Alpina B10 3.3 Touring

Buchloe. If you have never heard of it, there is no shame in that, but in the right circles you whisper the name with the same reverence others reserve for Zuffenhausen or Maranello. It is a sleepy little town in Bavaria where, back in the sixties, Burkard Bovensiepen decided that BMWs were certainly good, but never quite finished.

So he set to work. Not as a tuner bolting on a few spoilers and a bigger exhaust, but as an engineer who believed it could be done better. Neatly. Discreetly. So discreetly that BMW eventually recognised him as a full manufacturer in his own right, complete with his own type approval.

That is the beauty of Alpina. While Munich's M division was flexing its muscles at the Nürburgring, Bovensiepen chose the gentleman's approach. An Alpina does not shout. An Alpina does not need to prove itself at every set of traffic lights. It is simply there, quietly faster, more comfortable and more exclusive than anything parked beside it, and the only one who knows is you. And perhaps that one fellow in the car park who raises an eyebrow at that signature Alpina front lip and the iconic wheel design.

Right, back to the car sitting here looking rather splendid: an Alpina B10 3.3 Touring from 2000. And yes, you read that correctly. An estate. Because Bovensiepen understood better than anyone that the true connoisseur has no need for a two-door coupé that swallows nothing. No, the real enthusiast wants a car that ferries the children to hockey, takes the dog to the woods, and on the way home along the M25 proves that an estate need be anything but dull.

Under the bonnet there is no standard BMW block, but an Alpina-reworked straight-six of 3.3 litres, good for 280 bhp. On paper that sounds modest by today's standards, but believe me, this is an engine from an era when power was still treated with respect, not simply rolled out of a chip-tuning box. A BMW straight-six ranks among the finest things mankind has produced, and Alpina managed to add yet another layer of refinement. Smooth, linear, and with a sound closer to a cello than a chainsaw.

And now the best news: it is a manual. At a time when almost every premium German was delivered with an automatic, this first owner deliberately chose three pedals and a stick. That alone makes this example considerably rarer. Because an Alpina Touring is already a story in itself, but a manual Alpina Touring is the kind of car collectors in Germany will drive through entire weekends to find.

The colour is Titanium Silver metallic, and it suits the character perfectly. Understated, timeless, and precisely the sort of class we have come to expect from Alpina. Inside there is leather, five seats, and those distinctive Alpina details that lift the mood from "respectable BMW" to "something someone genuinely thought about".

I must admit I have a soft spot for cars like this. Cars that do not reveal themselves at first glance, that you have to earn, that only begin to smile once you yourself know a thing or two. Anyone can recognise an M5. But a manual Alpina B10 Touring is the kind of car that finally lets you have a proper conversation by the coffee machine at a classic meet.

Granted, it has passed through a few owners and lived a life by now, as one would expect of a car of this calibre and age. But that is precisely the charm. This is no trailer queen allowed out only on sunny Sundays. This is a car built to be driven, and it shows.

This is the car for the man who has had it all, seen it all, and has since learned that the finest things do not force themselves upon you. The barrister who, for once, does not want a Cayenne. The collector who knows the next generation will only then grasp its true worth. The enthusiast who understands that exclusivity lies not in how many people recognise your car, but rather in how few.

Anyone who understands what Buchloe means need not really read the rest of this story at all.

Notable features

• Rare Alpina B10 3.3 Touring from 2000
• Manual, and therefore twice as rare
• Alpina straight-six, 280 bhp
• Titanium Silver metallic
• Leather upholstery, five seats
• A genuine Alpina, no after-market tuning
• Practical estate with enthusiast DNA
• Margin scheme car
• The kind of car that has collectors in Germany dreaming

With a double espresso and Bavarian precision in mind

Nick Slinger

Copywriter · HooG Selections