2005 BMW Alpina B5 E61 Touring

One of only three right-hand-drive examples in the UK, this Alpina B5 E61 Touring is a very special car indeed. In the care of the current owner for the past two-and-a-half years, it is showing just three previous owners on the V5 registration document.

Production number 010, the car’s first owner was presented with an invoice for £71,000 by Sytner Nottingham, which was a staggeringly large sum back then but then it did buy them a staggeringly good car, and collected the car in person from Buchloe.

Now fresh from a programme of light refurbishment, the bodywork and alloy wheels are both excellent – and it grips like toffee to an army blanket too, thanks to a Quaife limited-slip differential and recent Michelin Pilot Sport tyres. The first owner (Alpina forum user: Heur) also specified an integrated tow-bar and roof rails delete for that sleek stealth look he desired.

The vendor is a genuine Alpina enthusiast and a long-term member of the Alpina Register/Forums. This example is just one of many Alpinas that he’s owned (B10 V8S, B5 saloon, B6 convertible, and a B3 bi-turbo) and its replacement is an ultra-rare B5 bi-turbo Edition 50. So, it’s fair to say that he knows his stuff and is truly bitten by the Alpina bug. In fact he has over the decades reduced his 930 Porsche collection to focus more of his time and passion on Alpinas instead!

The B5 Touring you are looking at now is one that he was already aware of thanks to an estimated 500 posts on the Alpina Register forum about it - all of which he read before buying it. As a result, he knows an awful lot about its history, the care and attention lavished on it by previous owners.

The second owner is a member of the Alpina Register as well (Alpini). He owned the car for a while but didn’t use it as much, unlike the third owner (another member of the Register and a friend of the vendor’s - Cook) who enjoyed the car so much that he often drove it to Germany and back instead of flying out there for business meetings. As a result, he kept on top of the car’s preventative maintenance, refreshing the rear brakes and suspension during his time with it.

The vendor has maintained this programme, spending an estimated £5000+ in the time he has owned it. This must make this particular example one of the most cherished, maintained and documented examples in the country.

Which makes it exactly the sort of car you should buy.

Black is the most unforgiving colour of them all, so when you see a car that presents as well as this then you know that there simply isn’t anywhere for neglect or abuse to hide; this is a beautifully curated estate that looks as good as many three-year-old cars.

Based on the E61 BMW the fact that its shutlines are as tight and consistent as they are isn’t a surprise; what that precision does do is reassure potential bidders that it almost certainly doesn’t have any horror stories to tell, something that is a constant worry when you’re dealing with a high-performance car that’s no longer in the first flush of youth.

Its flanks are free of ripples too, so we’re guessing the current owner is the latest of them to park at the far end of the Waitrose car-park when he does his weekly shop.

The chin spoiler, bonnet and front wings have been recently painted to get rid of the inevitable stonechips – and aren’t the new pinstripes gorgeous? Discreet and purposeful, they, along with the deep chin spoiler, hint at the car’s performance; if you know, you know…

The model-specific Alpina alloy wheels are minty fresh and in perfect condition following their recent refurbishment; we’re a bit anal about things like this and the sight of a set of scuffed and kerbed alloys can be enough to send us running to the hills, so it’s great to see that not only can the owner park a car without running his wheels against a kerb, he’s OCD enough to want to keep on top of their inevitable aging.

Our other pet peeve is cheap, mis-matched tyres on a high-performance car – but that’s not an issue here as the B5 wears the correct Michelin Pilot Sport tyres, all of which have good tread.

Oh, and it’s had a recent OE windscreen of the correct type for cars with a HUD (Head-Up Display).

As we have to be very picky to find fault here, we will say that a proper mop'n'polish would return the last 10% of shine to the paint that the last decade and a half have taken away. 

The Platinum Marino leather interior is as gloriously OTT as the exterior is subdued.

How OTT? Well, the Alpina seats are ever-so-slightly ruched, you know, like all those highly modified Golf GTIs we all lusted after in the eighties. But, ruched or not, there is no denying that they are in a fabulous condition and hold the driver and passenger as snugly as you’d hope from a car whose speedometer needle will be nudging 200mph when it’s flat out.

The gorgeous three-spoke Alpina steering wheel is present and correct, as are the dials, gearknob, door cards, and the build plaque that confirms this is car number 010 in the series.

The ‘wooden’ trim hasn’t been anywhere near a forest in its life, but it’s in fabulous condition and free of the sort of cracks and peeling lacquer that the genuine item is prone to…

The panoramic sunroof works as it should, opening and closing on the button and sealing tightly. The boot is as clean as the rest of the car, and the first aid kit is still wrapped in its original plastic!

Everything else is very good, which means a taut, clean headlining, great carpets, and all the electrical items working as they should. Say what you like about German cars, there’s no doubting their build quality.

In fact, it’s so good in there that we think there are only two issues for the new owner to resolve. The first is some very slight discolouring of the driver’s bolster. This is only a minor problem and fixing it should be cheap and easy but we can see it making its way on to the new owners ‘To Do’ list not because it is bad, but simply because the rest of the interior is so very good.

The second is the electric motor that extends and retracts the under-thigh support on the driver’s seat doesn’t work. The owner has been told that a new motor is in the region of £170; if he’s right then this shouldn’t be an expensive or difficult fix either.

The engine bay is dominated by that wonderful V8 engine, which bears the legend ‘Alpina B5 supercharged’. It’s bloomin’ clean too, but then you’re starting to expect that by now, aren’t you?

You’ll also probably be guessing that this is going to be a very short section; whereas we normally detail the work the owner has commissioned on the car, along with an assessment of its current mechanical condition, all we can say here is that it has been serviced on the dot and so is running beautifully and driving exactly as it should.

BMW chose to work with Alpina for a reason, and that reason is - it is very good at what it does, and what it does is to design and build very fast cars that just work. Forever. The vendor drove the car to our HQ with no issues, and we can vouch on our brief test drive that the car is driving just as you would expect.

In fact, the only thing of note is that the car has been fitted with a Quaife limited-slip differential. While Alpina fitted the earlier B10 with an LSD as standard, the B5 made do with the factory open diff. This wasn’t a huge problem, but retro-fitting a Quaife LSD makes a lot of sense for the keen driver and is a proven and accepted modification for the cost incurred.

The battery and waterpump are both new, so there should be no worries on those fronts for a good while.

Oh, and there’s a chap in Hungary who can rebuild the supercharger for a third of the cost of a new one; the Internet seems obsessed with the fact that the supercharger is known to leak due to failed seals after a (long) while, so it’s good to know that if this ever does become a problem the solution isn’t as expensive as you might think.

(please see over £5k of invoices now uploaded into the documents section of the gallery)

Correctly registered as an Alpina, the B5 has an MOT certificate that is valid until November 2020. The online MOT history shows nothing of concern whatsoever and confirms the car’s mileage.

The car comes with a number of expired MOT certificates plus an extensive service history with both BMW and independent Alpina specialists.

It also comes with two keys, the stamped service history booklet, original owner’s handbook, some sales and owner bumf, car cover and the beautiful Alpina storage wallet.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained in recent years to the very highest standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please contact The Market to arrange an appointment.

Heresy perhaps, but when it comes to buying an older high-performance BMW we’d almost always go for an Alpina over a factory ‘M’ – and cars like this are the reason we do that. Built to an incredibly high standard from new, it runs, drives and looks almost as good now as it did 116,000 miles, four owners, and 15 years ago.

Not that you’d know from the price we think it’ll fetch. With a guide price of £20,000 to £25,000, we can’t think of cheaper way to go this fast in complete safety. (Some of you are going to start thinking about TVRs, but they might be fast but are you going to trust your life at three-figure speeds to a car that was built in Blackpool and named after a chap called Trevor? No, thought not.)

And, because an Alpina is so well engineered we reckon you could keep it for a few years and get most, if not all, of your money back when you sell it.

And, if its condition isn’t enough to tempt you, can we remind you that it has a known history of being owned by enthusiasts, chaps who appreciate the engineering behind it and aren’t afraid to spend money when its needed in order to maintain the performance and safety for which the model is known.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Footman James for classic car insurance Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car and AnyVan for transporting it.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.

Please note that this is sold as seen and that, as is normal for used goods bought at auction, the Sale of Goods Act 1979 does not apply. See our FAQs for more info, and feel free to inspect any vehicle as much as you wish.

* Stats. from our “Top Trump” Card

Alpina B5 Touring 2005 

V8 compressor, 4.398 litres

500 bhp @ 5500 rpm

700 Nm @ 4250 rpm

tyres: 245/40 ZR 19 / 275/35 ZR 19 Michelin Cup Sport in front/rear

0-100 km/h in 4.5 secs. (62mph)

0-200 km/h in 14.5 secs. (124mph)

0-280 km/h in 41.1 secs. (174mph)

0-300 km/h in 52.7 secs. (186 mph)

Vmax = 310 km/h (193 mph)