Category: BMW

Posted on

Quick Hit – Very Affordable 2014 BMW Alpina B7 L Coming Soon (Again)!

There aren’t a lot of BMW Alpina B7’s in the USA, maybe 500 a year are imported. Finding these unicorns on CarMax lots always surprises me – the only real specialty tuner they carry that I’m aware of. Clearly more rare than M-cars and AMG’s, even if performance is not all that different. Think of it as the almost M7 that doesn’t exist? This 2014 Alpina B7 L was maybe a $130,000 car new nine years ago.

Interestingly, to me, I wrote about this exact car when it was offered for sale by CarMax in North Carolina in July 2020. Here’s the link to that write-up. Three years ago it was offered at $39,999 and had only 41,000 miles. It’s dropped $9.000 in that time, was driven 14,000 miles – not much for three years, and best of all MaxCare is available for a fresh five years and up to 125,000 miles. That said, every BMW 7-series I’ve ever gotten a quote on the MaxCare was quite expensive – sometimes $9,000 or more. Would be worth it to be out the door for $40,000 for this very special car.

The interior is luxurious, but muted. There’s an Alpina logo on the steering wheel and the dash display but otherwise resembles a long wheel base 7-series. It’s fully loaded for 2014 with adaptive cruise control, heated and cooling massaging seats, heated steering wheel, and much else, all part of the Cold Weather Package, Driver Assistance Package, and Executive Package. The rear seats below are spacious and includes the DVD player. It’s not lost on me that most of these features are available on new Mazdas and Toyotas for about the same price, but there’s a real sense of “driving rich” in a car like this for the same price.

And long time readers know, I love no blanks or dummy switches where features should be, and not disappointed here. Has my beloved night vision assist, for spotting deer or ferrying Navy SEALS on night time raids in stealth.

The trunk is massive. Old school Cadillac large. This a car for road trips.

What makes the B7 roar is the 4.4 liter twin-turbo V-8 beefed up to 540 horsepower, almost a hundred more than the 750i of the same year and a few more than the V-12 M760i. It’ll hit 60 mph in the low four seconds and maybe push over 190 mph at the top.

Reviews don’t surface any shortcomings for the car and most mention the performance is in line with other luxury sedans from BMW and Mercedes. And yet if you like BMW’s, the nuance and exclusivity of having an Alpina B7 for the price of a Camry, and with MaxCare to shift repair risk from the owner to CarMax, then you might be interested in this high-performance low cost luxury liner. It’s coming soon to Norwood CarMax in Foxboro, Massachusetts. You can track it with this link or by the stock number and VIN below.

Stock No: 24753369 VIN: WBAYE8C5XED136529

Posted on

Happy Anniversary To Me – And a 1/750 2020 BMW M4 Heritage Edition to Celebrate!

Just completed my sixth year blogging about CarMax unicorns, my money losing hobby that leverages my enthusiasm for cars and being cheap. It started with Guenther back in 2013 so really 10 years into buying high-end cars and shifting the repair risk to CarMax with MaxCare – although as you know I just strayed and bought an unlimited mileage Mercedes CPO from a dealer. Promise I will replace my M3 in a few years with another CarMax unicorn, hopefully a Porsche 911.

Still holding steady the last two years with over 10,000 visitors to the blog annually, and this summer hit over 200 email followers and for that I am grateful. “Business” is down, as far as my writing, due to too much work, travel, my now completed search for a Mercedes replacement, and honestly I so hate the new CarMax app I find it painful to surf for cars. I’ll get over it. Hang in there with me?

My goal now is one unicorn posting a week, and I’m starting with this 2020 BMW M4 Heritage Edition sent to me by Mike back in July. He clued me in on the 1/750 limited edition and by the time I wrote him back it sold. Six weeks later it was back on a CarMax lot where it remains today. According to BMW it’s actually called the “BMW M4 Edition M Heritage“, and it mostly, but not all, is a special appearance package to commemorate the end of the line for the (then) current generation of M4’s. First, BMW says the special paint colors are “Laguna Seca Blue. Velvet Blue. Imola Red II. The distinctive paint finishes of the BMW M4 Edition M Heritage pay homage to the original colors of BMW M“. The cars also have special stitching and stripes and a dash plate indicating 1/750. We’ll get to that in a bit.

It would be unfair to suggest that since the Heritage is mostly an appearance package that it’s any less of an M car. In fact, all of the Heritage M4’s include the Competition Package, with a sweet 444 horsepower inline six cylinder and M-tuned adaptive suspension. To reduce weight the Heritage also gets a carbon fiber roof with an embedded red, white, and blue stripe under the clear coat. With the seven-speed DCT the car hits 60 mph in 3.8 seconds (not bragging….same as my GLE63 AMG – okay bragging a little).

The seats are lightweight M-seats and the interior fairly conservative. The car comes with a heads up display, seat heaters, Apple CarPlay and Harman Kardon audio. Leans toward performance over comfort features.

And here’s the “M Heritage Edition” badge. Tricky BMW marketers have listed every single one of these as “1/750” and I guess each car is one of 750, but not #1 of 750. If I’m going to pay for a limited edition, numbered car I’d kinda like the badge to be more exclusive – #34 of 750, for example – my high school basketball jersey number. Or maybe #4 of 750 since it’s an M4?

The car sold new for close to $90,000. Scrolled through a BMW M4 enthusiast forum and most posts preferred a straight CS model instead, and CarMax has a 2020 M4 with the Competition Package for thousands less (and check out this 2020 with a manual for $5,000 more). There’s also slightly older “vanilla” M4’s for $20,000 less than this Heritage. But if you’re a BMW M-fan who is happy to pay a premium for a BMW M4 Edition M Heritage, there’s nothing wrong with this one. It still has some manufacturer warranty and I’d still spring for MaxCare to 125,000 miles. It’s a two-owner car that’s on reserve here in Edison, New Jersey that for some reason isn’t selling. Wish I had recorded the sales price in July when Mike sent it to me!

Stock No: 24567415 VIN: WBS4Y9C06LFJ70934

Posted on

Quick Hit – 2014 BMW X6M² Unicorns

The only thing better than a cheap 500+ horsepower M-series SUV are TWO of these unicorns. It’s the third one that’s passed through CarMax in the last month but the third sold. Hence the X6M². Get it? Both of these are 2014 models, identical in performance but with one slightly better equipped. Both were once $95,000 brand new purchases and almost a decade later are to be had for the mid-$30k range. Why not by one for you and one for the spouse?!

The first one has a little higher mileage at 53,000, and costs $2,000 more, but has heated and air conditioned seats, rear sunshade, heads up display, and heated steering wheel. Both have navigation, AWD, rear view cameras, adjustable suspensions, and monster motors.

The 4.4 liter, twin turbo V-8 below makes a whopping 550 horsepower, and the six-speed automatic pulls this 5,200 lb SUV to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds. Damned fast for an SUV “coupe”.

This 2014 BMW X6M is selling for $38,998 and is available here in Houston. It’s a two-owner, accident free car that’s spent its entire life in Texas.

Stock No: 23862344 VIN: 5YMGZ0C51E0C40641

Continue reading “Quick Hit – 2014 BMW X6M² Unicorns”
Posted on

Quick Hit – Another 1 of 500 Alpina B7 Unicorns – $27,998

Almost a month ago we had a black 2012 Alpina B7 unicorn sell here in Rochester, New York, and now we have a nearly identical silver one for sale in Florida (it’s currently being transferred to Clearwater for a test drive). This one, though, has 5,000 less miles and costs $7,000 less. Selling for $27,998. As far as I can tell BMW imported maybe 500 of these annually to the USA at a price well north of $100,000. Here’s your chance to snag a rare Alpina for less than a Camry, and protect yourself with MaxCare for another five years and 70,000 miles.

I think this B7 brings me to 8-10 spotted in the CarMax inventory since I started the blog in 2017. Most were 2011-2012, although a few years ago we had a pair of 2014’s on the lot at the same time. Starting to think if you showed at Cars and Coffee and someone else did too, you’d both have CarMax logos on the trunk. Speaking of which, not a fan of the “Alpina” or “B7” font. Looks like stick ons from Amazon. At least it doesn’t have Chris Bangle’s bubble butt from bygone days.

The Alpina B7 is conservative and nearly indistinguishable from a regular BMW 750. A logo on the heated steering wheel and embedded in the dashboard display but not much else. The B7 has heated, air conditioned, and massaging seats, heads up display, lane departure and blind spot alerts, and of course, night vision assist. No adaptive cruise control, though.

The B7 also has rear DVD entertainment, even if it looks like the original Apple Macintosh from 1984.

Just like last month’s 2012, the 4.4 liter twin-turbo V-8 motor is good for 500 horsepower and with just a six-speed automatic and AWD pulls the car to 60 in 4.5 seconds. It wasn’t until 2013 that B7’s came to the USA with the 540hp motor pulling the big B7 to a 194 mph top end.

This 2012 Alpina B7 is an accident free, two-owner car. Oddly, when I looked at the history I see that the car was first owned here in Fairfax, Virginia a few miles from where I’m sitting, and the second owner had it in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where I first lived when I returned to Maryland many years ago. The B7 registration was renewed a year ago today in Maryland. It surfaced a few weeks ago (thank you, Hans) at CarMax and has been on and off the market in Florida. You can track it with this link here or search by the stock number or VIN below.

Stock No. 23559197 VIN WBAKA8C58CC446974

Posted on

Quick Hit – 2012 Alpina B7; A Real Unicorn

Enough econohatch faux unicorns. Getting back to something legitimately rare, high performance, highly depreciated, and a MaxCare must. A 2012 Alpina B7 sleeper. (Pardon any clunky formatting – doing this by phone at the airport to get it posted before it disappears!)

Not the first B7 we’ve spotted at CarMax (thanks Mustafa!) and yet always pleasantly surprised when these unusual cars are offered. Only 1,740 F01 models from 2011-2015 were imported.

Alpina modifications are subtle inside and out and the big BMW could easily pass for a 750. But Alpina makes the motors and ships them to BMW for installation, then the whole kit and caboodle returns to Alpina for final installation and suspension work.

The Alpina B7 is nicely equipped (for 2012) with heated, air conditioned, and massaging seats, heads up display, heated steering wheel, and even night vision assist. It does not list adaptive cruise control and when I get back will try to run the VIN. Would be surprised if it’s not there. Even has what looks like a vintage rear seat video system!

The 4.4 liter twin-turbo V-8 motor is good for 500 horsepower and with just a six-speed automatic and AWD pulls the car to 60 in 4.5 seconds. Plenty fast. This accident free, two-owner Ohio car sold new for maybe $125,000 eleven years ago and is only $33,998 now. MaxCare is probably not cheap and is definitely necessary. Can’t imagine repairs are cheap. Find it here in Rochester, New York.

https://www.carmax.com/car/23421485?utm_campaign=AppShareiOSShareCar&utm_source=AppShareiOS&utm_medium=AppShareiOS

Stock No. 23421485

Posted on

Quick Hits – Six Unusual Unicorn Sedans. Cheap Too!

Going to limit my comments to pithy short paragraphs or these interesting unicorns. I’m behind the curve on my annual drive to Florida for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona this weekend. If any of you are attending please give me a shout – would love to have a coffee or beer and talk cars. I was stuck in Savannah (I just can’t help myself with my alliteration addiction!) because my BMW M3 went on the fritz and had to drop into Critz BMW in Savannah for diagnostics and a fix. After a couple of odd startups and alerts that my battery was either disconnected or discharging while off the car wouldn’t start yesterday, and once started wouldn’t go into gear. Had coffee and pondered options while visiting friends in Santee, South Carolina, and a couple of hours later – fired right up, went into gear, and I barreled onto I-95 south. Critz was able to fit me in and sent me a cool video this morning of them walking around my car and diagnosing….a loose negative cable on the battery post. Ugh. $237. I gave Critz my MaxCare info but I think it doesn’t apply. Glad they fit me in and glad it’s solved. Will continue south tomorrow. Let’s get to the cars.

This 2013 BMW 550i caught my eye because it’s cheap at $24,998 and it’s a V-8. Always like sleeper sedans.

But eagle eyed readers Nate and Hans both shared it with me because although it’s listed as an automatic, it’s really a six-speed three pedal manual transmission car! I don’t know how rare these are, but I do know that’s cool as hell.

Handsome interior above and surprisingly well equipped, with adaptive cruise control, seat massagers, heated and cooled seats, heated steering wheel and more! CarMax says it has the cold weather package, the driver assistance package, and the M sport package. The car sold new for maybe $65,000 ten years ago. Below we see the 4.4 liter twin turbo V-8 that makes 400 hp.

On one hand, a 400 hp 6MT BMW sedan with decent miles selling for less than $25,000 seems too good to be true. And maybe it is. But Jared shared with me the N63 motor has issues that even MaxCare might not make up for. Sure they would cover the cost of repairs, but the car would be in the shop more than out. That became a hassle and disappointment with my original unicorn, the 2004 Mercedes S55 that I loved – when I got to drive it. Googled the N63 and found “There are several widespread issues with the BMW N63 V8 engine. These include oil consumption, fuel injector failure, timing chain failure, leaking valve stem seals, and fast battery drainage.” (thebmwstore.com) If this loaded 2013 BMW 550i 6MTis for you it’s currently being shipped to Ontario, California but you can track it here.

Stock 23542210 · VIN WBAFR9C52DC271574

Break – the BMW below is NOT the same car above!

Got this one from Mustafa and Hans. The most affordable V-12 we’ve seen in some time – a 2014 BMW 760Li for only $32,998. That’s a steal. This was a $140,000 car nine years ago and really captures my enthusiasm for unicorns – highly depreciated and foolish to own without MaxCare. I cannot imagine walking into Critz BMW here in Savannah when I go to pick up my M3 and ask if they’d give me a five year warranty for another 75,000 miles on a nine year old V-12 BMW.

This 760 is loaded as you can see below. Has adaptive cruise control (even though CarMax doesn’t note that), heads up display, lane departure alert, and even night vision assist, which I still dig for no good reason. The car has heated, cooling, and massaging seats. Oddly, CarMax indicates the 760 has both the Harman Kardon sound system and the Bang & Olufsen audio. It has the Bang & Olufsen, or “B&O” as Mustafa taught me. I believe the B&O is a higher level of sound?

The BMW 760Li does have the 6.0 liter V-12 motor making 535 hp. Not as much as I’d like – the modern M760 hits 600hp, but as I learned with my 2010 S600 that Jared stole from me anything above 500hp in a V-12 is just smooth, quiet power. With the eight-speed automatic the 2 1/2 ton sedan will still scoot to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. Sweet.

I believe you could be out the door with this 2014 BMW 760Li with MaxCare and taxes for $40,000. That’s unusual. It’s currently here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Not far from you Jared!

Stock 23541481  Â·  VIN WBAYG0C56EDZ04826

Wait there’s more! Enough with these Euro-sedans, let’s look east.

Continue reading “Quick Hits – Six Unusual Unicorn Sedans. Cheap Too!”
Posted on

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.

Continue reading “Quick Hit – Rare 198 MPH Alpina B6 On A Unicorn Budget”
Posted on

Ghost Cars – If You Didn’t Save Them, You Won’t See Them

I was corresponding with a blog reader buddy about the 2015 Mercedes S65 I had on hold and he was surprised it was out there – didn’t see it on the CarMax web page when searching for V-12’s. It reminded me of the peculiarities of searching and tracking unicorns on CarMax.com and the app. They operate differently but on both one can save cars to your profile as favorites. Once there, you still have visibility on the car regardless of status. On the phone app, a car might say “Currently Unavailable” after being saved with no further information. On my laptop, though, more information is provided on saved cars that are not “currently available“. The listing will share if the car is “reserved” or “shipping“, and if being transferred will indicate where it’s going. On the laptop web page it will also indicate whether a car is “sold” – but it doesn’t delete them.

For very special cars I’ll leave them in my saved section even after being sold and get pleasantly surprised when they sometimes show up again after being returned. On both the app and the web page you can see the latest price for the vehicle even if it’s unavailable, but only on the menu showing all the cars you’ve saved. Once you click on the car the price is “N/A”. Because of all this rigamarole I’ve been including the stock number and VIN when I blog. You can always search by the stock number and find cars that are “currently unavailable” and don’t show up when searching by brand, type, cylinders, etc. With that, here are a couple of “ghost” cars that remain in my saved file but haven’t been offered for sale in a while. They may or may not show up again as available.

Here’s a rare one, a 2017 Alpina B7 that was on the net briefly then went underground while being transferred to Raleigh, North Carolina. Not a lot of B7’s in the USA (a few hundred imported yearly?) and while it has the same horsepower as the V-12 M760i, Car and Driver described the B7 as “the quickest dealership-sold BMW we’ve ever tested, with 60 mph arriving in 3.4 seconds.” Say’s it’ll do 193 mph. FWIW here’s the link to the Car and Driver review, and it has a nice recap of how Alpina came to be.

Picture above could be the interior of the M760i or even the 750 – only real giveaway is the logo on the steering wheel and the cool Alpina graphic embedded in the speedo. This B7 is loaded with Apple CarPlay, adaptive cruise control, the Driver Assistance Package, Executive Package, and Luxury Package.

The Alpina B7 leverages the 4.4 liter twin turbo from the 750 but adds boost, special pistons, Alpina intake, exhaust, and intercoolers to get the 600 hp. It’s mated to an eight speed ZF automatic transmission.

Only 400 2017 Alpina B7’s were imported to the USA, and they were priced at $137,000. As noted, the ad says N/A for a price, but in my saved file it shows it’s selling for $59,998. That’s a helluva deal. Track this 2017 Alpina B7 here in Raleigh – currently reserved for some lucky buyer. Or maybe not?

Stock # 23467006  VIN # WBA7F2C39HG543846

Continue reading “Ghost Cars – If You Didn’t Save Them, You Won’t See Them”
Posted on

Quick Hit – A Pair of One Year Only BMW 135is Convertibles – Only 230 in US!

Was surprised to find a pair of these on CarMax lots as the 2013 BMW 135is was a one year only model, a US-Canada only model, and according to the BMW forums only 230 convertibles (and 586 coupes) were imported to North America. Makes this little drop top a bit of a unicorn? Review after review refers to the 135is as excellent example of the ultimate driving machine, a driver’s car, and a wonderful follow on to the E90 3-series – albeit almost six inches shorter. Alas, it is not a 1M – I’ve only seen one of those by CarMax.

The 2013 135is was pretty much the 135i with the M Sport Package and a not insignificant additional 20 more horsepower – 320 total, from the twin-turbo 3.0 liter inline six (N55). Mated to the dual-clutch transmission the 135is will do a mid-four second 0-60 mph run and top out at a governed 150 mph. The interior (above) is almost identical to the one in my 2013 M3 in layout, except for the goofy M6-style cupholder, guaranteed to dump your Big Gulp into the passenger footwell. Unlike my M3, there’s no “M” button on the wheel – this car is in sport mode all the time.

This blue 135is is an accident-free, two owner car from Florida and Massachusetts. Snowbirds? The 2013 BMW 135is sold for $45,000-$50,000 depending on options. Ten years later this drop top is on the lot at the CarMax here in Wayne, New Jersey for $27,998. It only has 40,000 miles. MaxCare is available until 125,000 miles and a full 60 months – a lotta motoring left to do. Thinking put the top down, thrash through some windy roads to a winery and slow down to watch the fall foliage. Any takers?

Continue reading “Quick Hit – A Pair of One Year Only BMW 135is Convertibles – Only 230 in US!”
Posted on

Quick Hits – Three BMW Three’s

With the novel done on my Mercedes S600 sale it’s time to get back to blogging about cars. And as much as I wanted to get one unicorn on the page (honestly it’ll be the ONLY post for September – pitiful blogger!) I stumbled on a couple similar cars that may be of interest, so without further delay here’s three BMW convertibles just in time for fall motoring.

This hot red coupe is a 2012 BMW M3 with the venerable V-8. It’s a hard top convertible with a dual-clutch transmission. BMW made the M3 with a V-8 from 2007-2013 – models before and after were all six cylinders. The M3 coupe pulls low-to-mid four second 0-60 mph sprints, but the hard top convertible’s several hundred pound additional weight unfortunately puts this M3 at five seconds flat. More later on why that’s okay with me.

The M3 interior is nondescript and yet comfortable and purposeful as with all BMW 3-series. Cupholders are crappy extensions from the dash and guarantee spillage on the transmission tunnel and passenger door. Seats have the usual Pop Tart holder seam between the legs.

There are three reasons to advocate the E9X series BMW M3. The biggest is the motor above. It’s a naturally aspirated 4.0 liter V-8 rated at 414 horsepower @ 8300rpm! The second is the hardtop convertible. Drop the top and you can hear that raucous engine wail. Top up it’s a fairly civilized coupe – just a few shakes and rattles over bumps although not bad at all. The third is – I own the one below and absolutely love it. Can’t say enough good things.

I have amateurish phone videos of me trying to wind out the gears in my M3. The YouTube video below is not me – it’s too well done. It captures the raw thrust and racket of the V-8. Makes me giggle.

This pretty red M3 sold new for maybe $65,000 a decade ago and is now here in Norcross, Georgia for $34,998. It’s a bit high in mileage – I paid $7,000 more for my 2013 and it had only 34,000 miles. If I wasn’t a procrastinator I would have shared yesterday a 2012 M3 for $32,998 with I think 37,000 miles. That would have been a steal except it sold today. I can share with you that I’ve put 5,000 miles on my M3 in five months as a daily driver and two road trips and it has not been back to CarMax for a single major repair. I bought MaxCare, though, and I’ll do my best to break it….in.

Stock # 22081850 VIN # WBSDX9C50CE784737

Continue reading “Quick Hits – Three BMW Three’s”
Proudly powered by WordPress