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The Alpina B8 4.6 is something of a legend. While these days we tend to associate Alpina with turbocharging and automatic gearboxes, the B8 4.6 has a naturally aspirated V8 with a six-speed manual ‘box. It was a car that BMW thought couldn’t be built - after all the E36 M3 had a straight-six - but Alpina proved them wrong.

In this episode of The Driver’s Seat, Henry Catchpole takes an Alpina B8 4.6 to the mountains in Austria to find out if the experience behind the wheel lives up to expectations. Driving on the incredible Hahntennjoch pass he finds a car of quite extraordinary breadth and capability. Far from the hot rod you might expect, it has sublime balance in the corners as well as straight-line performance. It has everyday usability as well as a setup to entertain on a good piece of road. This is not just a Sunday morning blast sort of car.

We also talk to Alpina’s CEO, Andreas Bovensiepen, about the origins of both the B8 4.6 and Alpina itself. We take a tour of the factory and draw a link between cars, typewriters and wine, before heading to the wonderful engine workshop to see the V8 outside of the car. Andreas also talks us through the history of the famous multi-spoke Alpina wheels and shares a funny story about his father (who founded Alpina) and Niki Lauda at the Nurburgring