Alpina D3
18 August 2006, 09:28 AM
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Alpina D3
Test drove one of these the other day and it seems to be the perfect company car! It knocks on the door of 150mph - returns 50mpg on the uban cycle seems to carry more speed than my Impeza on twisty roads (yes you can beat a scoob in the "twisties")! 
No runflats either so the ride is amazing considering the wheels ....
At least we don't the the stripes or the wood here in the UK .....
Evo article
Diesel Car article
What do you guys think - anyone else driven one?
MM
No runflats either so the ride is amazing considering the wheels ....
At least we don't the the stripes or the wood here in the UK .....
Evo article
Diesel Car article
What do you guys think - anyone else driven one?
MM
18 August 2006, 10:15 AM
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Was it new or secondhand, as I had heard they were all sold (Sytner?)?
Although the D3 list price is cheaper than an M Sport, I believe good discounts are available on the latter, making the D3 less of a bargain than it first appears.
A £350 re-map on a standard car would make similar power, although I imagine you could re-map the D3, as it has a 330 turbo and intercooler - should be good for 230 bhp and 350 lb/ft!
Although the D3 list price is cheaper than an M Sport, I believe good discounts are available on the latter, making the D3 less of a bargain than it first appears.
A £350 re-map on a standard car would make similar power, although I imagine you could re-map the D3, as it has a 330 turbo and intercooler - should be good for 230 bhp and 350 lb/ft!
18 August 2006, 10:40 AM
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Originally Posted by Daryl
Was it new or secondhand, as I had heard they were all sold (Sytner?)?
Although the D3 list price is cheaper than an M Sport, I believe good discounts are available on the latter, making the D3 less of a bargain than it first appears.
A £350 re-map on a standard car would make similar power, although I imagine you could re-map the D3, as it has a 330 turbo and intercooler - should be good for 230 bhp and 350 lb/ft!
Although the D3 list price is cheaper than an M Sport, I believe good discounts are available on the latter, making the D3 less of a bargain than it first appears.
A £350 re-map on a standard car would make similar power, although I imagine you could re-map the D3, as it has a 330 turbo and intercooler - should be good for 230 bhp and 350 lb/ft!
I understand that you should be able to get 7-8% off a 320d M Sport as a private buyer - but no discounts are available on the Alpinas. Makes no difference to me as the company will be buying it for me.
Agreed - but given the above I have to just take the standard car. When I buy it off the company in 3 years time (for peaunuts) - I'll either keep it and mod it - or flog it for a profit and go an choose something else ....
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18 August 2006, 11:54 AM
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A workmate on my watch has just bought one from sytner nottingham. Nice car but WTF £27k... No climate! No xenons!!! No PDC!!!! very poor spec for such a car really! Think I'd go for a standard 320d and get it chipped. (not that I'd ever drive a diesel whilst I draw breath!!!)
dave
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18 August 2006, 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by misty
A workmate on my watch has just bought one from sytner nottingham. Nice car but WTF £27k... No climate! No xenons!!! No PDC!!!! very poor spec for such a car really! Think I'd go for a standard 320d and get it chipped. (not that I'd ever drive a diesel whilst I draw breath!!!)
dave
dave
Standard 320D won't have xenons or pdc
18 August 2006, 02:40 PM
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Manual air con! I was just pointing out it's a typical poorly specced expensive bmw. And to cap it all It's got a tractor engine!!!!
dave
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18 August 2006, 03:40 PM
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Go for it then! I agree, it makes a perfect company car when you have to consider the tax implications. My wife has an E46 320d Sport as a company car and it's surprisingly fast for something that does over 40 to the gallon
18 August 2006, 03:55 PM
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A little write up for you here..
Clever car, this, and perhaps more significant than it would first appear. The D3 is a shrewdly calculated attempt to capture a substantially larger audience for Alpina, precision-targeted with a £26,995 price-tag, and offering just enough of the well-known Alpina brand qualities to distinguish itself from the regular BMW alternative, which in this case would be a 320d Sport.
After a slight pause while the turbo fills its cheeks, a sizeable slug of turbocharged torque gets things moving
But the D3 is also a labour of love for Alpina. Back in 1998, Andreas Bovensiepen, son of company founder Burkhard, won the Nürburgring 24 hours in a diesel-engined 3-series, a car which impressed him hugely at the time. And now, in the glow of Audi’s Le Mans triumph with the R10, the timing is pretty much perfect for the launch of the D3.
Costing only a little over four grand more than the 320d on which it’s based, you obviously can’t expect to get the full Alpina treatment. So there’s no Switchtronic gearbox, just the standard BMW six-speed manual, and the engine internals are untouched. But you still get plenty of proper Alpina kit. On the outside you’ll find some nicely judged body addenda and those distinctive multi-spoke alloys, 19in in diameter and wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 2s, 235/35s at the front, 265/30s behind. They fill the arches very pleasingly, and combined with Alpina’s twin exhaust tailpipes they give the slightly underwhelming 3-series a welcome bit of visual attitude.
Underneath, there’s Alpina-tuned suspension, and under the bonnet a larger Garrett turbocharger and intercooler, bigger injectors and reprogrammed engine management. Together they raise the output of the 2-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel from 161bhp to 197bhp. That’s a pretty remarkable figure for a 2-litre diesel, though as with all diesels it’s less than half the story. Torque swells by 51lb ft to an extremely pumped-up 302lb ft at just 2000rpm.
And that’s the first thing that really hits you once you’ve settled in to the cloth/leather sports seats, gripped the hand-sewn leather-rimmed wheel and guided the Alpina-logo’d gearstick into first. After a slight pause while the turbo fills its cheeks, a sizeable slug of turbocharged torque gets things moving. In fact you have to be pretty quick with the gearstick before the engine races right through its powerband and stumbles on the other side. Keep it between 2000 and 4500rpm, however, and it thumps along. Not quite 330i-quick, but not far off it either. And it even makes a decent noise.
In fact the narrowness of the powerband compared with similarly powerful petrol engines is the only thing that really detracts from your enjoyment, but a combined mpg figure of 47.9mpg might make it more bearable.
Point the D3 down a twisty, bumpy backroad, and things get even more interesting. The steering, which is quite heavy and a touch dull at lower speeds, comes alive. The whole car feels alert, keen to turn and well-balanced all the way through each corner, shifting attitude subtly in response to the throttle. The suspension works brilliantly – you’d never believe the ride could be this supple from a glance at the wheels and tyres – meaning you can maintain a cracking pace, with just the occasional flicker from the stability control to let you know you’re edging up to the limit. A firm but easily modulated brake pedal at just the right height for heeling and toeing completes the dynamic picture.
Post Le Mans, and with cars like this around, even among the diehard diesel-haters in the evo office there’s a grudging acceptance that diesel engines and driving enjoyment aren’t mutually exclusive.
Alpina GB (www.alpinabmw.co.uk) hopes to sell 100 D3s this year, including the potentially very appealing Touring version that goes on sale in September at £28,995. If it doesn’t, it can only be because buyers in this hitherto unexplored end of the market are more conservative in their choice of car than the more moneyed individuals who have bought Alpinas in the past. Judged purely on merit, the D3 deserves to do very well indeed.
dave
Clever car, this, and perhaps more significant than it would first appear. The D3 is a shrewdly calculated attempt to capture a substantially larger audience for Alpina, precision-targeted with a £26,995 price-tag, and offering just enough of the well-known Alpina brand qualities to distinguish itself from the regular BMW alternative, which in this case would be a 320d Sport.
After a slight pause while the turbo fills its cheeks, a sizeable slug of turbocharged torque gets things moving
But the D3 is also a labour of love for Alpina. Back in 1998, Andreas Bovensiepen, son of company founder Burkhard, won the Nürburgring 24 hours in a diesel-engined 3-series, a car which impressed him hugely at the time. And now, in the glow of Audi’s Le Mans triumph with the R10, the timing is pretty much perfect for the launch of the D3.
Costing only a little over four grand more than the 320d on which it’s based, you obviously can’t expect to get the full Alpina treatment. So there’s no Switchtronic gearbox, just the standard BMW six-speed manual, and the engine internals are untouched. But you still get plenty of proper Alpina kit. On the outside you’ll find some nicely judged body addenda and those distinctive multi-spoke alloys, 19in in diameter and wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 2s, 235/35s at the front, 265/30s behind. They fill the arches very pleasingly, and combined with Alpina’s twin exhaust tailpipes they give the slightly underwhelming 3-series a welcome bit of visual attitude.
Underneath, there’s Alpina-tuned suspension, and under the bonnet a larger Garrett turbocharger and intercooler, bigger injectors and reprogrammed engine management. Together they raise the output of the 2-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel from 161bhp to 197bhp. That’s a pretty remarkable figure for a 2-litre diesel, though as with all diesels it’s less than half the story. Torque swells by 51lb ft to an extremely pumped-up 302lb ft at just 2000rpm.
And that’s the first thing that really hits you once you’ve settled in to the cloth/leather sports seats, gripped the hand-sewn leather-rimmed wheel and guided the Alpina-logo’d gearstick into first. After a slight pause while the turbo fills its cheeks, a sizeable slug of turbocharged torque gets things moving. In fact you have to be pretty quick with the gearstick before the engine races right through its powerband and stumbles on the other side. Keep it between 2000 and 4500rpm, however, and it thumps along. Not quite 330i-quick, but not far off it either. And it even makes a decent noise.
In fact the narrowness of the powerband compared with similarly powerful petrol engines is the only thing that really detracts from your enjoyment, but a combined mpg figure of 47.9mpg might make it more bearable.
Point the D3 down a twisty, bumpy backroad, and things get even more interesting. The steering, which is quite heavy and a touch dull at lower speeds, comes alive. The whole car feels alert, keen to turn and well-balanced all the way through each corner, shifting attitude subtly in response to the throttle. The suspension works brilliantly – you’d never believe the ride could be this supple from a glance at the wheels and tyres – meaning you can maintain a cracking pace, with just the occasional flicker from the stability control to let you know you’re edging up to the limit. A firm but easily modulated brake pedal at just the right height for heeling and toeing completes the dynamic picture.
Post Le Mans, and with cars like this around, even among the diehard diesel-haters in the evo office there’s a grudging acceptance that diesel engines and driving enjoyment aren’t mutually exclusive.
Alpina GB (www.alpinabmw.co.uk) hopes to sell 100 D3s this year, including the potentially very appealing Touring version that goes on sale in September at £28,995. If it doesn’t, it can only be because buyers in this hitherto unexplored end of the market are more conservative in their choice of car than the more moneyed individuals who have bought Alpinas in the past. Judged purely on merit, the D3 deserves to do very well indeed.
dave
18 August 2006, 04:26 PM
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Originally Posted by misty
Manual air con! I was just pointing out it's a typical poorly specced expensive bmw. And to cap it all It's got a tractor engine!!!!
dave
dave
That's "climate" in BMW speak mate
Interestingly, if you spec a standard 320d from the BMW options list to a similar level, it would cost you £28,280 before discount.
18 August 2006, 04:31 PM
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Ah! that makes sense mate.. Still don't think it looks that special though. I suppose if I was forced to have an oil burner....(god forbid) then one would be up near the top of my list...
dave
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18 August 2006, 08:37 PM
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It's the Evo review, isn't it ... I'd have put the suspicious smilie here if I knew how to do it!
Originally Posted by misty
Just a little something I put together.....LOL
dave
dave
18 August 2006, 09:36 PM
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I'm sure it's a nice car & all that but I do NOT believe that 50mpg figure for a second. I'm sure you 'can' manage it on a very light run, however for typical driving, I reckon 35mpg as it's aimed to those that wanna give it some.
21 August 2006, 04:41 PM
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Originally Posted by misty
Manual air con! I was just pointing out it's a typical poorly specced expensive bmw. And to cap it all It's got a tractor engine!!!!
dave
dave
Tractor engine? Putting out 100bhp / litre??
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