2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

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Waitey
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2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by Waitey » Sun Mar 08, 2020 7:34 pm

Good to be back.....

I'll start this off with a quote from simon13:

''About the least desirable looking D3 touring about i'd wager. A fine way to waste 14k i'd say''

Now my little story:

The back story....

In 2016 I did 33k in 12 months in my brand new Audi RS3, rendering it worthless, to soften the blow I bought a 2009 E91 Alpina D3 Bi Tubro Touring to that the edge off all the miles I was doing.

It was on 68k and I fell totally in love with it and used it for everything.

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After 12 months and another 30k miles, I let it go after buying a brand new Range Rover Sport.

Lovely thing and I still have it now, but I still do 30k a year, so now after 2 years I'm on 60k miles with it and its worth nothing.... had lots of fun though! It's just sat waiting for snow...

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So in a bid to keep mileage off the Rangie, I bought an old dream car, a 159 TI Sport wagon, while very pretty and cheap, I just don't get on with it. Even after doing 3k in 6 weeks with it.... I've not gotten aorund to selling it though...

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So that brings me onto the dreaded Alpina of the title! After watching many USA based youtube videos about high mileage cars... I set about looking for one, well a 330d, after really enjoying a 335d X drive I had in 2014 and then I found this...

Sytners/Alpina UK's own D3 Touring.

It's literally everything you can need from a car.

Quick spec over standard:

Factory fit Alpina LSD
Grey leather
Glacier Silver
Pro Nav
Pan roof
Adaptive headlights
Electric folding tow bar

Oh and its done 220k miles. It's first owner was Sytner UK's used sales director Mr Mallet, who isn't, it seems, a fan of flying, so he did 210k in it in 5 years! Then it had two owns in 12 months, which petrified everyone, one gent, the second owner, made a hasty sale to the third owner after getting a divorce. The third owner bought it as a stop gap before his new work car came. He also turned out to be a lovely chap, with a very enviable car collection! He also wasn't your usual rare car owner, which was nice....

It still has 6 weeks worth of BMW extended warranty on it, so it'll be going in for an end of warranty check soon.

As for condition, I'll let the photo's speak for it. Its being the one thing that everyone who has seen in/sat in it has commented on, I'm sure Sytner must have put new trim in this car before sale as it is spotless. The previous owner had a very expensive detail session done to the car when he bought it, so that may go some way to explaining it too. It makes my better half's 2 year old 530e with 10k miles look rather 'used'...

They were done with the car on 210k miles.....since then the last owner took the mud flaps off and had the windows tinted.

Sitting at 221k now, it's only 17k miles away from covering the distance from the Earth to the moon! Here's looking forward to covering 30k per annum in it for many more years!

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Metrics
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by Metrics » Sun Mar 08, 2020 10:37 pm

Welcome back Waitey, it's a lovely car IMO and I'm sure will serve you well. The D3 Touring could well one of the best "one car to tick all the boxes" out there, a damn fine car.

Love the first pic of the E91 from above, looks very handsome indeed.
I also love the 159 - intrigued why you've not got on with it?

Look forward to hearing about your ownership experience of the new addition, enjoy!
2019 G31 B5 Biturbo No.299
2012 F10 D5 Biturbo No.13
1993 Mercedes 190E 2.6 Sportline spec
1991 Mk1 Golf GTI Sportline cabriolet

MattOz
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by MattOz » Sun Mar 08, 2020 10:49 pm

Nothing wrong with the mileage on 004 in my opinion. A great car that will hopefully serve you well for many miles to come.
G21 D3S #356

simon13
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by simon13 » Mon Mar 09, 2020 1:50 am

:D colour scheme is tragic sorry to offend, but I've been a paid up member of the 200k plus milege alpina touring club for some time.

Saw your thread on pistonheads
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Bob
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by Bob » Mon Mar 09, 2020 11:18 am

Welcome, good to see #004 back in safe hands. Personally I like the colour scheme, makes a change from black leather :mrgreen:
B3 3.2 TOURING #062

Jules Sunleu
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by Jules Sunleu » Mon Mar 09, 2020 5:13 pm

Definitely looks good and no tells of the miles covered. Keep up the mileage, nice to see a car getting used.
Alpina B5 E61 2005 Touring #007 Special Toy Malachite Green with Caramel Merino Leather. Quaife LSD upgrade
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Waitey
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by Waitey » Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:08 pm

Metrics wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 10:37 pm
Welcome back Waitey, it's a lovely car IMO and I'm sure will serve you well. The D3 Touring could well one of the best "one car to tick all the boxes" out there, a damn fine car.

Love the first pic of the E91 from above, looks very handsome indeed.
I also love the 159 - intrigued why you've not got on with it?

Look forward to hearing about your ownership experience of the new addition, enjoy!
Ah the Alfa.

I bought it because it’s pretty.... I also bought it for the 5 pot 2.4 diesel which sounds good really and the auto box it has.

Sadly it just feels older than its years, drives horribly and is really thirsty!!

I made it even worse by fitting new Mich Pilot Super Sport’s to it, which have to be the worse tyres known to man if it’s colder than 15 degrees outside.

I’ll get round to selling it soon, it’s a good example of one, just not the car for me.

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Waitey
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by Waitey » Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:08 pm

Jules Sunleu wrote:
Mon Mar 09, 2020 5:13 pm
Definitely looks good and no tells of the miles covered. Keep up the mileage, nice to see a car getting used.
Hoping to hit 250k by Christmas!

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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by jolls » Tue Mar 10, 2020 10:48 am

Waitey wrote:
Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:08 pm
Metrics wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 10:37 pm
Welcome back Waitey, it's a lovely car IMO and I'm sure will serve you well. The D3 Touring could well one of the best "one car to tick all the boxes" out there, a damn fine car.

Love the first pic of the E91 from above, looks very handsome indeed.
I also love the 159 - intrigued why you've not got on with it?

Look forward to hearing about your ownership experience of the new addition, enjoy!
Ah the Alfa.

I bought it because it’s pretty.... I also bought it for the 5 pot 2.4 diesel which sounds good really and the auto box it has.

Sadly it just feels older than its years, drives horribly and is really thirsty!!

I made it even worse by fitting new Mich Pilot Super Sport’s to it, which have to be the worse tyres known to man if it’s colder than 15 degrees outside.

I’ll get round to selling it soon, it’s a good example of one, just not the car for me.
Don't put that in the advert!
B3 E46 no.265

Metrics
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by Metrics » Tue Mar 10, 2020 7:33 pm

Waitey wrote:
Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:08 pm
Metrics wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 10:37 pm
Welcome back Waitey, it's a lovely car IMO and I'm sure will serve you well. The D3 Touring could well one of the best "one car to tick all the boxes" out there, a damn fine car.

Love the first pic of the E91 from above, looks very handsome indeed.
I also love the 159 - intrigued why you've not got on with it?

Look forward to hearing about your ownership experience of the new addition, enjoy!
Ah the Alfa.

I bought it because it’s pretty.... I also bought it for the 5 pot 2.4 diesel which sounds good really and the auto box it has.

Sadly it just feels older than its years, drives horribly and is really thirsty!!

I made it even worse by fitting new Mich Pilot Super Sport’s to it, which have to be the worse tyres known to man if it’s colder than 15 degrees outside.

I’ll get round to selling it soon, it’s a good example of one, just not the car for me.
Oh I see, thought it might be the petrol. Heard similar about the 5 pot. Shame as you say as it's a pretty car.
Surprised by the Pilot Sports not being so good.
2019 G31 B5 Biturbo No.299
2012 F10 D5 Biturbo No.13
1993 Mercedes 190E 2.6 Sportline spec
1991 Mk1 Golf GTI Sportline cabriolet

JGI_94
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by JGI_94 » Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:17 pm

Have to say i am extremely envious of your purchase!

I did enquire but like many the quick change from 2nd to 3rd owner etc just put me off a little...

If in 30k miles you also decide to move it on, I'll be sure to get in contact :D :D

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Waitey
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by Waitey » Mon Apr 20, 2020 1:37 pm

JGI_94 wrote:
Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:17 pm
Have to say i am extremely envious of your purchase!

I did enquire but like many the quick change from 2nd to 3rd owner etc just put me off a little...

If in 30k miles you also decide to move it on, I'll be sure to get in contact :D :D
To be honest once the quick changed was explained I was fairly comfortable with it.

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Waitey
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by Waitey » Mon Apr 20, 2020 1:54 pm

To properly update this thread:

I did just over 2000 miles in this car in the first 4 weeks of ownership.

All was good.

Then lock down came, and being a key worker, I was still using it for my commute, but my mileage had dropped significantly. Down to circa 800 miles a month.

Then at the start of April, I backed the Alpina onto the drive after washing the other cars and I could have sworn I heard a rattle.

Bonnet up, on tickover, no noise. Raise the rev's to over 1500 and a clear rattle from the rear of the engine. Video taken. Engine shut off.

Luckily I had 4 days of the BMW warranty left (Which due to Covid has actually being extended to the end of June), so I called the recovery number and they sent a tech to look at it. Tech came the next day and said it seemed to be an injector fault. I called the recovery number again and they agreed to collect the car and take it to my nearest open BMW service centre (Marshall's BMW Scunthorpe).

On delivery I got a call from Marshall's saying the car had arrived with no info as to the issue, had being test driven and was found to be fine.

Luckily having the video to hand, I sent that over to the dealer and asked for them to check again.

After that I didn't hear anything for a week. Which wasn't surprising considering whats going on.

So after a little chasing I found out that the Diag kit had shown the noise to be coming from the exhaust cam. They'd ordered a new cam,followers and lifters and would be fitting them in due course.

Again no news on the day, so a little nudge again, to be told the cam and associated parts that had come out of the car looked in great condition, and the replacement new parts had not sorted the noise.

A little dead air again for a few days from the dealer, then an update saying the sump had being dropped and no visible wear to the bearings was apparent, and the chain tension has being checked and that was good too. So it had been passed up to BMW UK as what to do next, due to the mileage of the car, it wasn't exactly clear cut....

Fast forward to today, 3 weeks later. The latest is the engine is to come out for a full strip down, to ID the cause of the rattle. Due to staffing levels though and the lack of senior techs, this will not be done till after lockdown.

So another 3 week wait it is!

Good job it isn't my only car!

Metrics
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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by Metrics » Thu Apr 23, 2020 8:56 pm

Hmm best of luck, and good you have warranty to fall back on here. Keep us posted and stay safe in your key worker role and thank you!
2019 G31 B5 Biturbo No.299
2012 F10 D5 Biturbo No.13
1993 Mercedes 190E 2.6 Sportline spec
1991 Mk1 Golf GTI Sportline cabriolet

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Re: 2014 D3 - Bi Turbo #004 - The high mile one....

Post by simon13 » Thu Apr 23, 2020 9:50 pm

sounds expensive
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