Alpina B10
A trip abroad revealed a weakness with LPG-converted vehicles...
From the stream of abusive text messages I was receiving, I got the impression that photographer Gus Gregory wasn’t exactly enamoured with our Alpina. It was the start of the French leg of evo Car of the Year, and by the time the rest of us had reached the Channel Tunnel, he was already in Reims.
Vehicles with LPG conversions aren’t allowed on the train, you see, so Gus was obliged to take an earlier ferry. But this, I’d surmised, was a top plan – he’d get to our first photo-shoot location early to recce the area, and on the way there he’d enjoy the effortless cruising ability of the B10 while utilising France’s extensive network of LPG stations. It didn’t work out that way, though…
Apparently the Alpina’s boot, which now houses the gas tank, was ‘2 bloody small’ for his kit, while a balancing weight had fallen off one of the front wheels causing a ‘f-ing wobble’ to be transmitted through the steering wheel. This was bad enough, but there was more – it turns out that the French use a different type of ‘soddin’ nozzle on their LPG pumps and, after repeated attempts at trying to make one fit, Gus was well and truly ‘peed off’. Uh-oh.
More reviews
Group tests
- Ravage Alpine A110: France's perfect sports car made even more perfect
- Alpine A390 v Hyundai Ioniq 5 N – are these EV crossovers fun as well as fast?
- Ariel Atom 4R v Ariel Nomad 2 – is grip more fun than slip?
- Ariel Atom 4R v Caterham Seven ‘evo25’: power-to-weight heroes go head-to-head
- Audi Quattro, RS2 and RS3: five-cylinder icons head-to-head
- Who makes the best GT car? Aston Martin v Bentley v Maserati
- BMW 230i M Sport v Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport
- Caterham Super Seven 600 v Super Seven 2000
- Great Ferrari hypercars driven: 288 GTO, F40, F50 and Enzo head-to-head
- Hardcore Ferrari V8 specials go head-to-head
In-depth reviews
- Abarth 600e review – electric hot hatch with surprising character
- Alfa Romeo Junior review – small Italian crossover to rival Ford's Puma
- Alpine A110 R (2023 - 2026) review – the flawed but fantastic Porsche Cayman GT4 alternative
- Alpine A390 review – France's flawed rival to the Porsche Macan
- Alpine A110 review – the sports car Lotus should be building
Long term tests
- How lowering the roof on the Abarth 695C is a threat to my driving licence
- Alpina B10: Alpina B10: end of term report
- Alpina B10
- My £200k Aston Martin DBX707 comes with a built-in shower I didn't ask for
- The subtle trick that makes Audi’s old interior better than a touch screen
- My Audi S8 can’t make me hate it, even if its safety systems are often terrible
- Living with this £40k Caterham Seven even makes the KFC drive-thru memorable
- Caterham Seven evo Edition revealed – bespoke 420R joins the Fast Fleet
- It has a VW Golf R engine, but the Cupra Leon is quietly old-school
- Cupra Ateca VZN Fast Fleet test – four months with Cupra's hot crossover
Reviews
- Abarth 695 (2012-2024) review – why we’ll miss Italy’s Mini Cooper S rival
- Abarth 500e 2023 review
- AC Cobra 289 review – British sports car with an American V8 heart built to fight Ferrari
- AC Cobra 378 Superblower MkIV 2021 review – another V8 Cobra, but with a GM heart this time
- Acura Integra Type S 2024 review – a Honda Civic Type R with added restraint
- Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale 2025 review – a rare Italian jewel beyond compare
- Alfa Romeo Tonale 2023 review – 276bhp Speciale version tested
It turns out that you need a little screw-on adaptor to make the LPG nozzles they use on the continent compatible with a UK conversion, and you should get one when you have your car converted. But our Alpina was missing its, and without it we had no choice but to run the car on unleaded for the rest of the trip – that’s why the equivalent mpg figure is lower than it ought to be this month.
Fuelling up with LPG during part one of eCoty, in North Wales, wasn’t quite as easy as it is in Northamptonshire either – the only station in Snowdonia selling the stuff is in Conway, which meant a 20-mile detour was required for each fill-up.
At least we knew this in advance, though, thanks to one of the many websites that detail the locations of all the LPG stations in the UK. Most of these give you the current price too, and it seems the very cheapest LPG can be found in the southwest, where the (so called) Countrywide chain operates. How does less than 50p a litre sound?
Running Costs
| Date acquired | August 2008 |
| Total mileage | 100,112 |
| Costs this month | £0 |
| Mileage this month | 3338 |
| MPG this month | 27.1 (petrol equivalent) |
