At the launch of the Alpina B4 Gran Coupé, Alpina’s engineers and marketers pulled up a few charts showing pricing comparisons with rival vehicles. (Even if they’re selling a niche expensive product, it’s still a competitive marketplace.) They’re talking Audi RS models and Mercedes-AMG cars, and mostly quietly overlooking the M variants of BMW.
But when it came to the B4 Gran Coupé, or a D4 diesel alternative, or the B3/D3 3 Series-based saloon and estate models, or the B8, there weren’t a lot of rivals. Usually just one.
The short of it is that there aren’t many low, fast and expensive but practical cars. True, it doesn’t help that there isn't a Mercedes-AMG C63 on sale at the moment. But there was a notable dearth of metal.
And then the charts swapped to Alpina’s SUVs, like the XB7. And lo, there were usually four, five competitors at least. Loads of tall, fast 4x4s. What a state. Look, I know people want them – and I had a go in an XD4 on the road and for an SUV it was very good to drive – but if you’re thinking about buying one, please remember that low cars are so, so much nicer.
Big cars for big money
I’d been wondering who bought all these new Mercedes-AMG G-Classes. I live near-ish to Bicester Village shops so have seen a few, usually on a private ‘4D’ numberplate (actually 3D), but last week I was in west London after dropping a test car back to a dealer. And now I know where they all end up: there were G-Wagens everywhere.
Now, I’m not about to go around letting your tyres down at night, lads, but as I sat watching someone park one, and then somebody else try to slot a Range Rover into a parking space, I thought: you really have bought the wrong car for this location.
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Agree with pretty much all the comments. Reality is people like SUV's, and lets be honest, most people, not all, but most people secretly want the biggest and fastest irrespective of where they live, or try to park. Like it or not, big SUV's are the status symbols that Granada Ghia's and Capri 3000S were in the 70's. Most people are not enthusiasts, so purity, engagement and handling count for zip. Riding in a shiny new BMW X7 shows you've arrived!
I wonder what on earth Matt is talking about here. Virtually every new car on sale today is a fast, practical car. There have never been more cars on sale with inappropriately or unnecessarily high powered engines. A mid-range ICE hatch or SUV will do 0-60 mph in 7 or 8 seconds, and plenty will do it quicker than that. Many electric cars are capable of acceleratinf faster than most drivers skills can keep up with. Do we need so many cars to be so fast ? Of course not. It's ridiculous, and not at all good for the planet's resources.
I'm sorry but this generation is really a 3GT being marketed as a Gran Coupe. Twinning it with the i4 has ruined the concept of the Gran Coupe such that it is now taller than the saloon. Nonsense.
Such a shame as well as I'm a big fan of 4/5 door coupes.