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Sometimes, basic can be cool. Case in point – today’s E36 Touring. This is about as basic as they came; powered by the M43 1.8 with 114 horsepower, the car has cloth seats, no sunroof, and manual crank rear windows. This is a 1996 BMW, right? In all seriousness, that makes it cooler today. And, in fact, it has some nice optional equipment – heated front seats, air conditioning, a sport steering wheel – even body-color bumpers were optional on the low-end E36s in Europe, and this one has them. Speaking of color, it’s a great one – Montreal Blue Metallic, and even the basic cloth has a neat pattern. Other Euro-slick items like adjustable headlight control and a European cluster top it off, and it’s got alloy wheels too. And it’s in the US already! This means it should cost an arm and a leg, right?
While some other aftermarket tuners such as Ruf and Renntech offer turned up versions of the already potent cars, Alpina operates slightly differently – filling in the voids of models not offered by the manufacturer. There are plenty of examples of this, and if often seems to be misunderstood; Jeremy Clarkson’s review of the Alpina Roadster is probably the most notable case. A slower, softer, automatic version of the hardcore roadster certainly doesn’t make a lot of sense at first glance. But what Alpina does is give enthusiasts the opportunity to enjoy the performance that BMW offered in a slightly different package that sometimes outperforms the original platform car. One of the notable missing gaps in the BMW lineup in the mid 90s was a faster version of the E36 Touring; building off the earlier B6 – effectively, Alpina’s 4-door M3 challenger built between 1992 and 1993 with a bespoke engine and typical Alpina upgrades, the company later launched the Japanese-only market B6 2.8 Touring. Produced between 1996 and 1998, only 136 of these small wagons were produced, again utilizing the 240 horsepower bespoke Alpina motor, special wheels and interiors, Alpina’s own body kit, exhaust and suspension. They were available in 3 colors only; red, green, and silver:
