Yeah. Probably. At least if you’re anything like former Top Gear host Rory Read, who’s been driving the B3 Touring around some rainy B-roads.
As Reid puts it, in a video for Auto Trader, BMW hasn’t exactly been hitting it out of the park these days and their most recent cars feel less like the ultimate driving machine than the ultimate advertize-you-products-annoyingly-and-misunderstand-tone machine.
Worst of all, if you are going to get a brand new M3, you have to contend with that grille. And even if you don’t think it’s awful (there must be some people who don’t?) then you still have to explain all of the reasons why the car is good despite the grille to the people relentlessly mocking you online. And who’s got time for that?
Also Watch: Watch The Alpina B3 Lap The Nurburgring In A Touch Under 8 Minutes
The B3, meanwhile, is all silky goodness. Looks? Well, the grille fits, the color is excellent, the pinstriping is on point, and it’s all subtle goodness.
Performance? According to Reid, this feels like the Goldilocks driver that sits between the over-torqued AMGs and the a-bit-safe RSs. It can go faster than the M3 and feels just as exciting as you could ever want.
Comfort? The B3 Touring has a Comfort Plus mode that irons the bumps even more than the regular 3 Series. Moreover, Alpina has made little improvements, like adding a spoiler over the windshield to keep air from tumbling over the sunroof and making an annoying buffeting noise.
According to Reid, it has “an amazing duality of character. Like somebody with a mohawk under a top hat.” It’s the best of both worlds and it’s just cooler than an M3.