Alpina D3 Biturbo - long term review

As Alpina becomes engulfed by BMW, we're throwing it back to 2009 and remembering six months with a modded diesel saloon. This article was originally published in Top Gear Magazine, July 2009

I’m trying to work out why anyone would buy a standard BMW 320d M Sport over this Alpina D3 and er, yeah, hmm, I don’t have any idea.

The 320d M Sport saloon is £28,595 in base form. That gives you sports suspension, body kit, sports seats, a sporting steering wheel, all the usual M Sport stuff. But to get it up to near the Alpina D3’s spec, you need to add the biggest possible 18in M Star alloy wheels (the D3 comes with 19s) for £485, and Bluetooth for £525. Total is £29,605, only £245 less than the D3.

But you’re still short, because the Alpina has a better bodykit and other fine exclusive stuff like special plaques, non runflat tyres, special floor mats and classic Alpina blue dials and red needles rather than the standard car’s white-on-black dirge.

Then the Alpina hits the 320d with a body blow it can’t recover from: the engine. Alpina fits a tweaked twin-turbo unit from the 123d and it makes 214bhp compared to the single-turbo 320d’s 177, and 332lb ft compared to 285. That knocks a full second off the 0-60mph time (6.9secs plays 7.9) and adds 10mph to the max speed (152mph plays 143). The Alpina can’t match it for fuel economy (52.3 plays 58.9mpg combined) but the D3 is still an efficient car. I’m not sure how Alpina gets away with it. Maybe no one from BMW has noticed...