The BMW M3 Touring: A Performance Station Wagon Like No Other

As we take a closer look at the BMW M3 Touring, it's clear that this car is not just a station wagon with an M badge slapped on it. No, this is a full-fledged performance car that's designed to tackle even the most challenging weather conditions. With its four-wheel drive system, this M3 can take on roads that would be treacherous for lesser vehicles.

When we put the M3 Touring through its paces, we were blown away by its performance. The launch control feature, which is typically reserved for high-performance sedans and coupes, was surprisingly effective in this wagon. We managed to get from 0-100 km/h in just 3.5 seconds, a blistering time that's all the more impressive considering the car's weight - over 1900 kg.

This performance is, of course, thanks in no small part to the four-wheel drive system. BMW claims that this feature allows for a "decent launch," but we can attest that it's so much more than that. With the system engaged, the M3 Touring feels like a completely different animal - one that's capable of handling even the most challenging terrain with ease.

But performance is just half the story. The M3 Touring also handles beautifully on paved roads. It's a true driver's car, with a chassis that's both responsive and stable. Whether you're carving up twisty mountain roads or cruising down the highway, this car feels planted and connected to the road in a way that's hard to describe.

One of the most impressive things about the M3 Touring is its balance. This car can slide all over the place - literally. With the rear-wheel drive system and the weight of the car shifted to the back wheels, it's not uncommon to see massive drifts on even the simplest turns. And yet, despite this tendency to slide, the car always feels remarkably stable. It's a testament to BMW's expertise in handling and chassis design.

Of course, no discussion of the M3 Touring would be complete without mentioning its top speed. With a claimed 288 km/h and a real-world top speed that's close behind, this car is certainly one for the thrill-seekers among us. But it's not just about raw speed - it's also about the way the car feels when you're pushing it to its limits.

The M3 Touring has some notable drawbacks, however. One of the biggest issues is the brake fade. When we put the car through a series of hard braking maneuvers, the brakes started to feel warm and spongy almost immediately. This isn't just a minor issue - it's a serious concern that could make this car less than ideal for certain drivers.

Finally, there's the question of digitalization. BMW has been increasingly pushing electronic features into its cars in recent years, and the M3 Touring is no exception. While we can appreciate the convenience of certain features like adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning, we're not fans of the "over-engineered" approach that sometimes results in cars that feel more like luxury sedans than genuine performance machines.

Despite these drawbacks, the BMW M3 Touring is an incredibly impressive car. Its performance is unmatched by many of its competitors, and its handling is among the best in class. Whether you're driving on twisty mountain roads or cruising down the highway, this car feels like a true driver's delight. And if you can find one to buy - which, admittedly, might be a challenge - it's an experience not to be missed.

As we took the M3 Touring for a spin, we couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and adventure. This car is designed for drivers who crave speed and performance above all else. And while it may not be the most practical choice for everyday driving (after all, who needs a 1900 kg station wagon?), it's certainly one that will get your heart racing.

In terms of modifications, there are plenty of options available for this car - everything from downpipes to mid-pipes and even more extreme exhaust systems. We've worked with Max on several M3 projects in the past, and his team is always happy to help. Whether you're looking to squeeze out a few more horsepower or just want to make your M3 Touring sound better than ever, we've got you covered.

The BMW M3 Touring is an incredible car that's designed for drivers who crave performance above all else. With its four-wheel drive system and incredible handling, it's a true tour-de-force that's not to be missed. Whether you're a seasoned collector or just a fan of great cars, the M3 Touring is definitely one worth checking out.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's up ladies and gentlemen and welcome to this POV review by Auto now my name is Max and today we are taking a look at this it's finally here the BMW M3 touring oh my God this thing is so freaking cool and the way we got it is even cooler because this is Max's Car and Max is a viewer who just got the first service at 2000 or 2500 kilometers and then said you are the first ones to drive it after that uh on the Autobahn which is just amazing and he said well yeah I always watch your videos uh so I'm happy that I can do something back for you which that is just so wholesome and I really really appreciate that so thank you Max you've got a really cool name as well so uh yeah all route very cool guy today I'm going to show you around this new M3 touring of course BMW never made this we have been complaining about that we have been asking for an M3 touring for years now they actually made an E46 M3 touring a one-off but they decided to not take it into production and uh well that is just a bummer because I think this is such a cool car I think it works really really well with the wider arches uh it is longer wider and lower than a regular 3 Series touring it just looks the business and especially in this skyscraper grape which is a really good color actually I think for this car I love the spec so max went for the regular you know black stuff on the outside like we did no carbon fiber exterior package and that means that you have you know this great thing here in Black the grill is just black it does have the new BMW logo there uh the M3 touring only available as a competition and only available with X drive so there's just one version automatic X Drive which I kind of get uh I I kind of get that this is you know more of a a daily more of a holiday car and that more people are going to use this I mean Max is taking it on two skiing trips as well this year so I I do get why they did that why they decided to do that but a rear-wheel drive manual touring would be so so cool as well so that I got off yeah I think it's a shame that you don't have the choice now another thing that you don't get on the touring is you don't get a carbon fiber roof as you can see so it is always black the roof the roof rails are also always black and then you've got a little Gurney spoiler here that is also always black oh no carbon roof which is a shame but I still think it looks really really cool Max did not go for the carbon ceramic brakes he has a regular steel brakes which are great as a steel brake setup it is a very good setup but this is quite a heavy car so it weighs around 1865 kilos which is only 30 kilos less than a BMW M5 and that means that you do have quite a bit of weight to slow down and it's got a top speed of 288 on the speedo so you do feel on the Autobahn sometimes you feel like okay I have to like manage the brakes a little bit make sure that they don't get too hot uh because otherwise you just fry them we've got winter tires as well Pirelli Soto zeros 275 at the front 19 inch and then 20 inch at the rear 285s regular competition Wheels beautiful and then of course this is the business and we've got the split window which is super nice and then you've got 500 liters of luggage space here trunk space very practical trunk actually for uh for such a small car you can actually fit a lot in it and if you get the seats down the rear seat you have like 1500 liters of uh trunk space you can use that button that is very quick super nice so yeah I I think uh I don't know when I said this last I think in my daygan review if you put like a touring on something I immediately think it looks cooler and I don't know why that is I think I I really just have such a thing for fast tourings because they have this like utilitarian feel like there they can do everything and anything you can fit your dogs and your kids in it or you can take it to the track and I I really really I like that concept I don't know why I like it so much uh we've got the regular black diffuser as well with the black tail pipes it actually sounds pretty decent I have to say um yeah not bad so it's like 76 millimeters wider than a regular 3 Series touring you can really see that when you sit behind it you can see those wheel arches wide bumper beautiful rear lights yeah it's such a cool car let me know in the comments do you guys like it would you get a regular M3 or would you get a touring I'm curious to hear what you guys think so s58 Twin power Turbo 2 mono squirrel turbos and uh I mean we know this engine you know this engine it is magnificent it delivers 510 horsepower 650 newton meters of torque stock and it is just a beast it's it's such an incredible power plant you can tune it really easily and uh it it does like 660 700 horsepower reliably and uh I I I'm just in awe of what BMW have made here because this engine is something else it really is so this is all the same as the regular M3 of course uh what they did do is a lot of bracing on the chassis uh in the trunk and it's got a different rear subframe and it's called a different spring setup for the rear as well uh for the touring because it is a bit heavier around 70 kilos heavier than the sedan you you do have like a different you know dynamically speaking there's a lot going on it's a bit longer as well and that's why they just try to get that rear as rigid as possible so get jacket off and we'll check out the interior which is a very nice spec this cream super light absolutely beautiful Max did go for the Comfort Seats and not the bucket seats because he's going to daily it I do get that this is a much more comfortable seat especially to get in and out of and uh well he did say that he's going to have to clean it a lot and I think he's right because it's done 2500 2600 kilometers and you can already see you know I think he wore a blue sweater or something because you can see it already on the on the leather which is a shame but I mean you can clean that up pretty easily M3 drawing also introduces the two screen setup uh boo I don't really like that I like the old setup better this also has the iDrive eight so that means that you have basically like an Android thing with all these apps it works fine but it's just not as good as the previous system in my opinion it's not as easy to use and uh I think it looks all a bit especially the speedo it looks a bit video gamey to me at not Motorsport but that is just me I think I think a lot of people will actually prefer this because it's more digital more screen it is curved which is nice and the the quality of the screen and everything is super nice it works really well but yeah I just longed to the days of analog Speedos and uh ref counters and stuff like that but maybe I'm just a grandpa now of course we have the X drive system that is switchable so if we hit setup right there we can choose between four wheel drive four-wheel drive Sport and two-wheel drive you do have to disengage traction control all the way to be able to do that so back to setup and then you can choose sport or two-wheel drive which is very nice and I saw a lot of comments about this when we posted a photo of the new M3 CS when we said we were hoping that it would be rear-wheel drive it's not as simple as just saying well you can switch it off so it's just as good it does feel different and uh that is just because something is happening at the front it I don't know if it's just the fact that it's heavier or that there's just something happening over there but the steering is noticeably it's noticeably less eager to give feedback uh the nose feels a bit heavier it just feels a bit more distant than our car which is a rear wheel drive manual so that is basically the lightest setup you can have this is the heaviest setup you can have so there is a lot of difference between all those different M3s which is good that's a good thing they'll get me wrong so the four-wheel drive sport mode is basically uh most of the powers sent to the rear wheels and when it needs to it sends more to the front so this is basically your front wheel drive is your safety net it's your traction control which works super well it also sounds it sounds pretty good if you haven't checked out the sound video yet you can click in the top right corner if you want to hear it from the outside but it sounds very good now four-wheel drive means that you also have a decent launch of course let's put it in four wheel drive which is just the fastest way to get off the line in this weather I think so foot on the brake Full Throttle launch control ready there we go oh that is very quick so BMW claims 3.6 seconds we did 3.5 that is very quick for a almost 1900 kilo station wagon that will take all your crap with ease it is really really amazing that is a very good result that is of course the benefit of having four wheel drive a lot of people are going to use this car for their holidays for their family staff daily driving it in all kinds of weather and yeah then four wheel drive just makes sense in a performance car like this and if you approach it like that this thing drives handles amazingly well if you compare it to different station wagon performance cars two rings like a an Audi RS4 uh Audi just introduced that latest version the RS4 Plus or competition or whatever uh you know just to keep up with BMW and they're touring of course the new C63 is going to have a four-cylinder hybrid Powertrain well I could already tell you without having driven the other two that handling wise driving dynamically wise this is the one to have it is just Epic and the gearboxes that have HP is beautiful as always super responsive does whatever you want whenever you wanted to and if you leave in an automatic mode it also does whatever you want whatever you wanted it just decides that for you and it always almost always decides the right thing so rear wheel drive is rear wheel drive it just sounds everything to the rear and even though it does feel a little less connected than our rear-wheel drive M3 you can still do massive massive slides with it and it feels just amazing the balance in this car is just epic so let's hit the Autobahn go back to four wheel drive sport and here we go full throttle so performance wise how does it compare to a sedan X Drive M3 well it's a little bit slow well a little bit it's quite a bit slower than that car we've 100 to 200 and 9.1 seconds which is built bad but it's not super quick either we measured the x-rive sedan at 8.5 seconds 100 to 200 and a real rear and a rear wheel drive at eight seconds so it's 1.1 seconds between the fastest competition and the slowest computation basically which is quite a big difference now of course that is down to the additional weight uh maybe aerodynamics as well I don't know but it is quite a bit slower than the other versions top speed as I said 288 on the speedo we are getting close to that so that was like 285. brakes as I said the brake feel is good the performance is good as well it's just the fact that when you get them to hold they start fading real quick uh and that is just something that is not going to happen with Karma ceramics foreign I mean the fact that BMW finally decided to do this and do it right uh is just amazing to me and uh I'm really grateful that they actually decided to do that because we've been bitching about it for a long time and they finally did it they are probably coming with an M5 touring on the Next Generation as well which should be epic as well so yeah they are moving in the right direction when you look at it that way I just don't like all the digital stuff it's yeah that is not the right direction for me as a petrol head as someone who loves cars this just doesn't do it for me so sound wise as I said for stock car with OPF it sounds pretty decent but of course we know from experience that there's a lot okay on that front so if you have an M3 and you want to improve the sound of your M3 you can check out our shop auto shop for a couple of 200 cell down pipes for instance or a mid-pipe a single mid-pipe exhaust modification which takes the two exhaust pipes and merges them into one which the sound we have a lot of modifications available for this car on our website so go check it out link is in the description uh Max thank you so much for taking your M3 touring to us this quickly they're not going to build a lot of them because they just don't have the capacity so it is quite rare to find one so we really appreciate it to you guys thanks for watching hope you enjoyed it you can subscribe by clicking the big button in the middle you can also check out this video on the right or this playlist on the left see you next one byewhat's up ladies and gentlemen and welcome to this POV review by Auto now my name is Max and today we are taking a look at this it's finally here the BMW M3 touring oh my God this thing is so freaking cool and the way we got it is even cooler because this is Max's Car and Max is a viewer who just got the first service at 2000 or 2500 kilometers and then said you are the first ones to drive it after that uh on the Autobahn which is just amazing and he said well yeah I always watch your videos uh so I'm happy that I can do something back for you which that is just so wholesome and I really really appreciate that so thank you Max you've got a really cool name as well so uh yeah all route very cool guy today I'm going to show you around this new M3 touring of course BMW never made this we have been complaining about that we have been asking for an M3 touring for years now they actually made an E46 M3 touring a one-off but they decided to not take it into production and uh well that is just a bummer because I think this is such a cool car I think it works really really well with the wider arches uh it is longer wider and lower than a regular 3 Series touring it just looks the business and especially in this skyscraper grape which is a really good color actually I think for this car I love the spec so max went for the regular you know black stuff on the outside like we did no carbon fiber exterior package and that means that you have you know this great thing here in Black the grill is just black it does have the new BMW logo there uh the M3 touring only available as a competition and only available with X drive so there's just one version automatic X Drive which I kind of get uh I I kind of get that this is you know more of a a daily more of a holiday car and that more people are going to use this I mean Max is taking it on two skiing trips as well this year so I I do get why they did that why they decided to do that but a rear-wheel drive manual touring would be so so cool as well so that I got off yeah I think it's a shame that you don't have the choice now another thing that you don't get on the touring is you don't get a carbon fiber roof as you can see so it is always black the roof the roof rails are also always black and then you've got a little Gurney spoiler here that is also always black oh no carbon roof which is a shame but I still think it looks really really cool Max did not go for the carbon ceramic brakes he has a regular steel brakes which are great as a steel brake setup it is a very good setup but this is quite a heavy car so it weighs around 1865 kilos which is only 30 kilos less than a BMW M5 and that means that you do have quite a bit of weight to slow down and it's got a top speed of 288 on the speedo so you do feel on the Autobahn sometimes you feel like okay I have to like manage the brakes a little bit make sure that they don't get too hot uh because otherwise you just fry them we've got winter tires as well Pirelli Soto zeros 275 at the front 19 inch and then 20 inch at the rear 285s regular competition Wheels beautiful and then of course this is the business and we've got the split window which is super nice and then you've got 500 liters of luggage space here trunk space very practical trunk actually for uh for such a small car you can actually fit a lot in it and if you get the seats down the rear seat you have like 1500 liters of uh trunk space you can use that button that is very quick super nice so yeah I I think uh I don't know when I said this last I think in my daygan review if you put like a touring on something I immediately think it looks cooler and I don't know why that is I think I I really just have such a thing for fast tourings because they have this like utilitarian feel like there they can do everything and anything you can fit your dogs and your kids in it or you can take it to the track and I I really really I like that concept I don't know why I like it so much uh we've got the regular black diffuser as well with the black tail pipes it actually sounds pretty decent I have to say um yeah not bad so it's like 76 millimeters wider than a regular 3 Series touring you can really see that when you sit behind it you can see those wheel arches wide bumper beautiful rear lights yeah it's such a cool car let me know in the comments do you guys like it would you get a regular M3 or would you get a touring I'm curious to hear what you guys think so s58 Twin power Turbo 2 mono squirrel turbos and uh I mean we know this engine you know this engine it is magnificent it delivers 510 horsepower 650 newton meters of torque stock and it is just a beast it's it's such an incredible power plant you can tune it really easily and uh it it does like 660 700 horsepower reliably and uh I I I'm just in awe of what BMW have made here because this engine is something else it really is so this is all the same as the regular M3 of course uh what they did do is a lot of bracing on the chassis uh in the trunk and it's got a different rear subframe and it's called a different spring setup for the rear as well uh for the touring because it is a bit heavier around 70 kilos heavier than the sedan you you do have like a different you know dynamically speaking there's a lot going on it's a bit longer as well and that's why they just try to get that rear as rigid as possible so get jacket off and we'll check out the interior which is a very nice spec this cream super light absolutely beautiful Max did go for the Comfort Seats and not the bucket seats because he's going to daily it I do get that this is a much more comfortable seat especially to get in and out of and uh well he did say that he's going to have to clean it a lot and I think he's right because it's done 2500 2600 kilometers and you can already see you know I think he wore a blue sweater or something because you can see it already on the on the leather which is a shame but I mean you can clean that up pretty easily M3 drawing also introduces the two screen setup uh boo I don't really like that I like the old setup better this also has the iDrive eight so that means that you have basically like an Android thing with all these apps it works fine but it's just not as good as the previous system in my opinion it's not as easy to use and uh I think it looks all a bit especially the speedo it looks a bit video gamey to me at not Motorsport but that is just me I think I think a lot of people will actually prefer this because it's more digital more screen it is curved which is nice and the the quality of the screen and everything is super nice it works really well but yeah I just longed to the days of analog Speedos and uh ref counters and stuff like that but maybe I'm just a grandpa now of course we have the X drive system that is switchable so if we hit setup right there we can choose between four wheel drive four-wheel drive Sport and two-wheel drive you do have to disengage traction control all the way to be able to do that so back to setup and then you can choose sport or two-wheel drive which is very nice and I saw a lot of comments about this when we posted a photo of the new M3 CS when we said we were hoping that it would be rear-wheel drive it's not as simple as just saying well you can switch it off so it's just as good it does feel different and uh that is just because something is happening at the front it I don't know if it's just the fact that it's heavier or that there's just something happening over there but the steering is noticeably it's noticeably less eager to give feedback uh the nose feels a bit heavier it just feels a bit more distant than our car which is a rear wheel drive manual so that is basically the lightest setup you can have this is the heaviest setup you can have so there is a lot of difference between all those different M3s which is good that's a good thing they'll get me wrong so the four-wheel drive sport mode is basically uh most of the powers sent to the rear wheels and when it needs to it sends more to the front so this is basically your front wheel drive is your safety net it's your traction control which works super well it also sounds it sounds pretty good if you haven't checked out the sound video yet you can click in the top right corner if you want to hear it from the outside but it sounds very good now four-wheel drive means that you also have a decent launch of course let's put it in four wheel drive which is just the fastest way to get off the line in this weather I think so foot on the brake Full Throttle launch control ready there we go oh that is very quick so BMW claims 3.6 seconds we did 3.5 that is very quick for a almost 1900 kilo station wagon that will take all your crap with ease it is really really amazing that is a very good result that is of course the benefit of having four wheel drive a lot of people are going to use this car for their holidays for their family staff daily driving it in all kinds of weather and yeah then four wheel drive just makes sense in a performance car like this and if you approach it like that this thing drives handles amazingly well if you compare it to different station wagon performance cars two rings like a an Audi RS4 uh Audi just introduced that latest version the RS4 Plus or competition or whatever uh you know just to keep up with BMW and they're touring of course the new C63 is going to have a four-cylinder hybrid Powertrain well I could already tell you without having driven the other two that handling wise driving dynamically wise this is the one to have it is just Epic and the gearboxes that have HP is beautiful as always super responsive does whatever you want whenever you wanted to and if you leave in an automatic mode it also does whatever you want whatever you wanted it just decides that for you and it always almost always decides the right thing so rear wheel drive is rear wheel drive it just sounds everything to the rear and even though it does feel a little less connected than our rear-wheel drive M3 you can still do massive massive slides with it and it feels just amazing the balance in this car is just epic so let's hit the Autobahn go back to four wheel drive sport and here we go full throttle so performance wise how does it compare to a sedan X Drive M3 well it's a little bit slow well a little bit it's quite a bit slower than that car we've 100 to 200 and 9.1 seconds which is built bad but it's not super quick either we measured the x-rive sedan at 8.5 seconds 100 to 200 and a real rear and a rear wheel drive at eight seconds so it's 1.1 seconds between the fastest competition and the slowest computation basically which is quite a big difference now of course that is down to the additional weight uh maybe aerodynamics as well I don't know but it is quite a bit slower than the other versions top speed as I said 288 on the speedo we are getting close to that so that was like 285. brakes as I said the brake feel is good the performance is good as well it's just the fact that when you get them to hold they start fading real quick uh and that is just something that is not going to happen with Karma ceramics foreign I mean the fact that BMW finally decided to do this and do it right uh is just amazing to me and uh I'm really grateful that they actually decided to do that because we've been bitching about it for a long time and they finally did it they are probably coming with an M5 touring on the Next Generation as well which should be epic as well so yeah they are moving in the right direction when you look at it that way I just don't like all the digital stuff it's yeah that is not the right direction for me as a petrol head as someone who loves cars this just doesn't do it for me so sound wise as I said for stock car with OPF it sounds pretty decent but of course we know from experience that there's a lot okay on that front so if you have an M3 and you want to improve the sound of your M3 you can check out our shop auto shop for a couple of 200 cell down pipes for instance or a mid-pipe a single mid-pipe exhaust modification which takes the two exhaust pipes and merges them into one which the sound we have a lot of modifications available for this car on our website so go check it out link is in the description uh Max thank you so much for taking your M3 touring to us this quickly they're not going to build a lot of them because they just don't have the capacity so it is quite rare to find one so we really appreciate it to you guys thanks for watching hope you enjoyed it you can subscribe by clicking the big button in the middle you can also check out this video on the right or this playlist on the left see you next one bye\n"