Is Alpina’s version of the BMW Z8 roadster a rare car, you say? Perhaps, but it so happens that right now, there’s an Ohio dealership currently offering five of them for sale!
And no, it’s not the folks from Enthusiast Auto Group who have sky-rocketed prices of certain BMW models and especially those with an M badge, but another Ohio-based dealer called Marshall Goldman.
Oh, they also have a regular manual-gearbox BMW Z8 roadster, which puts the total to…six cars, but we’ll focus on the five Alpina Roadster V8s (that’s the official name) here.
You can pick from two black on black models, one with a black exterior and crème interior, a black on red and a silver on black with their mileage varying from 2,754 miles to 9,745 miles.
Prices range from $359,900 to $378,000, which is pretty amazing if you stop to think about when the car was sold in the States during the 2003MY it had a starting MSRP of $137,595.
Now, whether you would choose the Alpina model over the regular BMW Z8 is another story, one that concerns your powertrain preferences and suspension setup.
You see, while the Z8 featured the same 400PS (395hp) and 500 Nm (370 lb-ft) 4.9-liter V8 hooked up to a six-speed manual as the E39 M5, Alpina took a different path replacing it with the E39 540i-sourced V8 engine found in its B10 V8 S sedan. The V8 was bored to 4.6 4.8-liters producing a lower output of 381PS (376hp) but higher torque at 520Nm (383 lb-ft), while the only available transmission was the five-speed Steptronic automatic.
According to Alpina, the Roadster V8 could hit 100km/h (62mph) in 5.3 seconds and top out at 260km/h (162 mph).
Alpina also gave its Roadster a softer suspension set up, 20-inch wheels on conventional (instead of Run Flat) tires, bespoke upholstery, blue instrument panel gauges, and a re-trimmed steering wheel.
Out of a total production of 5,307 BMW Z8 models from 1999 through 2003, Alpina put their badge on 555, with 444 of those landing in the States. Notably, the Roadster V8 was the very first Alpina model to be officially sold in the USA.