Alpina D3 is ordered!
- Thread starter Amchlolor
- Start date
d3fy
Registered User
Like those people that go on Holiday to the same place every year, perhaps stay in a different hotel on the odd year, but always go to the same island/resort...
It was not meant as an insult - just a question. Bowfer seemed to attached so much to the fact the his wife's Clio had one and the A3 did not I was just interested if he knew if his new D3 would have one.
Personally I don't have a use for one as my particular A3 only uses a small amount of oil.
Bowfer and I have this understanding - I love my A3 as much as he hates his. I love my S-tronic as much as he hates his DSG. He obviously is now in love with BMW, personally I never been over keen on the ones I've driven. But if he likes the idea of a new D3 the I'm quite happy for him. There is little worse that have to spend 3 or so years driving a car that you hate.
h5djr said:
I wouldn't say I'm in love with BMW at all.
I'm getting a very specific one, which isn't even part of the BMW range.
I don't just like the "idea" of a D3 either.
I've driven one, and it's brilliant.
Better than a normal 3 series, which is already a better car than the A3/A4.
Even if it turned out to be as much of a pain in the *** as my A3, which I doubt, it will have fun driving dynamics and big-league Alpina exclusivity.
Neither of which any Audi under £30K can offer.
Even the S3 is common as muck, compared with an Alpina.
I was willing to give Audi another chance (god knows why..) with the new A4, but they cocked that up.
It's better than the old A4, but not by much, according to most.
Still lagging behind the competition, according to them all.
Congrats Bowfer! Personally I am loving my BM. The service at my local dealer is night and day above wheat I recieve at the local Audi garage. I went in last weekend to arrange a test drive in an S5. They didn't want to know.
Regarding the RWD handling the traction control software is pretty good. With it on you can have a little bit of fun, the back can move a little but not enough to scare you. Press it once and you can get the back end sliding around all over the place. PRess and hold it and it disables and wahey off you go. Not advisable in the wet until you have had the car for a while
Also you will notice that the car seems to figit a lot when you first get it, took me a little while to get used to it as the wheel is alive in your hands. You soon learn to relax your grip on the wheel.
The other thing is as soon as the tyres get low it moves a round a lot. I'm about to change my rears and there is still at least 3 mm of tread on them.
But you will love it, I regularly swap cars with my mate who drives a 325m sport and it's great fun to throw around so I can only imagine the D3 will be a big step forward!
J.
Regarding the RWD handling the traction control software is pretty good. With it on you can have a little bit of fun, the back can move a little but not enough to scare you. Press it once and you can get the back end sliding around all over the place. PRess and hold it and it disables and wahey off you go. Not advisable in the wet until you have had the car for a while
Also you will notice that the car seems to figit a lot when you first get it, took me a little while to get used to it as the wheel is alive in your hands. You soon learn to relax your grip on the wheel.
The other thing is as soon as the tyres get low it moves a round a lot. I'm about to change my rears and there is still at least 3 mm of tread on them.
But you will love it, I regularly swap cars with my mate who drives a 325m sport and it's great fun to throw around so I can only imagine the D3 will be a big step forward!
J.
Oh and yes it will have the electronic dipstick and if the diesels are anything like my 3.0 they do like a drop of oil...
Cheers MB.
What size are the back tyres on your motor?
265/30 19's on the D3.
Christ knows what they'll cost!?
I know what you mean about the dealer, BTW.
I expected sniffiness, like the local Audi dealer up here too, but there was none of it.
Never been offered a test drive so quickly and easily in my life either, whether it be Audi, Honda, Saab or whoever.
What size are the back tyres on your motor?
265/30 19's on the D3.
Christ knows what they'll cost!?
I know what you mean about the dealer, BTW.
I expected sniffiness, like the local Audi dealer up here too, but there was none of it.
Never been offered a test drive so quickly and easily in my life either, whether it be Audi, Honda, Saab or whoever.
If your local Audi dealer is Southampton Audi, I'm not surprised.marriedblonde said:
Try Heritage Audi in Salisbury - they are in a different league regarding customer service. (And better than the Scotthall and Wood BMW dealers too, in my experience).
I used to have a 320i which did that (pre traction control days too !)marriedblonde said:
I found it quite unnerving. Even on a dead straight road, I used to have to keep feeding in small steering corrections to keep it on the straight and narrow.
Matt said:
I would say so, yes, but the D3 is slightly different from a normal 3-series anyway.
Little touches like different colour dials and 'Alpina' badges.
A friend of mine has an X3, despite it being slated by all and sundry for it's poor interior and poor driving.
They all say the Honda CRV is better, and cheaper, but that's the power of the badge for you!
You could have a long wait.... (Sorry Normski..)
Mind you VW will be bringing out their new Golf VI sometime time next year and no doubt it will be available with a DSG gearbox!!!!
But then again, Audi will be face-lifting the A3 as well. Although I'm on my 6th A3, none of them of been the same as my previous one, just all the same colour and made by Audi.
And yes I will probably be driving to Austria again this year for a holiday, perhaps with a week or two in Germany on the way. As well as a two week river cruise from Amsterdam to Vienna, a week in Scotland, a week in the Yokshire Dales and a week by air to Switzerland in the snow. Also a week in Cornwall taking my mother to celebrate her 90th birthday. It's great being retired and having all this time to do what I like!
Ouh nouh, bowfer buys a BMW . Grats on new car anyway, it's always refreshing to try something else. And Alpina, well, it's not something common to say, irritating sometimes to see A3 or normal 3-series on every corner (they can't be that bad cars if people buy them so much, but still).
Wonder what next Golf will look like, I thought they put it back to drawing board to make it look more aggressive or something (and that would delay it by one year). Will be interesting to see.
Thing is, they actually changed taxing in Finland to make some cars cheaper, some costing more. Based on CO2 emissions only (nothing to do with saving the planet, just getting more taxes), and tax is based on that value, anything over 220g/km will get higher taxes, and everything under will be lower.
It made some interesting changes here, for example BMWs are much cheaper than Audis after the change. But I still see nightmares from my last BMW and winter, so I don't know.. but car choice is always up to heart, not brains.
But nice to see if you hang around, just to wait Dave to change from A3, I like it when people get upset with you
- Yak
. Grats on new car anyway, it's always refreshing to try something else. And Alpina, well, it's not something common to say, irritating sometimes to see A3 or normal 3-series on every corner (they can't be that bad cars if people buy them so much, but still).Wonder what next Golf will look like, I thought they put it back to drawing board to make it look more aggressive or something (and that would delay it by one year). Will be interesting to see.
Thing is, they actually changed taxing in Finland to make some cars cheaper, some costing more. Based on CO2 emissions only (nothing to do with saving the planet, just getting more taxes), and tax is based on that value, anything over 220g/km will get higher taxes, and everything under will be lower.
It made some interesting changes here, for example BMWs are much cheaper than Audis after the change. But I still see nightmares from my last BMW and winter, so I don't know.. but car choice is always up to heart, not brains.
But nice to see if you hang around, just to wait Dave to change from A3, I like it when people get upset with you
- Yak
welcome to the otherside,as you already know you will love the bm,i think ive only seen 2 d3's,and you dont have to put up with the rft's either,dont forget to look in on ???land now you have one.
james0808
Registered User
had mine a year now and only used a litre of oil,done 10,000 miles.
out of interest mine does'nt have the electronic dipstick,its only the 6cyl ones that had that,unless its changed since?.
out of interest mine does'nt have the electronic dipstick,its only the 6cyl ones that had that,unless its changed since?.
It might just be the petrol engines that like a a drop of the oily stuff? Mine gets through a litre every 6-7K miles I think.
Tyre wise Bowfer I've got 18"a running 255/35's so they are not that bad price wise, about £20 a piece more than the 225/40/18's I had on my A3. although I did ditch the run flats almost straight away and I am having problems locating a set of F1's as they are on back order fomr the factory
J.
Tyre wise Bowfer I've got 18"a running 255/35's so they are not that bad price wise, about £20 a piece more than the 225/40/18's I had on my A3. although I did ditch the run flats almost straight away and I am having problems locating a set of F1's as they are on back order fomr the factory
J.
i agree with you on the rft's,they contribute nothing to the ride comfort,well they do,they make it worse.i replaced mine with 19"alpinas and 235/35 tyres and even with the lower profile's the ride is a great deal better,i dont know why bmw insist on rft technology.
bowfer said:
No, they're just selling so many bowfer that they have loads to service too.
JC's servicing dept. isn't up to their sales i'm afarid to say.
Am i right in thinking you only get 2 years warranty on the D3 as it's still classed as an import ?.
Congrats, great looking motor with great performance.
Watch them back roads in winter though bowfer.................
Aye, Japper, two years on the D3.
That doesn't bother me much, as experience has shown that if anything is likely to go wrong, it will happen in the first two years.
My A3 hasn't had anything 'new' go wrong this year, thank ****!
That doesn't bother me much, as experience has shown that if anything is likely to go wrong, it will happen in the first two years.
My A3 hasn't had anything 'new' go wrong this year, thank ****!
Just a question for you Bowfer. Did you just drive the Alpina or did you try any other BMW's? went today took out a 320d M sport and and 325d M sport. Must admit chalk and cheese amazingly, not just in speed but road handling ride the lot with the 325 coming out on top.
Just wondered if you'd tried them
Just wondered if you'd tried them
Your journies are bound to be slower in a BM cos no one will let you out from side roads in heavy traffic! 
Without wanting to be pedantic about it, isn't the Alpina D3 technically not a BMW, in the same way that Brabus are not allowed to put the mercedes badge on their cars.h5djr said:
EDIT: Seems I was wrong about that - I did a search and it seems the Alpinas do have the BMW badge on them.
bowfer said:
Nice dark silver one in JC's showroom at moment. Love the overall look and the rear spoiler. Not a fan of the front lip spoiler with ALPINA shouting at you.
Have you got full leather or the std. half leather ?.
Have you got it yet ?.
Not got it yet, although working on it.
Mileage is creeping up on the A3, to the point we'll start getting charged per mile.
So that might be an excuse to speed the deal up.
Half leather, not really a fan of full leather, especially in a car I'll be chucking around.
You can actually buy Alpina badges to replace the BMW ones on the bonnet and boot, so I may do that and ask JC to fit them.
Mileage is creeping up on the A3, to the point we'll start getting charged per mile.
So that might be an excuse to speed the deal up.
Half leather, not really a fan of full leather, especially in a car I'll be chucking around.
You can actually buy Alpina badges to replace the BMW ones on the bonnet and boot, so I may do that and ask JC to fit them.
RedSportback said:
Drove a 320D M-sport ages ago.
Liked that too.
If I hadn't been able to get a D3, I'd have been happy with an M-sport.
I'd probably have specced it up higher than the D3 too.
No denying the D3's interior is hardly specced to the hilt, but it's got everything you need.
The Alpina also gives you stuff 'free', that are extras on the 320D M-sport.
For example, metallic paint, 19" wheels and rear parking sensors.
All included in the price of around £28500, which is only around £300 more than a 'basic' M-sport.
Bit of a bargain really.
When you mention the word 'Alpina', people think you're talking a £40K car.
They're pleasantly surprised when you say 28 and a half!
Maybe you s hould have gone for an Audi without DSG then! Tried the 3 series a few times, it does has some appeal, but it's not an Audi!
hould have gone for an Audi without DSG then! Tried the 3 series a few times, it does has some appeal, but it's not an Audi!
garypaul said:
No?
Not even if it's from an official BMW dealer and it's cheaper than an M-sport?
Not that you'd be disappoined with an M-sport, especially if you want to add extras.
You can chip a normal M-sport from 177bhp to 200bhp anyway, if you fancy the extra performance.
