No, probably just soulless company car execs. I'd have one of the six-cylinder diesels. But then for THAT sort of money you can get tidy M Power cars second hand, and if you're having a BMW, for God's sake try and get one with the tricolour stripes on its arse.

Having said all that, the D3 is basically externally what the Alpina B3 will look like... Alpina is working on making a Euro IV compliant straight-six petrol (the 3.3 lump in the B3S and Alpina Roadster S models was developed from the old M50/M52/M54 series and so is only Euro III) for the new B3. Conjecture suggests this will be a more punchy version of the 3-litre twin-turbo in the 335i...

Which, strangely enough, IS the old M54 with two turbos on it and some clever emissions jiggery-pokery. It isn't the new magnesium alloy 3-litre, which makes anywhere between 258 and 272bhp.

But, I digress. The Alpina B3 will be if the Alpinas B5 and B6 are anything to go by. I maintain that the B5 is probably the finest and most explosively quick car I've ever driven or even been in. 516lbf.ft of torque can do that...

 

My firm's car is a B3S Touring which came from Sytner.

I think Alpina do a particularly good job with the suspension compared wih an M3 which is a lot firmer - some would say harsher. Also they tend to tune the engines for a flatter torque curve and more linear power. It's 40 BHP down on an M3 but it's still a very quick car.

 

To be fair, there is a market for this sort of car.

Company car rules and taxes forced many drivers into diesels. This gives the petrolhead people who are not able to opt out at least something they can get semi excited about.

My dad has just bought a 335d Coupe which costs more than an E46 M3. Why? Well, he isn't really looking for that raw experience, but something effortlessly fast and something that is not going to depreciate badly.

Still at least BMW are still making RWD unlike the rest (exc Merc).

 

Welshman - what spec and colour is this B3S Touring? How many miles has it done? Would they like to sell it to me for sub-

 

[QUOTE=matthehat17,Feb 6 2007, 10:24 AM] Welshman - what spec and colour is this B3S Touring? How many miles has it done? Would they like to sell it to me for sub-

 

Hellfire! That sounds the bargain of the decade! 305bhp wagon, auto, the toys (but no sat nav presumably?)...

I'll keep my eye out for it in July!

There was a black B3S Touring with red leather at Sytner the other day... a PERFECT combination...

 

No SatNav but TBH I think the SatNav supplied as part of most manufacturer's packages isn't anything like as good as that supplied by Garmin and the like.