Alpina B3 2021 Review

In its most basic form, the 340kW Alpina B3 is priced at $142,900 plus on-road costs, which places it a rung below the 375kW BMW M3 Competition that starts at $154,900 plus ORCs – or $144,900 for the lower-output (353kW) M3 manual.

So while the Alpina can’t match the M3 twins for power, it does make up for that with more torque – 700Nm compared to 650Nm in the M3 Competition (or 550Nm in the M3 manual).

It also has all-wheel drive traction, which only becomes available on the M3 – for the first time – later this year.

Standard features in the 2021 Alpina B3 include three-zone climate control, ambient lighting, Comfort Access, active cruise control, a head-up display, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, LED headlights, Live Cockpit Professional, black Vernasca leather upholstery, electric front seat adjustment (including lumbar) with position memory, front seat heating, heated steering wheel and auto on/off LED headlights.

The Harman Kardon audio system incorporates digital radio, satellite navigation is standard and the infotainment system can be controlled using the touch-screen, the iDrive single-point controller or voice recognition.

Alpina-specific features include unique door sills, front and rear spoilers and the build plate, which resides on the centre console near the arm rest/lidded storage bin. Our test vehicle is build #094.

Alpina badges are present on the floor mats, seats and steering wheel boss.

The test vehicle was finished in Black Sapphire metallic paint and came with the following options: 20-inch forged alloy wheels, aluminium shift paddles, automatic powered boot lid, sunroof, instrument panel in Sensatec, BMW Drive Recorder and ‘enhanced’ Bluetooth with wireless smartphone charging.

All up, the options lifted the price to $152,606 plus on-road costs.

There was one desirable option missing from the test vehicle’s specification: automatic high beam assist, which is available for $287.

I’m a fan of this type of technology, which I’ve sampled in other BMWs, so I’m inclined to question why the product planners left it off the standard list and didn’t just bump up the purchase price slightly.

The warranty coverage for the Alpina B3 is limited to three years or unlimited kilometres.

BMW 3 Series variants with 2.0-litre four-cylinder powerplants are rated by ANCAP at five stars for crash safety, based on the 2019 test protocol.

As with the new BMW M3 models, the 2021 Alpina B3 are not tested, but it’s fair to assume that the crash structure will be at least a match for the four-cylinder models.

The B3 comes with all the safety kit you would expect of a top-shelf 3 Series model, including frontal, side (front seats only) and side curtain airbags.

What BMW and Alpina name Driving Assistant Professional is standard in the B3, and this is a bundle of driver assist features including lane keep assist and traffic jam assist. During the COVID lockdown in place while the B3 was on test, we couldn’t assess the latter, but the lane keep system worked fairly well on our benchmark country road.

The system is a little clumsy or slow reacquiring a course when the road takes a different direction, but it’s better on wider-radius bends and at higher speeds. When the system loses its situational awareness, it will inform the driver with a rapid sequence of flashing LEDs in the two horizontal spokes of the steering wheel and grey out the steering wheel icon in the instrument display.

This is common to other BMW models equipped with this system.

A useful aspect of the 360-degree camera monitoring system is the graphic display to advise the driver and other vehicle occupants of the room available to swing the doors open when the vehicle is parked.

The turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine in the 2021 Alpina B3 is a gem. It’s highly responsive with tons of grunt using launch control, but unlike a BMW M3 or other high-performance sedans of this calibre, its thoroughbred soundtrack is very subdued.

Even when the powerplant is reaching for the redline and the turbochargers are cranked up to the max, it’s extremely refined and quiet. Perhaps just a tad too quiet.

Although the grip is prodigious and traction is excellent from this all-wheel drive car, the tail will squirm slightly, even on dry bitumen with the launch control system enabled – due to the engine output and the rear-biased torque channelled to the road via the sports differential.

The B3 scrabbles for grip and balances torque to each of the rear wheels for an optimal acceleration time, which Alpina claims to be 3.8 seconds from 0-100km/h. It certainly felt that quick – just shy of that headache-inducing slam you’ll receive from a three-second car…

The engine revs happily to 6500rpm and the excellent sequential-shift automatic transmission will change down even in manual mode if the engine falls below a certain speed, but the transmission will not change up in manual mode at the red line.

Nevertheless, the transmission is clever enough to let the engine run up to max revs if the driver selects a higher gear within 500rpm of the red line by using the shift paddles or the lever.

More prosaically, the B3 posted a fuel consumption figure of 12.1L/100km over a test run and there was no powertrain noise in evidence at 1400rpm when cruising at 100km/h.

If the 2021 Alpina B3 is a weapon – and it is – then it must be a rapier, for the precision with which it can be flung around.

It’s a joy to drive, with flexible and responsive engine output integrating seamlessly with the car’s exceptional passive dynamics. I felt disappointed when I concluded my test drive in the B3 – and I was ready to go around again. That doesn’t happen too often in the life of a motoring journalist…

Wider tyres at the rear – Pirelli P Zero 265/30ZR20 – do their best to hold the B3’s torque in check, but it remains fairly easy to provoke power oversteer with the BMW Driving Experience control set to Sport Plus mode and the rear sports differential parlaying more torque to where the driver wants it.

This is exactly according to Alpina’s plan, which calls for “predominantly rear-biased” torque distribution according to the situation. If the driver is exercising a little more restraint, however, the B3’s handling is perfectly safe for novices.

The front tyres measure 255/30ZR20 and contribute to the car’s direct steering, which offers plenty of feedback.

The B3’s grip and handling are unimpeachable at speed, tracking very accurately, whether in a straight line or through corners. It’s so easy to drive quickly.

You don’t have to be some sort of expert to extract the most from this car. It’s just superb.

Brake pedal feel is very good, but the braking system suffers from that usual BMW problem of conflict with the idle-stop system, pulling up with a slight lurch as the engine cuts out. This hints at relatively low stall speed for the torque converter and the high torque available from the engine.

In the Comfort mode setting the B3 rides very well with just a touch of brittleness in some circumstances, due to the low-profile tyres, but nothing to cause undue concern for prospective owners.

In Sport Plus mode the suspension tightens up a little but still doesn’t feel harsh. In Adaptive mode, however, the system is occasionally caught out by an unexpected bump or pothole on an otherwise smooth road.

Most owners would probably be best to leave the car in Comfort mode, as there is very little detriment to the vehicle’s dynamics but the ride quality is significantly more absorbent for more of the time.

Sport mode can be left in reserve for those occasions when the driver feels like enjoying oneself on a familiar section of road (or better still, a racetrack).

There was an irregular clicking squeak from the optional sunroof over bumps, but the only other noise to penetrate the cabin at touring speeds was some road noise from the Pirelli tyres.

The shift paddles turn with the steering wheel, as they should, and the headlights are excellent on low beam and high beam. There’s no high beam assistant, however; as we mentioned above, it’s a bizarre $287 option.

The driver’s seat feels a little flat in the base but the shape is otherwise excellent and will hold the occupant in place very securely during hard cornering and under brakes. There’s an enormous range of power adjustment available too.

Only professional basketballers will need the driver’s seat adjusted down to its lowest setting.

The controls and displays in the B3 are pretty standard BMW design, the thick and chunky steering wheel being the one exception. This is a very nice wheel to use. It feels pleasant to touch and really gives the driver some purchase when pressing on in corners.

The array of display interfaces in the Alpina is exceptional, as is the case with general BMW 3 Series variants as well, but further enhanced with the addition of a head-up display (HUD) and a G-force monitor as one of the trip computer functions.

All the graphics are high resolution and the infotainment screen, the HUD and the instrument binnacle can all be set up to display precisely the sort of information and data points that the driver is ever likely to need in combination

The voice recognition function is pretty sophisticated. It’s the best example I can recall to date of a system that can decipher my Aussie-accented conversational mumble and program a destination into the satellite navigation – without me needing to enunciate the address in reverse order.

And the voice prompts from the navigation system are brilliant too. There’s no mangling of place names at all. Someone or some company has spent a fair amount of time and money ensuring correct pronunciation for not-so-common street names.

It’s little things like this that reveal the Alpina B3, with much R&D support from BMW, has been carefully honed for fastidious buyers.

There is only one USB-A port in the car, under the centre fascia between the two cup holders and the (optional) inductive charging plate for smartphones. There is also a 12-volt power outlet located just aft of the two cup holders in the centre console.

These – the inductive charging tray, the cup holders, the USB-A port and the 12V outlet – are concealed when not in use by a lid in a gloss-black finish.

For rear seat occupants, there are two USB-C ports to recharge portable devices located at the back of the centre console.

Headroom is fine for adult occupants of average height in the rear seats and legroom is quite good also. Taller types (over 180cm) might find the headroom marginal.

Naturally, there are adjustable vents too – and a third climate control zone. Other amenities for the rear passengers include generous bottle holders in the rear door bins, a map pocket with elasticised netting behind each of the front seats, and flip-out cup holders in the centre arm rest.

Two finger-pull releases in the boot flip the rear seats forward for through-loading and the seats fold almost flat for a relatively large luggage-carrying capacity. But the B3 has a usefully large boot even without the seats folded.

Large gooseneck hinges do eat into the available space, but they retract into the boot in the lining to preclude any chance of luggage or groceries being crushed.

And lastly, there’s more luggage carrying capacity in the boot due to the standard tyre repair kit, rather than a full-size spare or even a space-saver.

The 2021 Alpina B3 is an uncontroversial pick for my fantasy garage. This is a car for enthusiasts who care anything about cars.

Why would you buy the current M3 over this? I mean… why?

If there’s one thing that takes the shine off this car – and Alpina fans will probably groan when they read this – it’s the ‘classic’ alloy wheels and the side stripes that came with the test vehicle.

Remove those in favour of the standard alloys, and leave the flanks unadorned, and you have a very subtle but stunning ‘sleeper’.

And that’s just the car’s style and presentation. It has everything else you could ever want from a BMW 3 Series too, with more comfort, high-grade refinement, better performance/traction, a reasonably affordable price and a dose of exclusivity.

I wouldn’t even haggle with the sales staff. I’d just buy it.

How much does the 2021 Alpina B3 cost?
Price: $142,900 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 340kW/700Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 9.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 228g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: TBA

Related: Alpina B3 sedan confirmed for Oz
Related: Alpina B3 sedan and wagon priced
Related: Alpina B4 Gran Coupe is coming
Related: The Alpina philosophy
Related: BMW M3 and M4 Competition 2021 Review
Related: BMW M3 and M4 Competition 2021 Video Review