If you like the D5 S, there’s little to rival what it offers. The kicker is that the legendary residual value of Alpina cars is far from certain, given the nature of the powertrain.
Putting that to one side, the D5 S costs £62,000, to which you can add £1785 for adaptive dampers with electronically actuated stabilisers. For a further £995, there’s the option of four-wheel steering, which improves agility at speed and manoeuvrability when you’re pootling. The former expenditure is well worth it, the later less so.
From there, it’s possible to get very silly with options, and the car seen here – a cancelled order, intriguingly – costs a stomach-churning £86,690. The decal set is, naturally, a no-cost addition, but you pay for amenities such as a head-up display, heated seats, a powered tailgate and Apple CarPlay. With the stylistic flourishes that make an Alpina such a fascinating place to while away miles, you’d probably be looking at £70,000.
By comparison, the new Audi A7 Sportback with the 282bhp V6 diesel is priced from around £55,000, while the M5 now costs nigh-on £90,000. Perhaps those are not very helpful comparisons, but as an unusually powerful diesel cruiser with excellent etiquette and an abundance of character, the D5 S is in a class of one. As such, whether it’s worth the money will be a personal judgment.
Either way, each year around 1600 cars arrive at Alpina with a blue-and-white roundel on their nose and leave with carburettors and a crankshaft in its place. Most of these cars are diesel, and so this is an uncomfortable time for the 240 people on the Buchloe payroll.
In this instance, the machine they’ve delivered is nothing like as compelling as its petrol counterpart – the mighty B5 Biturbo – but remains a phenomenally broad-batted machine with no small appeal. It would be some injustice if it were sunk by prevailing attitudes.
Alpina D5 S
Price £62,000 Engine 6cyls, 2993cc, turbocharged, diesel Power 322bhp at 4000-5000rpm Torque 516lb ft at 1750-2500rpm Gearbox 8-spd tiptronic automatic Kerb weight 1870kg 0-62mph 4.9sec Top speed 171mph Economy 46.3mpg CO2 161g/km Rivals BMW 530d xDrive M Sport, Audi A7 Sportback 50 TDI Sport
