RETURN OF THE DON

To view this page ensure that Adobe Flash Player version 9.0.124 or greater is installed.

Please login or register to make a comment!

BEHIND THE WHEEL RETURN OF THE DON Alpina 9s D3 Saloon and Touring have been missing from its model line-up but they 9re back with a vengeance in Bi-Turbo guise and are better than ever Words: Bob Harper Photography: Dave Smith A s I get older (cue chortles of laughter from the office whippersnappers, but remember chaps none of you are getting any younger and I 9ve still got more hair than the rest of you put together even if it is getting greyer), I find that the mind increasingly plays tricks on me. It can 9t seem to remember where I 9ve put things, doesn 9t hear things my wife says to me (or so she claims), and gets the names of my children confused when I 9m shouting at them. It 9s either the early onset of Alzheimer 9s or the normal effect of the ravages of time, but it 9s a worry as I do sometimes begin to wonder if my memory of cars I 9ve driven in the past are truly representative.

The Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo Coupé that I drove in Germany a year ago is a case in point. I 9d still rate it as one ... more. less.

of the best drives I 9ve had recently and the fact that it 9s a 2.0-litre diesel will only have the office youngsters pointing the walking stick and slippers at me all the more often. A trip to Alpina GB in Nottingham to drive its D3 Saloon and Touring would either have me crying into my Horlicks or celebrating the existence of some youthful vigour. While the two-door D3 BT has been available for a while in the UK, the Saloon and Touring versions have been slower to come on line as Alpina was waiting for the facelifted BMWs to be announced before launching the model. The Buchloe-based manufacturer has done a good job of adding its trademark aerodynamic addenda to the 3 Series shape and the result is a BMW with some discreet attitude thanks to front and rear spoilers and Alpina 19-inch alloys. As with the Coupé, suspension is a skilful blend of components from the BMW parts bin set up with Alpina-specific camber and toe settings while under 016-018 BMWCar 0409 5/3/09 17:01 Page 16 18 BMW car BEHIND THE WHEEL ENGINE: 1995cc, four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel MAX POWER: 214hp @ 4100rpm MAX TORQUE: 332lb ft @ 2000-2500rpm 0-62MPH: 6.9 seconds (7.2) TOP SPEED: 152mph (150) ECONOMY: 52.3mpg (51.4) EMISSIONS (CO2): 143g/km (145) WEIGHT: 1480kg (1550) PRICE: £29,950 (£31,950) * Figures in brackets for Touring ALPINA D3 BI-TURBO SALOON & TOURING and the fact that it 9s not upset by changes in the road surface that can cause the standard BMW fare to skip across the tarmac in a most disconcerting manner. To remind you that this is something a little bit special there are a few Alpina embellishments on the inside 3 an Alpina-logoed BMW Performance steering wheel, Alpina blue dials, an Alpina gear knob, floor mats, a production plaque and an anthracite headlining. If you don 9t fancy the half-leather, half- Alcantara steering wheel you can have a more traditional Alpina Lavalina item as a no-cost option (similarly if you don 9t like the 19-inch Classic alloys you can also spec 19-inch Dynamic rims at no extra cost), but like the original D3 the new BT version also has a fixed specification which can 9t be added to unless you are prepared to fork out an additional £1500 for a bespoke order. Standard kit includes metallic paint, Professional radio/CD, multi-function steering wheel, anthracite headlining, half-leather sports seats, Bluetooth, cruise control and manual air conditioning, or in other words, most of what you need. The bottom line is an on-the road price of £29,950 (Touring, £31,950) which makes the D3 £1500 more than a 320d M Sport but £875 less than a 325d M Sport which, despite being a 3.0-litre six-cylinder, is actually less powerful, slower, less economical and has a higher CO2 output than the Alpina. And don 9t forget with the D3 you also get the Alpina styling, suspension, alloys, bespoke exhaust (that actually sounds remarkably tuneful for a diesel), and the excellent powertrain, too. We sampled both the Saloon and Touring in manual guises and while the heavier shell of the Touring should make it feel slower it didn 9t seem it on the road, and my ageing brain cells might have deceived me but I felt it rode very slightly better than the Saloon. Once we 9d returned to Alpina 9s HQ I had a quick run out in a Switch-Tronic Coupé to remind myself how the auto version drives. And this is where the boys are going to get my pipe and slippers ready for me as I think I actually preferred the ST 9box to the manual 3 and this coming from a die-hard manual lover! Alpina couldn 9t get the 320d 9s auto 9box to work to its satisfaction so if you tick the £1590 Switch- Tronic option you 9re actually getting the Alpina-fettled ZF 6HP19TU from the B3, and it 9s an absolute peach. The only question should be whether to spec it in the Saloon or Touring bodyshell. I must be getting old& Ï Contact: Alpina GB Tel: 0115 934 1414 Web: www.alpinabmw.co.uk 016-018 BMWCar 0409 5/3/09 17:02 Page 18 ALPINA D3 BI-TURBO the bonnet there 9s the tweaked version of the 123d 9s twin-turbo 2.0-litre lump that develops 214hp and 332lb ft of torque, gains of 10hp and 37lb ft over the BMW unit. A 0-62mph time of 6.9 seconds and a top speed of 152mph aren 9t to be sniffed at, especially when combined with an emissions figure of 143g/km and an overall economy of 52.3mpg. While Alpina 9s original D3 (effectively an extensively reworked single-turbo BMW 320d unit) was a cracking steer, it did suffer somewhat from turbo lag and a rather narrow powerband, criticisms that cannot be levelled at the new car. Thanks to the twin-turbo setup there 9s an abundance of power and torque right through the rev range and it 9ll pull cleanly with vigour all the way to its 5000rpm redline. Taking it much over 4000rpm isn 9t really worth it in terms of forward momentum 3 you 9re better off changing up and surfing the torque 3 but the high (for a diesel) revs that can be used does mean that you 9re less likely to be caught running out of the rev range when going for an overtake or when cornering. Make best use of the torque and it 9s genuinely quick while still returning 40mpg. Turn the wick down a tad and economy will rise impressively. The bespoke Alpina suspension comes in for praise whenever we sample one of its cars and the D3 BT, on the whole, continues this tradition. It 9s not quite as supple as I remember from driving it on super-smooth German tarmac, with its low-speed ride around town feeling slightly nadgety, but raise the pace a notch or two and it 9s so much better than a BMW M Sport, no doubt partially a result of Alpina eschewing the run-flat rubber that its BMW cousin is forced to use. Given the size of the Michelins it is no surprise that there 9s grip aplenty, but where the Alpina really scores over a BMW M Sport is in steering feel 016-018 BMWCar 0409 5/3/09 17:01 Page 17

less