I see a lot of executive saloons around here and wonder about the decision making process leading up to such a purchase. Why, exactly, did that grandma want the S600? Was it simply that it was the most expensive, or does she secretly love twin-turbo V12s? Does the S65 really make that guy feel bigger than the guy in the S63? These are questions that may never be answered, but I do know that the guy in the Alpina B7 was more than happy to talk to me about it at several stoplights. He had recently taken it to Dinan’s headquarters just south of here, and after some Dinan love they went for an ill-advised 180-mph blast in 25mph zone. If I were a 1-percenter looking for the ultimate big sedan, Alpina is where I’d look too. They combine the right amount of styling improvements and curb-stomping power to differentiate without losing class.
2013 Alpina B7 XDrive for sale on eBay
You can check out the listing if you need to see the litany of luxo-tech options checked, but after a previous life of BMW Executive demoing, you can be confident is has everything possible. The Frozen Blue and ski-bag options set a theme backed up by the BMW’s XDrive, an interesting choice to help wrangle the 540hp and 538lb-ft. I’ve always wanted to be able to roast the rears in an Alpina, but if you’re in the top 1% and wish to continue rolling deep through the winter in your $150k ride, why not tick that last option box? If you see someone driving one of these, see if they’ll explain their motivations.
-NR
I’m not in that 1% group. It’s unlikely that situation is going to change anytime soon. So it’s fairly hard for me to even conceptualize spending $150K on a daily driver. However, if I could manage to envision dropping 150 large on an executive saloon, I suspect this would be it.
A couple of years ago, BMW was bonkers enough to include an Alpina B7 in their Komen Drive fleet, and they were even more bonkers to trust me with driving it a fairly long distance to the next dealer on the tour. It was like a locomotive – the power, the torque – from any speed to any (much) higher speed took just a few seconds. Very, very addictive.
I wonder how well the X-drive system handles all that power over the long run. I don’t expect owners of these to constantly be stop light racing, but still that is twice as many parts being put under stress. I was able to drive one of these, in standard RWD and this is what a 7 series should be for sure.
Luckily the B7s depreciate like crazy, so the older cars are within reach for the 99%
Excellent point, Brian. Massive depreciation on these high-end flagship cars means relative affordability as used cars, but…high-technology, high-performance cars like this tend to be far more expensive to maintain as they age. That double-edged sword means we need to choose carefully.
Much like the Audi RS6, BMW M5 V10, or pretty much any newer Mercedes, the only way to own one of these is with a very good warranty (read: new). If you have to wait for it to not be as expensive as it was new, you can’t afford to fix it when it breaks (note, when, not if….).
Drive the new Audi S8 and you can save a few bucks off the B7 and a whole lot cheaper to own when the trade in time comes