NEWS EDITOR GREG MIGLIORE: I've met Alpina boss Andreas Bovensiepen twice--once at the Chicago auto show and once for dinner in Switzerland. From the way he orders wine to the manner in which he showed me the B7 after its North American debut in the Windy City, it was clear to me that he is a man of detail and precision. Oh, and he won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 1998.
After a night in this 2011 BMW Alpina B7 xDrive, I would argue all of these traits transfer to the road in the B7. And it better be superlative because for this price, one is definitely paying for it. The B7 bridges the gap between the conventional 7-series and an M variant that doesn't exist. With the extra horsepower, Alpina's creation does, in fact, drive with more verve and vigor, and acceleration from this twin-turbo V8 is smooth and strong. The six-speed automatic is fine, and I rather enjoyed the push-button shifters that are easily operated via index fingers.