Alpina releases pumpedup version of X3 SUV

Okay, we are all for a sporty SUV. It’s a thing and has been since Porsche turbocharged the Cayenne and Land Rover got in on the action with the Range Rover Sport. And some of these sporty SUVs with plenty of passengercarrying abilities are great to drive.

But when you’re shelling out for something more special — and we’re talking top-to-toe custom house makeover here, rather than simple bolt-on body kit components — why would you choose to have the SUV version?

Why indeed. Although longtime BMW re-imaginer, Alpina, has gone ahead and provided the opportunity, anyway.

The Alpina XD3 is based on BMW’s mid-sized X3 SUV. In M40i format, the X3 is already a capable thing, with its straight-from-thefactory 3.0-litre turbo V6 offering up 265kW of power and 500Nm of torque. The Alpina re-fettle nets you a power gain of a rather slim 21kW, although it does boast a useful extra 200Nm of torque. Not that an Alpina-skinned SUV is probably going to be hauling tandem trailers full of camping kit.

The XD3 is on display at the Geneva Motor Show. You’ll know the show stand before you see the signage. It will be the one crowded with gents in their late 50s wearing caramel linen suits, sunglasses indoors and privately insisting their limp ponytail still ably represents untamed machismo.

At the end of this month, there is to be what we must admit sounds like an excellent event for any rabid Lego fan.

Slight catch is that the upcoming Brickman Awesome Exhibition is in Melbourne, so you’ll need to fly there to check it out. But if those hardy wee injection-moulded thermoplastic polymer blocks are your thing, it would appear this is a must-see show.

Ryan McNaught is the only certified professional — yes, professional — Lego builder in the Southern Hemisphere, and only one of 14 such craftspeople in the world. If you can build it, then this chap’s probably spent an unfeasibly long time figuring out how to.

One aspect of the Brickman Awesome Exhibition did have us wondering, however. Toyota Australia issued a breathless press release announcing that McNaught will build a full-sized block version of one of its cars. Sounds cool. Toyota 86? Land Cruiser FJ40? Old school Supra to celebrate the return of the nameplate? Um, no. The 1:1 scale Lego recreation will be a Camry sedan.

Hmm. Not that the Camry is an unworthy subject. There’s a nobleness to the millions of kilometres this trusted — but bland — workhorse travels in the name of sales calls around Australia and New Zealand.

But why would anyone spend 800 hours building a Camry out of Lego? McNaught is clearly creative, but we can’t help but wonder at the paucity of his ambition.