The Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) is always one of the best car shows of the year, especially for German brands. Maybe it’s a home-town thing but zee Germans seem tend to flex a bit more in Frankfurt. BMW certainly did, with a couple of big debuts of its own. One of them being the ALPINA B3 Touring, which actually made Carfection’s list of the best cars from the 2019 IAA.
Based on the new G20-gen BMW 3 Series, the ALPINA B3 Touring is the fastest, most exciting 3 Series wagon that will go on sale. Because BMW won’t make an M3 Touring, despite all of the enthusiast complaining, the B3 Touring takes it place. However, that’s not such a bad thing, as the ALPINA B3 Touring is awesome.
Under its hood actually lies BMW’s new S58 engine, which is the M Division’s take on the B58 engine. It’s rare that you see ALPINA use a BMW M engine, as the brand usually modifies standard BMW engines. However, for B3-duty, it actually gets a slightly detuned version of the S58. It’s detuned because it actually only makes 462 hp, rather than the 473 in the BMW X3 M or the 510 in the X3 M Competition. Still, that’s plenty of punch and more than enough to make it fast. Plus, it makes a whopping 516 lb-ft of torque, or a lot more than the X3 M.
What’s even more interesting about the ALPINA B3 Touring is its place among its peers. At the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, it seemed like the unofficial theme was electric vehicles. Almost every exciting new car was either entirely electric or a concept for the future of electric mobility. Yet the B3 was like the last bastion of the past, especially in the color scheme it was in, with its green paint and cream interior. It just looked very old school.
The ALPINA B3 Touring is an awesome car and one we can’t wait to drive. So we’re happy to see it get some love as one of Carfection’s standouts from the 2019 IAA.
