Unique Cars Australia – September 2019

88 TradeUniqueCars.com.au

“IT ATE UP THE CORNERS AT SPEED

AND FELT LIKE IT WAS ON RAILS

WHEN TACKLING THE TWISTY ROADS”

forlengthyperiodsoftime,noproblems
atall.
Thebodyshapeanddesignofthiscar
isprettytosaytheleast.It hasthatslick
sportscarlookandthenotefromthe
enginetomatch.It certainlydrewplenty
ofattentionwhenwewerecruisingon
thehighwaysandwhenwestoppedat
theservofortheusualfuelstops!

ALPINA:LiketheM6it provedtobe
animpressivecar,asit probablyshould
be,consideringtheupgradesit receives
whenit becomesanAlpina.
Thiscarhadmanycharacteristics
thatweresimilartotheM6,butexcelled
intheoverallhandlingcomparedto
theothercarsweperformedthetest
with.It simplyateupthecornersat
speedduringthehillclimbandroad
testandwassuperiortotheCSIandM6.

TheAlpinafeltlikeit wasonrailsand

rightathomewhentacklingthetwisty

mountainroadswedrovethroughinthe

roadtest.Thesteeringprovidedamazing

feedbackandwasonpoint,whichgave

megreatconfidenceinpushingthisto

themaximum.It neveroncegaveany

indicationofbecomingunstableand

wasverypredictable.

It providednice,smooth,userfriendly

powerduringthecomparisontest,but

leftmea littlehollowduetothefactit’s

sucha quietcaranddidn’tofferthat

enginenoteoftheCSIandtheM6.Don’t

getmewrong,thisisa verynicecarand

it getsalongjustfine,butI wouldlovefor

it toprovidesomeofthatsmoothBMW

enginesoundoutoftheexhaust!

Thebrakingsurprisedmeonthiscar

afterdrivingtheM6andperformedwell.

Onceagainit pulledupnoproblemsat

allandnotonceduringtheperformance

testsdidanybrakefadeora longpedal

comeintoplay.

AswiththeM6,theclutchand

gearboxwereeasytousefromtheget

goandveryforgivinginthewaythey

work.Thegearselectionwaspositive,

directandcoupledwiththatpowerplant

madeit pleasuretodrive,bothduring

theperformancetestandcruising.

Theclutchisreasonablyheavyasyou

wouldexpectandhada higherrelease

pointcomparedtotheM6andCSI,but

wasstilleasytouseduringallformsof

driving.

TheAlpinastylingiswhatsetsit

apartfromtheM6andtheCSI.With

thefuturisticwheelsandthefactit’s

finishedinallwhitemakesit looklike

anout-and-outsportscar.Thatcoupled

withthetimelessshapewouldattract

PERFORMANCE TRIO