BMW Alpina B7 vs Subaru WRX

What's the difference?

You know when you're walking along the footpath and you come to a soft spongey bit that the council have put in around a tree and your mind goes: "Whoah, the ground is bouncy but it looks just like bitumen?!"

Well that's the kind of response you'll get from people when they think they're looking at a regular BMW 7 Series, only to have their world go a bit bouncy when they see the Alpina B7 badge on the back of this car as you're overtaking them at Warp Factor 9000.

And you will be overtaking them like a blur because, thanks to the elves at German tuning house Alpina, the B7 is hugely fast for a five-seat, 5.3m-long, 2.2 tonne limo. But then the B7 is fast for any type of car of any dimensions, because with its 330km/h top speed this beast will outrun a McLaren 570GT. Yes, seriously.

Based on the BMW 750Li long wheelbase, the B7 begins life rolling down the same production line as a regular 7 Series. Alpina then goes on to make so many changes to the engine and chassis that the German government requires the BMW VIN to be replaced with a new one.

Ready to find out more? Well there's so much to see here that things may go a bit weird and bouncy again. Be prepared.

The Subaru WRX – do we even need to introduce this iconic beastie at all? With its rally winning roots to being a legend in its own suburb, the ‘Rex’ is a sports car that’s affordable and fun – although the one we’re testing here is one of the pricier versions: the WRX tS Spec B.  

So what is a tS Spec B? Well, the old king of the WRX world – the STI – was retired at the end of the previous generation. Now this new grade – the tS Spec B – is the new WRX monarch. 

So does this mean the tS Spec B has more superpower than the rest of the line-up? Does it have a bigger engine? How much more does it cost? Does it have a manual gearbox? So many questions – the answers are below.

 

 

 

 

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