Think the search may be over...

[Tilly]

The search for a new car could well and truly be over. Insurance quotes online only want a grand (which at my age isn't bad) and it looks the don... Subject to the insurance quote being correct, we have a winner!

Coming back to BMW fingers crossed guys! In the shape of.....







































An Alpina D3. Saves me money on fuel, looks the part, handles and drives well and isn't crazy money to buy or insure, will put me on nicely. What do you guys think? Honest opinions

http://www.fastsaloons.com/images/alpina/d3/-/01.jpg

http://www.fastsaloons.com/images/alpina/d3/-/03.jpg

[benny boy]

I would go for it mate great looks good and its diesel power lol

[huzi7]

awesome car mate

deffo go for it!

[adood84]

classy very classy , only thing you need to do is fit those black line rear lights , and your done :)

go for it

[Tilly]

The only hurdle remaining is insurance, when I quoted online a pop up came up saying "3rd party insurers will not quote as the Alpina is a modified vehicle" and only being 19 they can be a pain with modified cars so it depends how they refer to it, as an Alpina or as a modified BMW, fingers crossed! It's only a 2.0 diesel but according to parkers... 197 bhp out of the packet with a 0-60 in 7.2 and 47 miles to the gallon which'd be an absolute god send!

[Moe]

Yerr would go for this but make sure its a alpina even if you have to wait a

[adood84]

why woul the consier it a modified BMW , it comes stright out from the Alpina factory , and it has its own serial number .

[Tilly]

Because essentially it is a BMW but modified from their own specs, much like AMG etc but a little more specialised. I don't think it is part of BMW like M is for example but I may be wrong. I've just spoke to alpina GB and they're calling me back on availability, apparently because the cars are all built to the same spec bar two things, wheels and colours, then they may not be the hardest car to source :D subject to insurance... an order is being placed ASAP!

[Raj]

Love the D3. Great car and a great buy. A few choice mods and it will be a corker. I would deffo consider one if I were in the market.

[InvIs Inc]

aah Mikem was looking at 1 of these a while ago. really nice car fingers crossed for you tilly :) keep us posted :cool:

[Tilly]

Spoken to Alpina again, if I factory order it now it'd arrive in march, If that was the case I'd wait 'til april (my birthday) for cheaper insurance :) They want a 10% deposit which I can afford to pay now but heres the killer.... If you want any cost options, you pay a one off fee of £2000 then pay BMW list price for remaining options, leather, sat nav, bose, bluetooth etc so guess what? fook that! Standard car it is then :) I'm currently looking at the montego blue as per the pics but I'm awaiting the brochure in the post, if you notice there is pinstriping so I'm reserving judgement til I've seen the black and grey cars with the decals. Subject to a successful insurance quote tomorrow I'm ordering a new toy :D fingers crossed guys!

[M3-SC-AL]

Nice choice dude, cant really go wrong with an Alpina ;) especailly the D3. the interiors are to die for, so comfy..

Just watch the insurance, they stuck mine in a group 20 class but I managed to argue it down to group 18...

keep us posted,

[Tilly]

group 20 *gulp* erm.... what kind of alpina did you have? I'm hoping it wasn't a D3 :(

[M3-SC-AL]

group 20 *gulp* erm.... what kind of alpina did you have? I'm hoping it wasn't a D3 :(


E36 B3 3.2

[adood84]

the B3.2 is a diffrent monster your talking about near M3 performance , if not its much faster than a standard 328i of that time

[Tilly]

Thank f*ck for that! Nearly made me cry then... honest! There has been a million and one cars I've looked at that I wanted to buy but all boiled down to insurance not allowing me, its a nightmare. I'm hoping to have finally hit the nail on the head. It's a 2.0D so can't be too crazy on insurance surely. Just the fact that its classed as a modified car rather than a "normal" car. They don't have a set insurance group

[mikem]

Nice one Tilly, I actually orered a D3 but had my deposit refunded when the supplier couldn`t get me a car this year. The Blue is Mystic Blue by the way. You only have a choice of 4 colours and 2 wheel types. Cost wise, pcp`s were nearly as much as a330d because nobody knew how to give an accurate residual, As for insurance I was quoted roughly 10% less than a 330d and 10% more than my 325d, try Admiral-they have the car listed on their website, (So do BMW but they insist on a min. of 2 yrs NCD and a tracker) It`s a great car Tilly, I hope you get one. I have only ever seen 1 on the road 2 weeks ago and I thought what if ? but then I wouldn`t get the 6 cyl noise ;) . I`ve got a pdf brochure, PM me your email address if you want it.

[scorcher]

Excellent choice, and a lovely looking car. Definitely got to be a dark metallic blue. I'm sure a little remap would be nice too....

[Tilly]

It may be the one I saw on the website... Could you just clarify a couple of things for me... are the standard wheels now 19"s or are they 18's as per the '05 brochure, I'm reading conflicting stories... and also is the rear spoiler standard? basically is the car as per the pics I posted because according to whats on the alpina site its not, but when I look on my finance system at work and on reviews of the car they've all got 19's and the spoiler and they just add the finishing touches

[Nickleback]

Great choice Tilly, hope you can sort the insurance ! :D

[Mikedav]

Alpinas are not modded BMWs, considered by German TUV as an independent manufacturer and have their own VINs etc because they change so much on the car...if that helps with the insurance. I thought you could only get them from Sytner though.

Nice choice and a bargain, better deal than a 320D M Sport!

[mikem]

Sytner have their own spec that they bring in, all with met paint (4 colours) 19" wheels classic/dynamic, rear spoiler and half leather. That`s your lot unless you pay the £2K premium

[asianjedi]

That is a beautiful car! I wish we had Alpina here in the states. It almost took an act of God to get my Alpina spoiler!

[Auryn]

sorry but im not a fan of Alpina, the body mods look like an after thought from a base model and the pin striping thing is just wierd! each to their own though & if you like it go for it!

[Kin Mak]

.... If you want any cost options, you pay a one off fee of £2000 then pay BMW list price for remaining options, leather, sat nav, bose, bluetooth etc so guess what? fook that! Standard car it is then :)

Great car and definately unique as well. Say a few at the ring when I was there for the BMW training. D3 and D5 were represented.

Only thing tho... no leather and no options? Don't know if I could live with that myself but I guess if you can it will save buckets of money.

[M3-SC-AL]

Theory behind my insurance company had nothing to do with the performance it was based on the fact that it was a much rarer car than a standard 328 and parts cost a slight preium depending on what you broke (there words not mine).

Just a word of warning thats all, i was quite surpised when I got my quote to be honest.. The fact thats its a diesel and Alpina dont make the cars so different with current models means it shouldnt be that much, I wouldnt worry

I was just saying thats all ;)

[Tilly]

Great car and definately unique as well. Say a few at the ring when I was there for the BMW training. D3 and D5 were represented.

Only thing tho... no leather and no options? Don't know if I could live with that myself but I guess if you can it will save buckets of money.


To be fair there isn't too much I'd want/need. On the merc it is a standard car (leather twin is standard) bar the 6CD changer, pre wiring and heated seats. Only the interior would need altering IMO where I would be uprating the sound system and fitting aftermarket sat nav/dvd player, replacing the basic silver trim with carbon fibre trims if anyone makes them yet... and finally a retrim probably white leather. I could afford to do all this gradually over time as I save but I couldn't do it all initially so for the time being it'd be nothing but a bucket and sponge to make it look good :D

[mikem]

C/F trim is readily available Tilly from £400 ? - £1500 Breyton. Be careful on the head unit side as a lot of the OBC functions can only be accessed via the factory unit, nobody at the moment has figured out a way of intergrating the PDC with an aftermarket unit and you would need to wire the head unit straight to an independant power supply otherwise you will loose all stored stations etc, as the power supply is switched off 30 mins after the engine.
This is why I cancelled the BMW radio Navigation retro I bought and went with a stand alone nav unit.

[Juber]

Good choice mate! sooo glad you never picked the Subaru.

[Tilly]

C/F trim is readily available Tilly from £400 ? - £1500 Breyton. Be careful on the head unit side as a lot of the OBC functions can only be accessed via the factory unit, nobody at the moment has figured out a way of intergrating the PDC with an aftermarket unit and you would need to wire the head unit straight to an independant power supply otherwise you will loose all stored stations etc, as the power supply is switched off 30 mins after the engine.
This is why I cancelled the BMW radio Navigation retro I bought and went with a stand alone nav unit.

Shouldn't be a problem to run a new power lead - annoying, but doable.

In regards to PDC, not too fussed about having bullet holes in my bumper anyway so I'm happy :) the only thing I'll miss is the heated seats which I believe can actually be retrofit and I'd like xenons this time round, don't know if they're standard or not, the car in the pics looks like it could have xenons but whether it was a cost option or not *shrugs*

[benny boy]

Some off the new bmw's also work on a canbus system which can make things a little difficult if you dont know what your doing

[Tilly]

Yeah thats fine, used to work on canbus systems when I was at ford :)

[Kay323]

get it get it get it :D

[mikem]

No xenons either Tilly, all you get is a stock 320d with 19" wheels, rear spoiler, alpina susp, alpina aerodynamics, tuned engine, Alpina S/wheel and gearstick. The full uk spec is on Alpina GB website here :

http://www.alpina-automobiles.com/co_uk/automobile/d3/daten_ausstattung.php

[Tilly]

Well Endsleigh referred us to the company that underwrite them and he was a bit of a tool and didn't help at all, said it was a no go but we asked if that was for now or in April when I have an extra years driving under my belt and another year to my age but he was just being an arse and sai it was too early to quote. I didn't want exact figures, just to know if they would cover me or not but he was a riiiiiiight wanker so time to shop about, fingers crossed because I really want this and its based around a 320D so not exactl a balls out 3.2 B3 alpina or anything. I'm determined to manage this one!

[mikem]

Tilly, if you go to Admiral and put the policy to start the end of the month, they`ll quopte you online. Insurance wont be a problem, not compared to the S3 and scooby you were looking at.

[Tilly]

Last time I got an online quote and tried to proceed, it then declined it afterwards, not good :s

[Mikey_Bwoy]

good choice, and something a bit different from the norm

nice car and cheap to run, fairplay :cool: