Alpina D3 Biturbo Touring: review

The great thing is that in the process, you can slip under every radar on the street. Alpina builds BMWs that kick sand in the face of the average M-car, but to the outside world this is just a 3 Series estate. Quad exhausts might give the game away, but there’s nothing about it to make people want to check them out in the first place.

Inside, it’s superb because it’s a BMW and then it’s yet more superb because it’s an Alpina.

You could use this car for lugging a load of garden rubble to the tip, at a 40+mpg sort of plod. Then take a detour via your favourite B-road and arrive home grinning like a loon.

Turning the dial to Sport mode is the key to eternal happiness. Everything gets more taut, more feelsome, the shift points in the gearbox rise to the occasion and you’ve got a wagon that handles sublimely. Steering, grip, body control, power delivery – your tip runner has turned into a bona fide sportscar, and a world-class one at that.

A limited-slip rear diff is a £1900 option. And you’ll want it, because although it’s not snappy the back end is lively enough to slow you down on wet roads. Four-wheel drive would sort that out, but you can’t have it.

What you can have is a bill for £65,000, if you spec it like our test car. The list price is just under fifty, but good luck with keeping it there.

So it’s not a cheap car. But if you’re thinking in terms of having a 3 Series Touring for the daily grind and an M of some sort for the weekend, maybe this is the one stone that can kill two birds. It’s a magnificent car, this – heading towards legendary status.

Alpina D3 Biturbo Touring

On sale: Now

Price: £49,950

Engine: 6 cyls inline, 2993cc, twin-turbocharged, diesel

Power: 345bhp at 4000rpm

Torque: 516Ib ft at 1500-3000rpm

Kerb weight: 1730kg

Gearbox: 8-spd automatic

0-62mph: 4.6s

Top speed: 170mph

Economy: 52.3mpg (combined)

CO2/tax band: 142g/km, 26%