My Alpina B10 3.3 Switchtronic Touring Story

[garagemidnight]

Hi Guys,

Just purchased a car that i know is known to you all, and I'm very pleased with it too. I thought i would post up and just start a little log to share my experiences with the car and also so i can look back on the journey as time goes on.

While i didn't originally set out to buy an Alpina, my fairly difficult to achieve tick list for a new car soon steered me in the right direction. It was set to replace a TDV6 Land Rover Discovery 3 and had to:

- Be automatic
- Have self levelling suspension
- Have a large load capacity
- Have a split tailgate, preferably with an auto close function
- Do more than 20mpg
- Be a little quicker and easier to throw down a country lane than the Disco
- Have black leather and climate control

Soon i found out about the 3.3 Alpina B10 and the hunt was on to find a switchtronic model.

Luckily i managed to find one with an electric tailgate and ticked all my other needs. I did view 'that' blue one, i didn't buy it but my friend did and he will be putting in the effort and restoring it to former glory, i just couldn't get on with the light coloured trim.

Anyway, here is the car on the day i bought it!





After some lunch i drove back to London, and rather enjoyed the drive i must say.

[garagemidnight]

a couple of days later, those square mirrors began to play on my mind. the V8 version of course uses the lovely M5 ones, but in the interests of not making it look like something it isn't i plumped for some AC schnitzer units.

Now while i realise this isn't the done thing, its my car and i can bloody well do as i please





Joy was short lived however as a few days later this happened:

[garagemidnight]

the battery light came on, gearbox locked in 3rd gear and all manner of coughing and spluttering.

I had the car recovered to Regal Autosport who had the car up and running within 30 mins with a recharged battery and new alternator - luckily it was a simple fix!

while at Regal Autosport i had them check the power of the car on their dyno:







The result was 261bhp and 241ft/lb - not bad for an old girl that came in on a flatbed!

Im now going to find out where those 19 lost horses went and begin to tidy up the other bits and bobs

[greenelekta]

B10 Touring Facelift, great choice. Nice pictures. You've got a good one there

Square mirrors were standard fitment on the V8 as well, the M5 mirrors were an option.

[E24man]

.

[b10brian]

Great pictures and post Ryan and I am so glad you bought it off me before putting those mirrors on!

261 not bad and I never witnessed a rolling road on the exact 6 years I owned her, nor any other car I have owned tbh.

I hope you really enjoy her and find the missing ponies

[Paulb]

You'll probably find the horses are loitering under the dyno setup. It's less than 10% so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Here's my old E91 on the dyno at MSD. Their setup is second to none and includes weather compensators, variable air low etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7nbtZQfZHI

[garagemidnight]

Ah - i did not know that the M5 mirrors were an option, you learn something new every day!

i took it on a track day at castle combe yesterday, my cayman was not ready so the B10 acted as stand in, it did very well - i'll post up some videos when my friend sends me them

You'll probably find the horses are loitering under the dyno setup. It's less than 10% so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Here's my old E91 on the dyno at MSD. Their setup is second to none and includes weather compensators, variable air low etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7nbtZQfZHI

Regal's dyno is very accurate, and as you say will account for atmospheric pressure/temp etc. with that in mind the figure the car produces is what it produces. i suspect that it's pulled some timing due to the temp.

Let's see what it makes with a tidy up, panel filter and a cooler day!

[190Colditz]

Top choice. As you can see from my sig, I had nr 51 before the current car. I loved it to death but I can't justify having lots of cars on the basis that I drive 6k miles per annum in a car and about 5k on the bike, which I commute on. I bought mine with 33k on the clock and sold her with about 44k after 2 years and a quarter for £250 less than I paid. I was just lucky.

I also lost an alternator and same thing: limp mode. I knew it was the alternator, though, as every web forum and advice page I looked at said: "if the battery light comes on it's not the battery it's the alternator". Be glad you've got the 3.3, the water-cooled alternator on the V8 is about 3x the cost. In the time I owned it that was the only thing that happened. It started first time every time, ice cold aircon, went where I pointed it and even recovered the pixels on the dash. I had a facelift E39 530i new in 2001; they really deserve the title "greatest car of all time".

[ChrisLux]

Nice looking car, may see ya around if that's Regal in Southampton, as my daughters at university there

[jacoda434]

The beast lives on under new ownership still the best Alpina I have owned think Brian would agree

[jacoda434]

is it the photo or is that hand break lever looks out of line

[neil]

Thanks for sharing

On the dyno front we've had issues in the past with the switchtronic boxed ALPINAs and the results - typically these are down - which as already mentioned is likely down to the settings used on the dyno.

Looks good on those wheels !

[garagemidnight]

I think the handbrake looks squiffy just from the angle of the image - it's definitely in line!

here's some pictures of the car out on circuit!



it might not be to everyone's taste, but I'm now looking at making it a little faster - supercharging it is on the cards

[Metrics]

Love that picture, an Alpina Touring on circuit in the rain, respect!

How does it handle? Suspension must be a limiting factor?