Hi guys and gals. Someone requested some pictures of my car and details.
As you probably know Alpinas are BMW cars that are pulled from the BMW production line, sent over to Germany and then stripped and rebuilt by hand. Their cars are not supposed to be 'balls out' performance cars like the M3, but are a more comfortable option for the conessieur.
My particular car is quite rare, only 27 of them were ever made for the UK market (right hand drive). It's also loaded with options...
The B3S is actually based on a 330 coupe but it has custom interior, suspension and of course... the engine! The suspension is design to give a sporty feel, yet without the rough, crashy ride you get with an M3. Alpina springs, shocks and arbs are used to create this fine balance of performance / comfort.
The engine is actually based on a US M3 block, which is bored and stroked to produce a 3.4L engine by using a custom Mahle crankshaft and oversize Mahle pistons. The head is gasflowed at the engine builders and takes them over 10 hours! Mahle cams are used in conjunction with the other bits to produce and engine with 305bhp (actually nearer 320bhp on a rolling road!) as standard and 275ftlb torque which is available throughout 80% of the rev range. As lightened Mahle pistons are used the engine revs freely and redlines at 7200rpm. The noise on full chat is enough to make a grown man piss himself with joy
The ECU has also been replaced with an uprated Siemens unit which has been mapped to death by Alpina to produce maximum usable power yet keeps emmisions to a minimum. It will return 35mpg on a run, yet on average returns 25mpg in a mixture of stop/start and free flowing traffic.
Performance? Well in the UK they only came with 'Alpina Switchtronic' yet most other countries has a manual option. The mnaual version gets to 62mph in 5 seconds, whilst my version does it in 6 seconds flat. Oh, it's also unlimited out of the factory and will do 169mph!
The gearbox is an uprated BMW steptronic which has a Bosch/Alpina ECU strapped on to it for better control over the gears. Like most auto BMWs you can have it in auto or manual mode - in manual you can go up and down the gears be sequentially pulling/pushing the stick or using the steering wheel mounted buttons. Changing gear is instantanious and it stays in whatever gear you tell it to be in until you hit the rev limiter or drop to stalling speeds where it'll select the best gear.
In auto mode it have several gearbox maps which are automatically chosen depending on how you drive... i.e. if you drive slowly it'll change up saving you fuel.. drive fast and it'll fire you into the limiter before changing up and it'll keep the revs up rather than changing into a slouchy gear between corners.
Anyway, enough waffling.. here's some pictures!
I'll get some pictures of some of the special Alpina finishes like a gold crest imprinted into the wood dash inserts and the Alpina make, model and number plaque installed in every car that comes off their production line.
If you have any questions, please ask away!
Rich
As you probably know Alpinas are BMW cars that are pulled from the BMW production line, sent over to Germany and then stripped and rebuilt by hand. Their cars are not supposed to be 'balls out' performance cars like the M3, but are a more comfortable option for the conessieur.
My particular car is quite rare, only 27 of them were ever made for the UK market (right hand drive). It's also loaded with options...
The B3S is actually based on a 330 coupe but it has custom interior, suspension and of course... the engine! The suspension is design to give a sporty feel, yet without the rough, crashy ride you get with an M3. Alpina springs, shocks and arbs are used to create this fine balance of performance / comfort.
The engine is actually based on a US M3 block, which is bored and stroked to produce a 3.4L engine by using a custom Mahle crankshaft and oversize Mahle pistons. The head is gasflowed at the engine builders and takes them over 10 hours! Mahle cams are used in conjunction with the other bits to produce and engine with 305bhp (actually nearer 320bhp on a rolling road!) as standard and 275ftlb torque which is available throughout 80% of the rev range. As lightened Mahle pistons are used the engine revs freely and redlines at 7200rpm. The noise on full chat is enough to make a grown man piss himself with joy
The ECU has also been replaced with an uprated Siemens unit which has been mapped to death by Alpina to produce maximum usable power yet keeps emmisions to a minimum. It will return 35mpg on a run, yet on average returns 25mpg in a mixture of stop/start and free flowing traffic.
Performance? Well in the UK they only came with 'Alpina Switchtronic' yet most other countries has a manual option. The mnaual version gets to 62mph in 5 seconds, whilst my version does it in 6 seconds flat. Oh, it's also unlimited out of the factory and will do 169mph!
The gearbox is an uprated BMW steptronic which has a Bosch/Alpina ECU strapped on to it for better control over the gears. Like most auto BMWs you can have it in auto or manual mode - in manual you can go up and down the gears be sequentially pulling/pushing the stick or using the steering wheel mounted buttons. Changing gear is instantanious and it stays in whatever gear you tell it to be in until you hit the rev limiter or drop to stalling speeds where it'll select the best gear.
In auto mode it have several gearbox maps which are automatically chosen depending on how you drive... i.e. if you drive slowly it'll change up saving you fuel.. drive fast and it'll fire you into the limiter before changing up and it'll keep the revs up rather than changing into a slouchy gear between corners.
Anyway, enough waffling.. here's some pictures!
I'll get some pictures of some of the special Alpina finishes like a gold crest imprinted into the wood dash inserts and the Alpina make, model and number plaque installed in every car that comes off their production line.
If you have any questions, please ask away!
Rich