2015 BMW Alpina B6 Gran Coupe - Car and Driver (blog)
To drive a 1980s M3 is to be amazed by its relative softness compared with today’s hard-edged, dual-clutch asphalt scalpels. But what if BMW dialed that speedy numbness back a notch. Horsepower swapped for torque, and BMW’s still-funky dual-clutch transmission traded for a tight eight-speed slushbox. You’d wind up with something like the BMW Alpina B6. You’ll lay out a $1600 premium over the $116,650 M6 Gran Coupe for Alpina’s version, whose snail-huffed 4. 4-liter V-8 offers but 540 horsepower to the M6’s 560. Yet, while the stock M gets by... The combination of reduced power and extra weight brings the big four-door to 60 mph in 3. 7 seconds, two tenths slower than the last M6 Gran Coupe we tested. Horsepower and the M6’s 373-pound weight advantage also put it through the quarter-mile four tenths sooner, or 11. 7 seconds to the 12. 1 of the Alpina. On the skidpad, the M, with 10 millimeters more tire all the way around, again takes the Alpina. The stock M posts 0. 93 g of lateral acceleration to the B6’s 0. 92. The Alpina, in a sense, is more in line with the philosophy of modern AMG products. Source: www.caranddriver.com
