There’s nothing more expensive than a cheap luxury car because even though you benefit from depreciation, maintaining a high-end vehicle costs a pretty penny. This 2011 ALPINA B7 has lived a troubled life since we’re dealing with a repossessed car that has been neglected for years on end. Mind you, we’re not just talking about the missing rear window, faded headlights, or the scratches on the body.
Poorly maintained and with a flat tire, the super sedan has essentially an aquarium inside the trunk. Yes, the battery basically floats on water. More worrying is the V8 as even though the car was listed in running order, that wasn’t the case. The new owner who bought it from a dealer auction in Detroit shipped the car to LegitStreetCars to have it thoroughly inspected. To his surprise, the N63 wasn’t a lost cause after all.
The twin-turbo 4.4-liter with 500 horsepower on tap was supposed to be serviced all the way back in June 2019. You can easily hear the engine is misfiring, but that’s just one of the many things wrong with the B7. A quick check using an OBD scanner found no fewer than 243 issues. Attempting to clear them using the scanner’s dedicated app did solve the misfiring issue, but only temporarily.
It took more than just a software check, but nothing too expensive either. Adding fresh gas and ISO-HEET water remover did the trick as the V8 is now running smoothly. That fixed only a part of the problems since the ALPINA B7 still has many other glitches. Using the OBD scanner again brought down the number of issues to “only” 94, including a faulty ABS.
This ALPINA B7 Is Worth Saving
Fixing the hardware problems – including an ABS module replacement – costs about $3,800, according to LegitStreetCars. Add to the bill $400 to put a rear glass, plus a new rear tire and a paint job. They did try to make the scratches on the hood less visible, but to no avail. It looks as though the ALPINA B7 has been vandalized as some of the body panels appear to have been keyed.
Ultimately, a new check with the scanner showed only 18 issues with the car, down by a whopping 225 compared to the initial analysis. If the ABS module had not been defective, there would have been no warning lights on board. The car has 102,588 miles on the clock and can be brought back to its former glory without breaking the bank. Hopefully, it still has a long life ahead of it.
Source: LegitStreetCars / YouTube
