Alpina has always been an enigma to me. On the one hand, it appears to only have BMW badges with a simple 'Alpina' etched on the back of the car and yet it shows a unique badge in the car lot screen. So in reality is it really a BMW with fancy rims and a few tweaks to the suspension, handling etc?
Alpina- what is it?
- Thread starter Ryan81
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Not quite. RUFs for the most part have quite a lot more hp than their Porsche equivalents. Also, apart from the bodies, they are completely unique. They also do not have Porsche badges anywhere, only RUF badges. Alpina have BMW badges on the bonnet and at the back. Plus, they are not always more powerful than their BMW equivalent (I think an M5 is actually slightly quicker than a D5 is it?)
I think alpina cars are always faster than there bmw equivilant the current gen m5 has about 500bhp and around 520nm of torque, where as the alpina B5 (No such thing as a D5) has around 507bhp but 700nm of torque. Sorry my car nerdiness took over
That's what I mean. Very similar unlike Porsche and RUF. Apparently, all Alpinas are either automatic or semi-autos, none are manual. They also place more emphasis on luxury than their BMW counterparts. Yet they still have BMW badges. It's very weird.
Alpina's are their own unique manufacturer. They start with a BMW chassis but do enough to it that they end up with a product that when registered, is registered with Alpina as the manufacturer. Now, they do sell add on parts to slap on your BMW...but they also make cars. Same a RUF.
http://www.alpina-automobiles.com/en/alpina-company/about-alpina.html
...they also sell wine.
Here is RUF:
http://www.ruf-automobile.de/en/en-unternehmen-geschichte.php
http://www.alpina-automobiles.com/en/alpina-company/about-alpina.html
...they also sell wine.
Here is RUF:
http://www.ruf-automobile.de/en/en-unternehmen-geschichte.php
my brother worked for an Alpina dealer in Germany (actually the most succesful Alpina Dealer worldwide in 2009, BMW ****z in Speyer).
Alpina delivers the tweaked engines, car body parts and intereurs to a BMW factory where the cars get assembled and then sent back for finishing.
they don't use M-engines neither M-exclusive suspension parts and so on, so comparing them to M-Models is just plain wrong.
you as a customer can choose between a range of chassis and sometimes between a range of motors for specific chassis like for the 3 series which is available with tweaked twin turbo N54 engines or as a D3 diesel.
wiki tells alot more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpina
Alpina therefore is not a tuner what alot of people think.
here are some pictures from the dealer my brother worked for.... the B6 GT3 belongs to a customer, racing driver Andreas Wirth (who kindly gave me an autograph)
it looks a little f'd up because it just came of the plane from China lol
Alpina delivers the tweaked engines, car body parts and intereurs to a BMW factory where the cars get assembled and then sent back for finishing.
they don't use M-engines neither M-exclusive suspension parts and so on, so comparing them to M-Models is just plain wrong.
you as a customer can choose between a range of chassis and sometimes between a range of motors for specific chassis like for the 3 series which is available with tweaked twin turbo N54 engines or as a D3 diesel.
wiki tells alot more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpina
Alpina therefore is not a tuner what alot of people think.
here are some pictures from the dealer my brother worked for.... the B6 GT3 belongs to a customer, racing driver Andreas Wirth (who kindly gave me an autograph)
it looks a little f'd up because it just came of the plane from China lol
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I think alpina cars are always faster than there bmw equivilant the current gen m5 has about 500bhp and around 520nm of torque, where as the alpina B5 (No such thing as a D5
Really random, but I remember watching a Top Gear ep with an Alpina Z8, which had substantially reduced power, auto box only, and various other features that were in no way performance enhancing. I don't remember the review being particularly kind, I think they compared it to a lorry.
That's sort of the exception that proves the rule though.
