Alpina B5 BiTurbo

Highlights

• 4.4 litre BiTurbo V8 good for 608bhp and 590 lb ft of torque
• Top speed of over 200mph
• One owner from new – genuine low mileage
• Full service history
• Fantastic condition

Overview

There’s a lot to like about BMW’s iconic M models, but one thing they’re not is discreet – often with dramatic looks to match their thunderous performance.

But if you want a full-bore, all-out performance BMW that’s as discreet as it is red-blooded, then there is an alternative, and it’s still a factory car. Compared with an M-Car, an Alpina is the more grown-up alternative. But grown-up doesn’t necessarily mean better behaved… far from it, in fact, as the Alpina B5 BiTurbo proves. It may look like a standard 5-Series with a fancy front bumper and some pretty wheels, but its subtlety is very much its art.

After all, Alpina is a brand that instantly marks you out as someone who knows a fair bit about cars. Ever since the company first started fiddling with BMWs in 1965, nobody has walked into a showroom and bought one by accident.

The Bavarian tuning firm, which has its HQ in Ostellbau, about 100km from BMW’s Munich head office, enjoyed a semi-official relationship with the car maker from 1965 to 2022, when BMW finally decided they like Alpinas so much that they bought the company.

The definition between Alpina and the BMW M-Division is thus: Alpinas are ‘performance-enhanced’ models finished on a bespoke production line at Ostellbau, M-Sport cars are BMW’s in-house motorsport-inspired cars, hence the ‘M’.

Alpinas arrive at Ostellbau as standard saloons or estates, and are given the Alpina three-stripe treatment, some bespoke interior adornments, alloy wheels that look like jet turbines and – most pertinently – a massive power boost, with dynamic enhancements to match. They are intelligent, under-the-radar M-Car alternatives for the discerning, thinking buyer.

This one is a 2018 Alpina B5 BiTurbo. What that means is that it’s a G30 generation 5-Series, with a glorious 4.4-litre V8 inside its snout and a pair of turbochargers ready to light its blue touchpaper. And light it, it does – 600+ bhp, 800Nm of torque and 0-60 in a jowl-wibbling 3.5 seconds will do that. Find an autobahn, and it’ll top out at 201mph. There aren’t many saloon cars that will fare quite as well in a game ofTop Trumps.Yet show it some twisty tarmac and, thanks in part to four-wheel-drive and four wheel steering, it can more than acquit itself dynamically, too.

If you need it to be, the B5 will behave. Stick it into Eco mode (yeah, right…), engage ‘D’, and it’ll pootle around town like any executive saloon, effortlessly gliding from one set of traffic lights to the next. But where’s the fun in that?

The vendor is this car’s only owner. He bought it from a BMW Main Dealer in 2018 and has covered a modest 45,000 miles in it since. It has been properly maintained, with a full BMW main dealer service history, and has been impeccably well looked after over the past seven years – it’s only going because the vendor is currently on the waiting list for a new M5. We can get on board with that idea, too.

History and documentation

• UK registration document in the name of the private vendor
• Owned by vendor since new in 2018
• Original handbook and owner’s pack
• Full digital BMW service history
• On-board service history shows BMW main dealer inspections at the following dates and mileages. Mar 2018 – PDI; Dec 2019 @ 12,121 miles; Dec 2020 @ 17,668 miles; Dec 2021 @ 24,210 miles; Sep 2020 @ 30,730 miles; Dec 2022 @ 32,781 miles; Nov 2023 @ 39,612; Oct 2024 @ 43,960 miles.
• Booked in for MOT on February 4th and will be sold with a full, new test
• Current mileage is 45,600 but will increase by 250-300 miles before the auction
• Alpina Certificate of Conformity
• Numerical Alpina build plaque
• Trackstar tracker fitted

Interior

• Discreet black leather sports seats with unique embossed panelling
• Heated and electrically adjustable front seats
• Bespoke Alpina multifunction steering wheel
• Blue backlit Alpina dials
• Genuine Alpina carpet mats
• Colour display screen with factory nav, DAB, Bluetooth and hands-free phone integration, with iDrive rotary controller
• Alpina kick plates
• Piano black door and trim inserts
• Rain sensing wipers
• Automatic air conditioning
• Active cruise control with Stop&Go function
• Heads-up display
• Loudspeaker system – Harman/Kardon
• Parking distance control
• Original tool kit

Exterior

• Original factory pearlescent white – excellent paint finish all over
• Always garaged or parked undercover at the vendor’s workplace
• Alpina chin spoiler, rear diffuser and side strakes
• 19-inch Alpina ‘Turbine’ alloys, some very minor kerb marks
• Matching P-Zero tyres all-round with good tread
• Bi-Xenon headlights
• Some minor scuffs to the bumpers
• No body damage and the vendor reports that the car has never been in an accident
• New windscreen recently fitted due to a deep chip

Mechanical

• 4.4-litre BiTurbo V8
• 608bhp
• 590lb ft
• Eight-speed ZF auto, uprated to Alpina specification
• 0-60mph in 3.5 secs
• All-wheel-drive
• Four wheel steering
• Twin exit sports exhaust
• Well-maintained and main dealer serviced
• Reported by the vendor to drive with no known faults

Summary

To the naked eye, this is a fairly swish-looking 5er – a smart example of the breed, in a great colour and spec. Quite a desirable thing.

But those who know, know – and they won’t even need to walk around the back to clock the BiTurbo badge to know that this is a fire-breathing 600bhp monster, dressed in a dapper suit.

It’s a terrific, fully-specced and properly powered car that marks you out as a true BMW aficionado. But you already knew that. You want it, don’t you?

To arrange a viewing, please request this in the Q&A section. You can click through to the seller's profile and use the 'Email Me' function to arrange a viewing privately. This car is located in Hertfordshire.