Quick Hit – Rare 198 MPH Alpina B6 On A Unicorn Budget

Happy New Year! Quite surprised to see this 2015 BMW Alpina B6 unicorn for only $42,998 this week, and I owe it to Hans for the heads up. We’ve seen far more B7’s show up on CarMax lots than B6’s, and both have been limited to a few hundred imported to the USA every year. The only B6 I covered here was this 2016 model back in 2019, and it was selling for $65,998 with only 12,000 miles.

The Alpina B6 is almost indistinguishable from the M6 Gran Coupe inside and out. There is a front splitter, rear spoiler, and rear diffuser that are all functional and generate zero lift to the 198 mph top end reported by Motor Trend. The M6 is governor limited to 155 mph. There’s a cool logo on the steering wheel, the door sills and floor mats, and blue gauges in the dash.

This could be the interior of any 5, 6, or 7 series BMW at first blush. The last time CarMax offered a B6 I was tempted, but it was far from me and before having it transferred I took home an equivalent local M6 (back when CarMax allowed all models to go for 24 hour test drives!). I was surprised with the seat pushed back to accommodate my 6’4″ frame my noggin was way behind the B pillar, and getting in and out of the car required some contortions. I couldn’t imagine doing that as a daily driver and declined. Rear seat looks like a four-seater but I think I see seat belts for three in the back.

CarMax gives the car a 9 out of 10 for features and says it’s fully loaded. It has auto cruise control (adaptive cruise), heated and cooling seats, heated steering wheel, Bang & Olufsen audio, and heads up display, although it does not have the night vision assist that I so wanted on my 2010 Mercedes S600…and only used to show off to friends.

The motor (below) sets the B6 apart from the M6. Both have a 4.4 liter twin-turbo V8, but the B6 gets larger Garrett turbos and an air-to-water-to intercooler system specially made by Alpina. The B6 also has a special exhaust system and an eight-speed transmission with “Alpina Switch-Tronic tuning and steering-wheel buttons like the ones Alpina pioneered in 1993” per Motor Trend. The B6 also gets big brakes from the M760.

The 2015 M6 is rated at 560 hp and the B6 at 540. I’m a little disturbed that CarMax lists this 2015 B6 at 600 hp in the specifications section, because the B6 didn’t make that power until 2016 as far as I can tell. There were 50 special edition B6’s with 600 hp imported in 2015. This isn’t one of them. Regardless, this B6 will hit 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, helped by the AWD XDrive (the M6 is rear wheel drive only) and in a 2015 review Motor Trend called it the “fastest car BMW currently sends to the States”.

The 2015 Alpina B6 sold new for perhaps $120,000 seven or eight years ago – just a few thousand more than the M6, and is quite attractive at $42,998 with only 48,000 miles. The price is driven down by one accident, though, if that matters to you. The B6 spent its first five years in North Carolina, and in 2021 moved to Texas where it promptly got hit in the left rear. MaxCare is a must, and is available up to 125,000 miles and five years. This car has been available for several days now here in San Antonio, Texas.

Stock 23533528  ·  VIN WBA6B4C58FD986153