Tag: BMW Alpina B7

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

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

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

This is the newest BMW Alpina B7 unicorn I’ve seen CarMax offer, a 2014 “L” model for $39,998 – a good $100,000 less than when new just six years ago (or the price of a new Camry?).  It’s fully loaded, with auto cruise control, heads up display, lane departure, blind spot, heated/cooling seats, and even includes my beloved night vision. (I had to have it in my Mercedes S600 – I almost NEVER use it!)

Also has the full rear seat entertainment system treatment.  The rocket ship is good for 194 mph, or a 0-60 mph run in 4.2 seconds if you run outta room trying for top end.  Here’s the 2013 Car and Driver review.

I’m puzzled because CarMax has the 4.4l twin-turbo V-8 engine listed as 500hp, and every review I read says it pushed 540hp.  Obviously MaxCare is a must to protect against B7 bankruptcy.  For comparison, here are the other Alpina B7’s I’ve covered.

Previous Alpina B7’s at CarMax

In September, 2017 I spotted this 2011 B7 in Duarte, California, selling for $39,998 with 43,000 miles.

February, 2018 brought us a nearly identical 2011 B7 model in Los Angeles for $39,998 but with 41,000 miles (yes, had to check the VIN to make sure they weren’t the same!)

And in May, 2018 this 2012 B7, another California car with higher miles at 56,000, sold for a mere $33,998!  I predicted a quick sale and it went in a day.

In March of 2019 we saw this 2012 model for sale in Chicago at $40,998 with 49,000 miles (also had a $65k B6 for sale then too!)

May of 2019 we saw three B7’s for sale at the same time – a 2012 and two of the higher-horsepower 2014’s, all in the $40-48,000 range.

Wrote about this one  that was mysteriously sold in August 2019 for $37,998, and popped up for sale again at the same dealer for $39,998 this year.  No idea how that happened.

This 2014 two owner, accident free race car is available here in Charlotte, NC – a little frightened because I’m in Fayetteville, NC now.  An omen?

Blogged about this 2012 BMW Alpina B7 here in August, 2019 when it was selling for $37,998 – almost $100,000 less than new.  And now this unicorn is mysteriously up for sale again by the same Pompano Beach, Florida CarMax dealer for $39,998 – $2,000 more than it sold for by the same dealer in September, 2019. – and with another 1,000 miles on it   The vehicle history on the CarMax website clearly lists the car as having sold then.  Can’t believe it was returned under the seven day return policy and off the market for six months.  Not sure what gives – why it’s back and why the price increase – and the dealer won’t answer my questions on the phone.

In short, the 2012 B7 is powered by a 4.4 liter, twin-turbo, 500hp V8, a six-speed ZF automatic transmission, and all wheel drive. The car does 0-60 in 4.5 seconds and is limited to 174mph.  Maybe 500 imported annually.  It’s still a bargain IMHO, and still worthy of MaxCare to protect against huge repair bills.  Find it (still) here in Pompano Beach.  

I’m fairly good at spotting cars that will vanish in 24 hours or less and never be seen again.  Mercedes CL600’s and CL63’s, BMW M5’s with V-10’s, 10 year old Mazda B2300 pickups with 2,000 miles…..they go quick.  CarMax carries only one Alpina B7 at a time nationwide, usually, and today they have two.  They are also usually way above my unicorn level of $35,000 and 60,000 miles maximum.

This 2012 Alpina B7 (F01) is the only one that meets my criteria. Auto Cruise Control, 500hp hand-built twin-turbo V-8, 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, night vision, driver drowsiness detection, air leveling suspension – executive comfort, exclusive production – only hundreds sold in the US annually – and it sold new just six years ago for over $120,000!  Yes, there will be exorbitant repairs, and that’s why this car, like Guenther, my first CarMax unicorn (2004 S55 AMG) and Etta, my second CarMax unicorn (2008 911), this ONLY makes sense if you spend a couple of grand more on the MaxCare extended warranty and transfer all that financial risk to CarMax.  With that, you can be out the door for less than $40,000 and NEVER have a major repair bill.  Depreciation and MaxCare allow us to drive cars way beyond our means without going broke!

Find this two-owner car here in California – if the link is dead the car has either sold (and I predict by May 9th it will!), is on hold, or being transferred.  And for those new to the blog, per my Bio and Disclaimer please remember this is a hobby – I’m not affiliated with CarMax, make no money on this, not even ads on the blog!

From the Rick Hendrick BMW review in 2012:  “We drove an Alpina B7 and came away thinking the Alpina is the closest we should expect to come to an M7. We don’t expect to see BMW build an M7 because its size and weight would prevent it from achieving the sporty character BMW expects in an M model. Having the Alpina B7 means they don’t have to play that card. Continue reading “Will Sell in 24 Hours….Or I’m Buying and Flipping! – 2012 Alpina B7 Unicorn for Cheap.”

Who would of thought CarMax would carry these autobahn cruise missiles, and offer a five year 100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper MaxCare warranty?! Well, other than me.  The BMW Alpina B7 is in lieu of an M7, with the engine hand-built by Alpina in Bavaria.  The car sold for about $130,000 new and only 500 were slated for the US market in 2011.  You can have it for $39,998.  Stiffer suspension, 100 more hp than a 750, bigger wheels, and just more style. I usually cap my unicorns at $35,000, but this one is just a bit more and a bit rare.  It’s a two-owner Texas/California car with low miles.  Here’s the Car and Driver review from 2011, and here’s the CarMax ad – the car is in LA.  If the link is dead, the car is sold, on hold, or being transferred.