reckamech

BMW actual tuner is the ///M Division. Alpina is a very respected modifier of BMW's.

Bunbun

I see that Alpina retained their pin stripes, so 1980s.....blah. And that signature wheel, has been looking like this for ages. Gosh, I hope their engine/performance mods are a little more exciting than their cosmetic mods.....

Hobi

BunBun.

I have an Alpina with another arriving soon... Nobody gets the stripes - at least I have never seen an Alpina on the road with them on.

The whole point of Alpina is discreet power and delivery. They focus on the fundamentals of a car, not looks.

People who want flashy Mercedes buy AMG versions but the serious folk turn their attention to Brabus and others...

All the Best

Hobi

Bunbun

Hobi

U sound like an expert in performance mods. What can I do to enhance my 520's performance? I know it's a small engine, Im hoping I can turn it into the little engine that could....

PS Nothing against Alpina, just dont like their dated cosmetics, a personal thing. I know they've been around a long time, Im sure they do excellent performance enhancing works.

Hobi

BunBun

To enhance your 520 performance - in terms of 'more power'...

Option 1 - There doesn't appear to be a 3rd party ECU remap/chip mod yet. It will come at some point I think.

Option 2

You could try changing the exhaust system. Bog standard catalytic converters have a dense cell per square inch (cpsi) of between 400 and 600 cells. This means that these Cats restrict the exhaust flow by about 40% or so.

You could try a sports-type Cat that has half the cpsi - thereby restricting the flow by only about 20%. Therefore, there is less back-pressure and the flow rate is increased - more power out of the engine. Obviously, by reducing the cpsi, you have to make sure the car still complies with emissions regulations etc..

My 545 is going to be used as a 'guinea pig' for a performance exhaust fabrication company here in the UK in December. Most likely the whole exhaust system will change. I will post info on this forum when I have had it done and tested.

Hope this is of use.

All the Best

Hobi

PS. In the grand old days, Alpina would do engine conversions for people AFTER they had bought their standard BMW car.... They haven't done this for years now...

One other thing. Alpina will only make their version of a BMW model IF they think it can be improved significantly. That's why they did NOT do a Z3 Alpina and waited for the Z4 before doing it. Also, Alpina designed the 4.6is and 4.8is X5 engines for BMW. They are NOT interested in doing an Alpina X5 - but they have made some 21" Alpina Dynamic wheel rims for it.

E60525d

I prefer the B5 over the M5. Its more discrete and just as fast (or even faster).

This is the first time since the E34 where the alpina version is just as fast. The B10-Biturbo was faster than any E34 M5.

Hobi

Legend has it that there was a gentleman's agreement between Bovensiepen and BMW that an Alpina version would not 'outdo' an M version....

Since BMW have no super '7' and Alpina have the amazing B7, it was only a matter of time before they made the B5 more powerful than the M5. On paper, it appears that the B5 will be ahead of the M5 - and who cares? They will both be fantastic cars to drive and own.

Personally, an Alpina over a M anyday - because you rarely see them on the road, and when you do, everybody notices. The future E90 based B3 will be one heck of a car.

E60525d

Agree, Alpina over an M. Much more exclusive.

What engine will the E90 B3 have? I think it will have a supercharged engine.

Hobi

I have no idea, 525d, but I will be going over to see them in the new year, when I take my 545 back to Prague. Buchloe is sort of on the way and I pop in a few times a year I'll enquire though...

530E60NL

Wow.....