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RE: The Ultimate Bahnstormer - Alpina B12 6.0
Tge Alpina BMWs are awesome, but as you said really pricey to repair and from what I have heard, not super reliable.
Tge Alpina BMWs are awesome, but as you said really pricey to repair and from what I have heard, not super reliable.
I've actually heard some different things as in the built quality much exceeds that of regular BMWs and also that if maintained correctly (that is at Alpina or BMW Alpina dealers to the tee) then they will run forever. The very high mileage of most used offerings is a testament to that. Then again it might just be owner's willing to invest horrendous sums to keep it running :).
I think the article I read was just about M power cars always blowing their engines. That could be true with Alpinas
What's true for M cars and usually not for Alpina (this 6.0L V12 being an exception) is that they are more sports/circuit engines than true daily driver motors.
I know some guys who put 400.000+ on an S52 in the E36 M3 at the same time you'll hear horror stories about engines blowing up. The fact of the matter is you gotta service those engines and you gotta know the history - when both check out they are bulletproof. Any doubt on either and you're toast.
I found the article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/jalopnik.com/bmw-engines-are-gigantic-pieces-of-shit-1784684330/amp
Now, most of it is anecdotal, but the guy seems to point out some pretty obvious problems. However, I am not a mechanic or expert on M cars by any means.
Hilarious article, thoroughly enjoyed it almost as much as the linked story of how he flipped an E39 M5. That's the thing I was talking about in terms of maintenance. As far as the engines being pieces of shit I don't know. You just invest a lot to get the smoothest driving experience. I did write up on the E46 a while back and basically concluded that when they got done with the car they arrived at an MSRP of around 80kUSD for a 320i. So they figured do we leave the reliability in or the design and trim - they went for the latter.
Take the E46
If they had done all that it would have been bullet proof and then it would have cost 80k. They wouldn't have sold a million of them and none of the problems would be documented cuz there wouldn't be a community - then again it wouldn't have any problems.
It comes down to this the moment you walk towards it, see it, get in, close the door, start it and throw it into the first turn it becomes all worth it. I too wished they had not saved cost and made it more expensive less profitable but then again - it's BMW, it's built for the first owner for the first 70.000mls :).