Alpina B3S 3.4 litre

Luxury and performance that give you that feeling of total control and domination, BMW at its best, not the raw power of the M3 but bags more refined speed, will see of the M3 if required, but you don't need to, the car and looks speak for it self, nothing to prove its a limited addition car which holds its money.

I set out to buy a BMW 530D but after test driving the Alpina B3S the practicality of 2 young children went out the window.

The car combines the comfort, and handling with near M3 performance. I have driven both and know which I prefer and without being limited you can see off any M if you want to get to silly speeds.

Service costs are based on a stock 330 (may pay for better oil) and my average fuel is just over 25mpg. Not fantastic but this is a car that will do 0-60 in 4.8s.

The Switchtronic box is excellent. Auto works fine in down but it really come into life when swithed to manual.

I've been a big fan of the BMW Alpina B3S 3.4 litre since I was about 14 and having bought my first one in May 2004 I haven't been let down in owning one of the world's best kept secrets - The Uber BMW (Alpina)!

The first thing that struck home when driving it properly was the suspension. Unlike sports suspension, Alpina's attempt seems to glide along yet hold firm when asked to handle a corner at speed - something I didn't think was possible! The engine which is handbuilt has fantastic acceleration even at high speeds and has a soundtrack to match a 911.

Alpina supply the car with a auto and paddle shift gearbox and the latter is in my opinion the best semi auto box (excluding F1 !!!) out there. The gear changes are smooth and in this mode the car really does fly.

The great thing with Alpina is that they deal (and deal succesfully) with every part of the car - engine, suspension, gear box, interior design and exterior design and their attention to detail is second to none. The shell may well be that of BMW 3 series (which is a good car in itself), but what you have is something totally different and special.

Driving it every day is an honour and pleasure and to be honest I wouldn't drive anything else as my day to day car.

The only downside is that Alpina's seem to loose a lot of their value in the first two years of ownership, so buying them at this time is the best. But buy new and keep it for five years and the loss isn't that great.

If you want to have a smile on your face for the rest of your life - buy an Alpina!

the communications pack on the BMW Alpina B3S is great, only the motorola v70 phone lets it down. The seats have a great profile but beware if you have a large posteria. The switchtronic auto box is perfection, no need realy to use the manual buttons under the steering wheel, the overall driving experience is fantastic,and the alpina body kit finnishes off what is as near to perfect a car you could want.

Another neat trick is the hidden tyre valves, no match sticks in the ends from the local scroats.