (even a regular Audi A6 has been tested at 4.8 sec and 4.9 sec to 60 mph by Motortrend and Road& Track).
http://tinyurl.com/op6uzer

But there's still money to be made from people foolish enough to waste their money on tuner cars, so Alpina's latest cash grab is the 2013 version of the Alpina B3 Biturbo.

The last Alpina B3 Biturbo -- the 2007 version with a base price of 61,000 Euros had 100 Nm more torque then the M3 -- managed only 8:14.00 min on the Nurburgring, driven by Nurburgring expert. Horst von Saurma achieved 8:05 min in a 2007 M3 with a base price of 67,000 Euros. [Von Saurma achieved 8:01 min in a 2011 Mercedes C63 AMG Coupe. And von Saurma achieved 7:59 min twice in a 2010 Audi RS5 and later in a 2012 RS5.]
http://fastestlaps.com/tracks/nordschleife.html

Alpina rated its 2007 B3 BiTurbo to accelerate to 100 km/h in 4.8 sec while BMW rated the 2008 BMW M3 at 4.9 sec. When supercar tester Horst von Saurma supertested both cars he found the Alpina was 0.1 sec slower and the M3 was 0.1 sec faster than their manufacturer ratings. The following are the results of von Saurma's acceleration tests: Alpina first vs BMW next

0-40 km / h: 1.6 s vs 1.7 s
0-60 km / h: 2.6 s vs 2.6 s
0-80 km / h: 3.6 s vs 3.7 s
0-100 km / h: 4.9s vs 4.8 s
0-120 km / h: 6.6 s vs 6.4 s
0-140 km / h: 8.5 s vs 8.2 s
0-160 km / h: 11.0 s vs 10.2 s
0-180 km / h: 14.0 s vs 12.8 s
0-200 km / h: 17.6 s vs 15.7 s

On paper, these acceleration numbers seemed quite impressive for the Alpina up to 140 km/h. But on the tough track of Nurburgring, the Alpina's shortcomings were exposed. The BMW M3 was nine seconds faster than the Alpina B3 Biturbo. But even the much-hyped M3 was slower than its rivals from Mercedes and Audi -- and the M3 continued the tradition of regular production BMW cars failing to break the 8 min barrier at the Nurburgring.

Well... maybe the 2013 B3 BiTurbo will live up to its hype when it is tested on the Nurburgring. The hopeful can only hope.