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1997 Alpina B6 2.8 Touring

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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:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 Alpina B6 2.8 Touring on eBay

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2000 BMW 540i Touring 6-Speed

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Are you a ‘want your cake and eat it too’ kind of person? If so, you probably appreciate performance wagons. And why not? They offer practicality, are (generally) much more affordable than sports cars, and can literally fly under the radar. With their numbers dwindling in the open market, it’s always a great time to look at one from our past. Enter the E39 Touring.

There were several configurations that the 5-series Touring was available in over the years, but the ‘big stick’ was the 540i with its 286 horsepower M62. Sure, the N54-equipped E61 was faster and available as a manual. But if you wanted a really classic BMW setup, the 540iT was about as good as it got for US-bound BMW wagons. As a result, many have been turned up by their owners and drafted into M5 clones. Such is the case here, with this Sienna Red Metallic E39 sporting a host of Dinan bits, E39 M5 bits, and a 6-speed manual swap for good measure.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2000 BMW 540i Touring 6-speed on eBay

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1992 BMW M5 Touring

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BMW’s second generation M5 followed the same recipe as the outgoing E28; manual transmission, rear-drive, howling inline-6 under the hood. But the E34 was far from a copy of the car that was really credited with being the first super sedan. BMW upped with power first with the 3.6 liter version of the S38; though the increase in displacement was a scant 82 ccs, the result was impressive. BMW Motorsport GmbH fit a new cam, a higher compression head, and a new engine management system to yield 311 horsepower at a rev-busting 6,900 rpms. They weren’t done.

In 1992 M upped the capacity again, this time to just 5 cc shy of 3.8 liters. Even higher compression, a further revision in electronic management, and a few other odds and ends now netted 340 horsepower and 300 lb.ft of torque. Again, they weren’t done. Perhaps tired of Audi cornering the go-fast-5-door market with their 200 20V Avant, in 1992 BMW launched the M5 Touring. Production began in March 1992 and ran through 1995. All E34 M5 Tourings were left-hand drive 3.8 models, and a total of 891 were produced.

BMW opted not to bring the enlarged motor or the M Touring model to the United States, as the 540i took over the top rungs of North American production. But now legal for importation, these rare Ms have been trickling in:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1992 BMW M5 Touring on eBay

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2019 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring

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Last week I took a look at a very rare Porsche 911 Speedster that seemed to have a little bit of a color crisis. Seriously, after we posted the car the dealer literally altered the color of the car. That car now looks like Voodoo Blue, and I am not sure why. Either way, its not a good look for an official Porsche dealer to be altering or photoshopping the colors of cars for sale. Wanting to wash my hands from all this, I’d thought I’d check out another 991.2 that we actually know what the color is.

This 2019 GT3 Touring up for sale in Australia is painted in a classic 356 color called Meissen Blue. Judging by my fantastic Googling, this isn’t the first time someone has selected paint-to-sample Meissen Blue on a modern 911 or even a 991 GT3. I think the color is wonderful, and apparently do a lot of other people who earn significantly more than I do. Outside of this fantastic paint color, this is a GT3 Touring after all which means a bunch of other custom options that costs a bunch of money.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring at Classic Throttle Shop Australia

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2018 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring

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Last week I took a look at a paint-to-sample Porsche 911 that was finished in one of the wildest colors I’ve ever seen. There was no mistaking its flat out pink appearance and you weren’t fooling anyone if you tried to say it had a tint of red or purple in it. Today, I thought I’d check out another 911 in a paint-to-sample color, a 2018 GT3 Touring up for sale in Wisconsin. This color was the standard fee of what Porsche charges for custom colors of $12,830 only to have lots of other people decide they want to paint their GT3 this shade as well. What is this color? Viola Metallic. It is very much a silky looking purple that is very light unlike Ultra Violet. So while not off the charts crazy, still pretty wild. You in? If so, bring your checkbook.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring on eBay

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2000 BMW 540i Sport Touring Dinan Supercharged

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Update 10/18/19: This super supercharged 540iT sold for $11,100. Deal!

BMW’s continual refusal to bring the most powerful form of its its Touring/Sports Wagon historical lineup has been, as a 5-door enthusiast, pretty frustrating. That’s left Audi in the 2000s and Mercedes-Benz more recently to thoroughly dominate fast 5-doors, with the brief Cadillac interloper. But just because you couldn’t get an M5 Touring over here didn’t mean you couldn’t at least get M performance.

For that, though, you had to turn to fabled California tuner Dinan. No stranger on these pages, Dinan’s well-thought mods and clean execution earned his company a place in the revered showrooms of new BMWs. Cheap? Certainly not. Just the supercharger alone on this particular 540i was $16,000. But you get what you pay for, and the result when Dinan blew on the M62 was a claimed 400 horsepower. So this 540iT has the chops to back up its M5 looks:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2000 BMW 540i Sport Touring Dinan Supercharged on eBay

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1972 BMW 1602 Touring

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Update 9/5/19: This 1602 Touring sold for $18,300.

If you’ve missed the most recent bandwagon, it’s been firmly hitched to the back of the E30 Touring. Recently these cars passed the magical “25 Year” importation ban and have begun flooding the market. The reason is simple; they haven’t previously been available here, the E30 market is red hot, and they’re relatively dirt cheap in Europe. But if you really want to show up those bandwagon-jumping E30 hispters at the local show, why not look towards the original Touring – the Michelotti-designed, E10-based ‘E6’ 1600, 1800 or 2000 Touring models. Shortened by about 6 inches and with additional glass, the Touring had modern conveniences like split-folding rear seats and was available only for a short run between 1971 and 1974. It ran the full production line in engines minus the turbo; the most valuable examples are clean tii versions or the ultra-rare Alpina variants, but even a nice clean basic example of any shows just what a neat design it was:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1972 BMW 1602 Touring on eBay

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2018 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring

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Guards Red is one of those Porsche colors you can recite without thinking about. It was immensely popular on the G-body cars and naturally carried on to the 964, 993, 996, 997, and now the 991. I don’t think you’ll hear anyone argue it didn’t look good on those early cars, but now that the 991 is roughly twice the size as an original long hood car, you end up looking at a lot of paint. This seems to be true with the 991 with its extra wide hips and overall really big stature when it comes to what are suppose to be light, nimble sports cars. So when I saw this GT3 Touring come up for sale, I had to take a look. I think I’m still on the fence about it.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring on eBay

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2018 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring

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Back at it again with the paint-to-sample! Not to be outdone by last month’s Ruby Star 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring, we have another GT3 Touring painted in a color that I love: Brewster Green. This isn’t quite British Racing Green and could also pass as black when looking at it at night, but it is just green enough for it to stick out. Much like Ruby Star, this color did not come cheap. $12,830 to be exact. Porsche gladly took all that money, sprayed the paint, and smugly said “You should be thankful we allowed you to give us this money.” to the lucky owner for this car. Like last month’s Touring, this car breaks the $200,000 mark for the asking price despite having a sticker price of $195,000. What gives?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring on Rennlist

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Tuner Tuesday: 1994 Alpina B10 4.6 Touring

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While the B10 BiTurbo generated the headlines as the world’s fastest sedan, BMW’s replacement M60 V8 motor was making its way into production and the M30 inline-6 was on its way out. Of course that meant it wasn’t too long before Buchloe got their hands on one, and in turn it wasn’t too long before the B10 4.0 replaced the BiTurbo as the top offering. But a year later, Alpina had already punched out the block to 4.6 liters. Now generating 340 horsepower, the new B10 4.6 not only was as quick as the M5, it was considerably cheaper and less complicated than the BiTurbo had been too.

Like the 4.0 before it, the standard 17″ Alpina wheel treatment, upgraded suspension, larger and less restrictive exhaust, aerodynamic tweaks and unique interiors all made their way here. Also like the 4.0, the 4.6 was available as either a sedan or Touring, and as either a 6-speed manual or 5-speed Switch-Tronic automatic. A scant 46 were built before the end of E34 production, of which only 19 were Touring models – making this one of the most limited Alpinas produced:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1994 Alpina B10 4.6 Touring at Springbok.de

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