Tesla Model 3 vs BMW Alpina B7

What's the difference?

It’s been in Australia since 2019 and despite the arrival of a comprehensively upgraded version in late 2023, the Tesla Model 3’s once gargantuan popularity has been declining in recent years.

A seemingly never-ending influx of pure-electric alternatives, primarily from China, has eroded the mid-size sedan’s positioning as the go-to, best-value EV choice. 

But to its credit Tesla has again evolved the Model 3 proposition with the introduction of this Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive grade in October last year, at the time positioning it as “the longest-range EV in Australia”.

Since then, Tesla has adjusted the model grade name to Premium Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive.

Some additional tweaks, made in response to customer feedback, also illustrates the EV pioneer’s determination to step up in the face of increasingly fierce competition.

So, does this latest Model 3 do enough to earn a spot on your electric vehicle shopping list? We spent a week behind the wheel to find out.

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.