BMW Alpina B5 bi-turbo priced at $239,000
Wild German AWD bahn-stormer promises luxury, speed and a hefty hole in your walletAlpina has confirmed the next modified BMW it will bring to Australia will be the 447kW V8 all-wheel drive B5, which will launch here in the first quarter of 2018 priced at $239,000 (plus on-road costs).
While the specs and output suggest the M5 is the donor car, the B5 is actually based on the 550i not sold in Australia and as is Alpina’s way, is tuned to be more of a luxury grand tourer than a hard-core sports blaster as the M variant is.
While the price is high, it slots in above the petrol-turbo inline six-cylinder B3 and B4 and the $369,720 B7, which uses the same engine as the B5.
B5 performance figures are astonishing, which isn't surprising because Alpina doesn't just tweak the turbo pressure. No, the 4.4-litre V8 has been heavily-revised, pulled apart and put back together with new Mahle pistons and NGK sport plugs. Okay, so the turbo pressure has been tweaked as well, now 1.4 bar.
The 0-100km/h dash takes just 3.5 seconds and top speed is rated at 330km/h. The 0-200km/h sprint takes 11.4sec making it one of the fastest four-door saloons ever built.
Fuel consumption is rated at 10.5L/100km, which is impressive considering this car has the performance of two-seat, mid-engine Italian exotic.
Compared to the 550i, the N63B44 power unit in the Alpina B5 features a more advanced air intake system and a stainless steel (active) exhaust for a more guttural sound.
An eight-speed automatic transmission is used, not the M5's seven-speed automatic dual-clutch transmission, or DCT, which has been mechanically strengthened to deal with the extra power.
Peak torque of 800Nm at 3000rpm is joined by peak power of 447kW at 6250rpm, providing an expansive power band – and hence its incredible accelerative force.
It also has several driving modes, spanning comfort+ to sport+, and Alpina has tweaked the suspension to better suit the wider range of drive modes and fitted forged aluminium wheels to reduce unsprung weight.
As always, the body work has been massaged to make the Alpina B5 stand out… but not too much. There are no crazy spoilers or wings, just a subtle beefing up of the body kit and a lower ride height.
Meanwhile, at the Frankfurt show this week Alpina launched the turbo-diesel D5 S, but company boss Andreas Bovansiepen all but ruled it out for Australia.
However, he did confirm a pumped up diesel version of the new-generation X3, would eventually go on sale in Australia.
- With Bruce Newton
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