2016 BMW Alpina B6 xDrive Gran Coupe Gets More Power and Dynamism
/By Robert Sorokanich - Car and Driver
It’s tough to write a press release about a lightly updated car. If the announcement is too short, it sounds terse—it makes 60 more horsepower, now leave me alone—and if you leave out the important details, you risk sowing confusion among the enthusiasts. BMW partner Alpina ran in the opposite direction with its announcement of the 2016 updates to the B6 Gran Coupe. The word “dynamic,” or some variant thereof, appears fifteen times in the car’s press release. That’s a lot of dynamism.
So, top-line items: Based on the BMW 6-series Gran Coupe, a 5-series sedan masquerading as a swoopy coupe and fooling nobody, the Alpina variant gets shipped as a body-in-white to Alpina’s shop, where it’s upfitted with a custom drivetrain, appearance package, and interior.
Last year, the underhood bit meant a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 with 540 horses and 540 lb-ft of torque. Compared to the BMW M6 Gran Coupe, last year’s B6 had 20 fewer horses but 40 additional lb-ft. It also had all-wheel drive and a traditional torque-converter eight-speed automatic, two options that can’t be had on the M6. All in, the 2015 B6 was a little slower and a little less grippy than the M6—although it’s hard to criticize a car that runs the zero-to-60 sprint in 3.7 seconds and grips to the tune of 0.92 g, numbers we extracted during our test of the 2015 B6 GC.
This year? The B6’s horsepower jumps to 600, thanks to significant intake and fuel-system revamping. Torque surges to 590. The power goes through the same eight-speed auto to the same xDrive all-wheel driveline, but the rear tires are now 295s, a 10-mm increase in width. The fronts stay the same at 255, with gorgeous 20-inch, 20-spoke Alpina wheels still fitted at all four corners. Oh, and the front chin spoiler is redesigned, the grille kidneys are a smidge bigger, and the hood’s character lines are more pronounced. These tweaks follow BMW’s refreshes of the 6-series coupe/convertible, Gran Coupe, and M6 lineup for 2015.
Alpina says the additional power will hurtle the big-body Bimmer to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, on its way to an electronically limited 200-mph top speed. That makes the B6 the top velocity dog in the 6-series Gran Coupe hierarchy, outmuscling the 560-horse, dual-clutch-packing, rear-drive-only M6 GC with its paltry 155-mph top speed. If the press-release verbiage is any indication, it might out-dynamic the M6, too.
When we first drove the 2015 B6 Gran Coupe, its standout quality was just how different it felt from behind the wheel in comparison with the M6. With the torque-converter automatic, a more forgiving suspension setup, and a slightly less aggressive personality, the B6 feels more livable than the M model while still offering wicked performance. It was charming, a reminder of the soft-in-a-good-way feel that marked the earliest M cars. Will a stonking 600 horses change all that? We’ll have to slide behind the wheel to find out.
