You’ll just experience it. If you have had such a good relationship with your raw material supplier for years that you have been able to market your end product as an independent brand for forty years, then that raw material supplier will one day simply take over the whole thing. Not only that, but he also decides to build his own version of the end product after years of internal resistance. With praise from the press and public as a result.
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BMW X1 Alpina Line?
If you can’t imagine that – admittedly – far-fetched analogy: it’s exactly what happened to Alpina when BMW bought the brand last year. Not only did Alpina’s forty years as a small, independent manufacturer come to an end, but BMW also immediately launched the M3 Touring that the M fan base had been begging for years. In one move, the raison d’être of the Alpina B3 Touring became a lot less clear.
But is that really so? Will Alpina still have a right to exist under the wings of BMW or will you soon see an X1 with Alpina package in your neighbour’s driveway, just like you ordered a Renault Austral with Esprit Alpine package today? It is still a matter of time, but for the time being it is not going that fast. Initially, with the help of BMW, Alpina can arm itself against the stricter European CO2 regulations and can still do its own way for a while.
Custom Pirellis
With this Alpina B3 Touring, for example, which, just like the facelifted 3 Series Touring, is back at the start freshly washed. Logical, because the B3 Touring starts its career at BMW on the tire as the M340i Touring. The bodywork therefore receives the same M-sport package, but in Buchloe more black accents are colored in the body color and they mount their own – functional – Alpina spoiler lip and diffuser underneath. The exhaust line with the double oval mufflers on both sides is also brand-specific, as is the optional classic Alpina striping on the sides.
That makes this B3 Touring a discrete sporty or striking appearance. If you stick to the standard 19-inch wheels and go for a classic BMW body color, then you keep it discreet. Especially since the classic kidney-shaped radiator grille is less in your face than that of the M3 Touring. If you go for the typical forged – but oh so scratch-sensitive – spoke rims in size 20 inches and if you opt for the brand’s own Alpina green as the body color, you will drive by a little less conspicuously. In any case, the rims are fitted with Pirelli rubber specifically made for Alpina.
Very expensive lavalina leather
Inside, the facelift means that this B3 Touring also switches to the Curved Display, the curved combination between instrument display and infotainment screen that BMW now installs on all its models. The instrument display gets its own Alpina layout, the infotainment screen sticks to its BMW roots – not leaving out a single detail. Speaking of details: the BMW 3 Series has replaced its automatic selector lever with a selector button since the facelift, but the B3 Touring does not. So you can still tap it sideways in manual mode, and push it forward or backward to shift up or down.
And that infamous Switchtronic system with those push buttons? You can replace that with classic and beautifully designed paddle shifters. Together with the hand-stitched leather steering wheel – which also has an incredibly thick steering wheel rim at Alpina, as is good BMW practice – and the numbered plaque on the center console underlines the personalization that Buchloe offers. Especially when you open the wallet completely and go for the beautiful – but very expensive – lavalina leather.
Engine from the M3
This Alpina B3 Touring under the hood proves that relations with BMW are now optimal. If Buchloe had to settle for the most powerful six-in-line from the regular BMW range as a starting point, it can now be a little more. And that ‘something more’ is called ‘S58’, code language for the six-cylinder in-line that BMW M developed for the X3 M and X4 M and which now also serves in the … M3 Touring. After the facelift, the Reihensechser in this B3 Touring is good for 495 hp (compared to 462 hp before), so that it neatly parks between the M4 Coupé and the M3 Competition Touring. With 730 Nm, the Alpina is more torquey than the M products. Thanks to the in-house modified turbos, larger intercooler and improved air intake and exhaust.
What does that give to sprint numbers? From a standstill, the B3 Touring shoots to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds, so that the Alpina only has to give way a tenth of a second to the M3 Touring. But Buchloe makes up for that with the top speed: Alpina does not care about any gentleman’s agreement and tops off at 302 km / h. A speed at which the turbulence around the panoramic roof becomes so high that Alpina has mounted a discreet air guide at the top of the windscreen. Everything for the comfort…
Taste the action
And it doesn’t stop there. The B3 Touring will receive a custom adaptive sports suspension from Alpina with specific springs, dampers and stabilizers and its own adjustment for the variable steering. Optionally, there is also an upgrade for the brakes. It gives the Alpina a certain debauchery and the necessary weapons for winding secondary roads, but the B3 Touring always maintains a businesslike detachment. The Alpina B3 Touring lets you get a taste of the action when you ask. The M3 Touring? It is sharper, rawer and more precise, and immediately immerses you in the action.
But to be honest, that doesn’t bother you at all, because such an M3 Touring has little opportunity to develop its full potential in practice and therefore feels constricted all the time. He wants to show you what he can do, but he’s not allowed. This B3 Touring takes a completely different approach, draping a layer of luxurious comfort around its sportiness. The 20-inch wheels throw a spanner in the works, but the Alpina still maintains its comfortable balance. His secret? An additional Comfort+ driving mode that replaces BMW’s standard Eco driving mode.
Prices
On to the invoice then? For this Alpina B3 Touring you pay 91,415.50 euros in our country. That is still a lot less than the 103,450 euros that the BMW M3 Competition Touring asks for, but the Alpina keeps its standard equipment more limited. This corresponds to that of the 75,975 euro M340i, so that the price below the line is ultimately even higher if you let yourself go in the options list. Our test sample, for example, cost 111,545 euros, and did not even have the exclusive lavalina leather. But that’s the price you pay for exclusivity…
Conclusion
Does the Alpina B3 Touring still have a right to exist? Absolute. The small manufacturer from Buchloe takes the M340i as a basis and transforms it into a more powerful and faster Touring, which remains more comfortable and less radical than the M3 Touring. The perfect bridge builder between the two, but a lot more exclusive.
Motor
3.0 six-in-line, turbo petrol
transmission
8-trapezoidal machine
Price test car
€ 111 545.00
Price basic model
€ 91 415.50
Average test consumption
10.30 L/100km
