Wait, a diesel engine that sounds great? Yes, they exist. Pump up the volume and hear the soundtrack of a 3.0-liter inline-six running on Devil’s fuel on the Autobahn. It started out in life as a BMW 535d (F10) before ALPINA turned the luxury sedan into the D5 BiTurbo. The talented folks from Buchloe unlocked 350 horsepower and 700 Newton-meters (516 pound-feet) torque. However, this car packs an even greater punch.
Indeed, this ALPINA D5 BiTurbo has been massaged to deliver 425 hp and a mountain-moving 900 Nm (664 lb-ft). The massive diesel punch enables the midsize premium saloon to reach 62 mph (100 km/h) in just 4.8 seconds. As you’re about to see, it’s also one of the fastest oil-burners out there after hitting a GPS-verified 167 mph (269 km/h).
This ALPINA D5 BiTurbo Eats Up The Miles
Despite racking up over 225,000 kilometers (139,808 miles), the D5 BiTurbo pulls like a train and is great to devour the Autobahn. Details about the modifications it has gone through have not been disclosed, but it does sound fantastic. Chances are the diesel particulate filter (DPF) has been removed to uncork the N57 engine.
ALPINA unveiled the D5 BiTurbo back in September 2011 before applying an LCI two years later. In early 2017, production came to an end. Within the same year, the G30-based D5 S followed with a trio of turbochargers. June 2020 brought the facelifted version still on sale today. Time will tell whether the next-gen 5er coming in 2023 will spawn a diesel-fueled ALPINA given the increasingly stricter emissions regulations.
Although the BMW Group is acquiring ALPINA, the latter will continue to build vehicles as usual until 2025. It remains to be seen whether diesels will still matter by the middle of the decade, especially with Euro 7 regulations due in the coming years. Meanwhile, the D3 S is still on sale, alongside the XD3 and XD4 crossovers.
Source: AutoTopNL / YouTube
