With a 0-62mph time of 4.6sec, this
345bhp tuned 3-series is claimed to be the world’s fastest diesel production
car
Let’s try something different here. Let’s
forget, just for a moment, that the Alpina D3 runs on diesel. Because what
you’re looking at is still a highly evolved 3-series created by a top-drawer
tuning company and with enough power to dispatch the 0-62mph sprint in 4.6sec
and go on to a top speed of 173mph. Yes, the new BMW M3 is half a second
quicker to 62mph, but the Alpina is $15,410 cheaper. And it runs on diesel.
This new D3 is very different to the first
one, which used a tuned version of BMW’s 2-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel
engine. The new car has effectively moved up a segment, instead getting a
reworked version of BMW’s 3-litre twin-turbo straight-six diesel. This gets new
intake and exhaust manifolds, a large-volume intercooler and an
Akrapovic-designed exhaust with a switchable acoustic flap. There’s also a more
permissive ECU, with the total effect being to raise power to 345bhp (versus
308bhp in the standard 335d), accompanied by a borderline obscene 516lb ft of
torque available from just 1,500rpm.
The
Alpina B3 offers strong straight-line performance and an engaging noise
Yet, unlike some other attempts at
high-performance diesels, this isn’t a car that’s just about delivering its
numbers. Yes, it certainly feels fast when unleashed in the real world –
seriously fast, in fact. But Alpina has always specialised in making supremely
relaxing performance cars, and the D3 Biturbo is quite possibly the most
laid-back so far.
Visually, it delivers exactly as you’d
expect. Alpina sometimes feels like an uncle who acquired a ‘look’ in the 1970s
and stuck with it irrespective of any subsequent fashions; it’s certainly fair
to say you’ve got a good idea what any of its cars will look like well before
they actually arrive. As always there’s the ‘ALPINA’- branded air dam beneath
the front bumper and straight-spoked alloys clad with rubber band-profile
Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres (19s are standard, our test car wearing the
optional 20s). The body kit is reasonably muscular without shouting too loudly
and is claimed to cut lift. The cabin is familiar 3-series but for the
company’s trademark blue dials and the Alpina badge in the middle of the
steering wheel.
Soft
leather with green and blue stitching is standard; the bespoke stitching
featured here is optional
Everything starts off very civilised. The
only transmission option is BMW’s familiar eight-speed automatic gearbox, and
at lower speeds the engine’s vast wave of torque enables the ’box to shuffle
its ratios pretty much seamlessly. It doesn’t sound like a diesel; indeed from
inside the well-insulated cabin at everyday speeds, there’s just a distant,
generic more-than-four hum as you waft along. Cracking a window open next to an
acoustically reflective surface will bounce back the odd dieselly harmonic.
DAB
radio is standard, as is a voice-controlled phone system
As always, Alpina’s suspension know-how is
close to magical. How can something wearing tyres with a pro le as ridiculously
small as these, and riding on springs 40 per cent stiffer than those of a
standard 3-series, ride so well? Recalibrated switchable dampers are a large part
of the reason: these are described as being softer in compression and stiffer
in rebound, with the default Comfort setting making the Alpina feel
considerably more pliant than an M Sport 3-series. Bushes and anti-roll bars
are new, the front suspension geometry has been changed slightly with more
toe-in and a slight increase in caster, and there’s a strut brace to stiffen
the front end up further. Software settings for the gearbox, power steering and
stability control system have all been changed.
