This 2025 BMW Alpina XB7 is an odd case. I adore it, yet I’m struggling to string together cogent thoughts about it. How do you stretch out, “it does everything the best and if you have the means, I highly recommend it” over 1,000 words? The craziest thing is that under $200,000 as-tested, the XB7 is—and I can’t believe I’m saying this about an Alpina of all things—a value proposition in the bizarre realm of ultra-luxury SUVs. So, “the means” aren’t even that dear, albeit in a very relative sense.
Let’s backtrack a little bit. What even is an Alpina?
The first time I learned about Alpina was while reading a Road & Track. It was an article about the Alpina Roadster V8, their first vehicle in the U.S. based on the M5-derived Z8. It took a very unique tack, dropping the M5’s high strung powertrain in favour of a worked over M62 V8 that made less peak power, but more torque. It also ditched the six-speed manual in favour of a five-speed automatic, and had softer suspension tuning and more exotic leather for the cabin. Where literally every tuner pursues more performance and a harder edge, Alpina went the other way—and the review was glowing. Despite giving up a lot of its measurable edge, this massaged Z8 supposedly drove even better and was a fabulous cruiser.
While Alpina and BMW’s in-house M division both have origins in racing, Alpina has always taken an approach that focuses more on touring capability and distinct style, rather than trying to make road cars out of race cars, or vice versa. It’s an approach that’s always been cozy with BMW, as they’ve honoured the factory warranty on Alpina-modified vehicles since their very first endeavours back in the 1960s. Heck, as of a couple of years ago, they’ve grown cozy enough to share the same corporate umbrella.
Usually, completed vehicles are sent to Alpina’s facility in Buchloe, Germany, for modification. The XB7, however, is built and finished on the same assembly line in South Carolina as the “lesser” X7. Despite this, every vehicle is finished by a small team trained directly by Alpina to deliver the same white-glove treatment for their very specific, hand-finished touches. The same very specific, hand-finished touches that make the XB7 pop like no other SUV.
These touches start up front. The very prominent Alpina name emblazoned into the custom lower fascia is a nod that goes back to their very first and very successful race cars. The remarkable paint on this vehicle is exclusive to Alpina, and given the very unremarkable name of Apina Green Metallic. It’s a pearlescent base coat that blends dark green and dark blue, with a bright green metallic flake. The finished product is mesmerizing under any light; it’s tasteful and subtle in the shade and overcast, and screams under any light bright enough to bring out the metallic sheen.
Similarly bright is the satin aluminum trim all over the body. A welcome reprieve from the gloss black that’s taken over car design because that’s “sporty”, it sings against the gorgeous green paint and gives the XB7 a very distinct, polished presence that puts the bright in brightwork. It’s a curious thing because between the paint, the brightwork, and Alpina’s signature wheels, the XB7 carries itself with the panache and charisma typically reserved for a classic car, despite being very much a modern vehicle. [You can spec gloss black trim on the XB7, but you’d have to be a monster do so. —Ed.]
It delivers its thoroughly modern performance with a similarly classic charm. The 4.4-litre, twin-turbocharged, mild hybrid V8 is pumped up to 631 horsepower in this application, courtesy of Alpina’s handiwork in the form of larger turbos. Don’t get me wrong, this is absolutely lovely, but a ridiculously fast BMW isn’t news. What makes this so memorable is the Alpina-tuned exhaust, providing a beautifully brawny backing vocal to everything the XB7 does. It masterfully blends muscle and musicality; it’s noticeably louder than the X7 M60i, but never loud. It sounds tough, refined, and classically mighty, with a heaving, deep-throated burble that most manufacturers have lost touch with.
It’s not all about muscle with the XB7, though—it never has been at Alpina. The chassis has been recalibrated as well, though if I’m being honest, the X7 M60i is such a work of genius that it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly Alpina did differently. Either way, the XB7 handles far, far better than something this size has any right to. Unlike other SUVs at this price point, the XB7 never feels like it’s trying too hard to be something it isn’t.
Just as much as Alpina means performance, they’ve always made a name for themselves with style and gorgeous interior appointments. The XB7 is no different; I love that there’s no carbon fibre or much in the way of piano black by default. It’s all classic wood, leather, and metal; the wood is a natural, rough-grain anthracite walnut that looks sharp and breathes a lot of old-world charm into the cabin without looking at all old. The leather is BMW’s softest Merino variety dyed in a beautiful caramel-like shade called Tartufo, helping create a rolling cigar lounge aesthetic. It also bears mentioning that the steering wheel leather specifically is the softest and most sumptuous I have ever felt, stitched together in blue and green—a nod to Alpina’s classic colours.
Everything is tied together with bright metallic trim, finished with a tiny Alpina crest on the far side of the dash and a bigger badge proudly adorning the centre console. Then there’s the BMW stuff, like a crisp iDrive screen, the brilliant heads-up display, a Bowers & Wilkins Diamond audio system, and accent lighting embedded into the panoramic roof for a real wow effect. Alpina’s touches on the already superfluous X7 really make it stand out and pop, truly feeling special and unique, well worthy of it’s $195,500 as-tested price tag.
Yes, that’s a lot of money, but a comparably equipped Mercedes-AMG GLS 63 stickers for about the same, and a Range Rover Autobiography is considerably more dear. Neither can match the power of the Alpina, nor can they hold a candle to its exclusivity, driving dynamics, or outright drip factor. I really liked the X7 M60i, but I wasn’t sure if it could really stand up to the established heavyweights at the top of the class. I was worried it lacked that last nth-degree of exclusivity and perhaps more importantly, a real sense of swagger to really bring the fight to the big kids.
It doesn’t have to, because that’s the job of the 2025 BMW Alpina XB7—and it knocks ’em dead.
