BMW Alpina B4 vs Chevrolet Corvette

What's the difference?

If you're looking for a sleek, two-door coupe with a sparkling chassis, rear-wheel drive and a charismatic turbo straight-six, BMW has you covered with about eight choices. That should be that, then. But wait. There's more. 

Since 1965, Alpina - the name of a resurrected a typewriter company - has collaborated closely with BMW to produce distinct, high performance Alpina-badged cars. It actually started with a Weber dual-carburettor unofficial conversion for the BMW 1500 in 1962 and over the years built into a racing operation winning championships and races like the Spa 24 Hours.

Alpina returned to Australian shores in 2017 after a long hiatus with a new range including the BMW 4 Series based B4. Not long after, BMW updated the 4 in what it calls LCI (Lifecycle Impulse), so Alpina followed suit with a price drop, new gear and called it the B4 S.

For many, Chevrolet’s repositioning of the engine in its Corvette from the nose to behind its passengers was a shock, although Chevy had seemingly been itching to make the shift since showing its XP-880 Astro II concept car close to 60 years ago.

But the idea of an electric motor in ‘America’s Sports Car’ was probably even more confronting.

However, when you add the critical detail that the petrol-electric hybrid E-Ray version of the current C8 Corvette puts out 488kW (655hp) and 806Nm, surely fears the end is nigh for muscle car enthusiasts ebb away.

The C8 ‘Vette has been with us for five years, blurring the line between traditional US-style performance and mid-engine Euro exotics, maintaining good ol' boy naturally aspirated V8 power but locating it between the axles, and in the E-Ray, hooking it up with a chunky electric drive unit up front.

There are potential changes on the horizon, with the even more thunderous Corvette Grand Sport X hybrid lurking in the wings. But right now, this is Chevrolet’s hybrid hero.

Could this cut-price supercar be your next four-wheeled piece of mechanical pride and joy?