FRANKFURT: There are very few people in the world for whom a BMW M850i does not offer enough speed and luxury. But for those with such high standards, the BMW tuning specialists at Alpina now have an alternative.
As the B8, Alpina has dressed up BMW's Gran Coupe as a sports car in a dinner jacket - and made it fast.
With a top speed of 324 km/h and a starting price to match, Alpina is rolling out the BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe as a B8 with significantly more power and luxury than the base model M850i.
Deliveries are scheduled to start in the third quarter, with prices in Europe set to start at 161,200 euros.
While the V8 in the M850i has 530hp and the M8 Competition has 625hp, here it produces 621hp. Instead of 750Nm, a maximum torque of 800Nm will make you disappear into the cushions of the driver seat when you hit the accelerator.
Speaking of acceleration, the driving performance is also up and with 3.4 seconds for the sprint to 100kph, it almost closes the gap to the M8 (3.2) and surpasses both BMW models with a top speed of 324kph (the M8's regular top speed is 250kph, while the M8's top speed is 305kph for an additional charge).
All these road thrills come at an expense to the environment, however, and BMW puts fuel consumption at 11.1 litres (254 g/km CO2).
Alpina has also worked on the interior and retuned the adaptive suspension. In comfort mode, the B8 is said to be more docile than the original and firmer in the sport settings. It also gets its own sound with a new exhaust.
