Matt Farah Drives One of Just 555 Alpina V8 Roadsters
It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to drive a BMW Z8-based Alpina Roadster, so when an exotic car dealer offered The Smoking Tire‘s Matt Farah the opportunity to drive one, he jumped at the chance. Only 555 of these beauties were built for worldwide consumption, and only 450 of those were shipped to the U.S.
For those not familiar, the Alpina V8 Roadster differs from the standard Z8 in many ways. The most important of which is the drivetrain, as the Alpina features a stroked version of the 540’s V8. That’s pumped up to 4.6 liters and mated to BMW’s Steptronic automatic instead of the Z8’s 6-speed manual and 4.9 liter M5-derived engine. The Alpina is down a bit on power from the standard Z8, with 375 instead of 400 horsepower.
Add in more supple Napa leather inside, special Alpina gauges, and Alpina signature wheels, and this is a truly unique car. It’s interesting to see all of the old-tech that came on the top-of-the-line cars from 14 years ago, and Farah makes sure to note all of those bits.
It all raises the question: which would you rather have, a more powerful BMW version with a stick, or the more sedate cruiser Alpina?
Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>
Via [TheSmokingTire]
