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Pros: sensational performance, duality of character
Cons: hugely expensive
In just a few short years, the BMW M3 will celebrate its 40th anniversary and, while the template and formula has changed and evolved over the decades, it remains one of the most exciting performance cars money can buy. For various reasons, however, BMW has never expanded the M3 badge to its Touring estate body style, despite obvious demand for such a thing. Until now.
BMW M3 Touring Design
The Touring model takes the aggressively-designed M3 saloon as its basis so while there’s nothing particularly new or surprising about the estate’s appearance, it’s still an incredible, attention-grabbing car. The front end is dominated by a tall kidney radiator grille and deeply sculpted bonnet, while the low apron and large air intakes make it clear from the off that this is a performance car.
Building on that are wider wheelarches and bodywork along with dark and broody alloy wheels that manage to convincingly fill those arches thanks to a low stance. From the rear doors back, the Touring has unique styling, obviously, and the elongated roof, new spoiler and upright rear seem to emphasise the muscular detailing, in particular around the rear wheels. Quad exhaust outlets leave you in no doubt that you’re looking at a bona fide BMW M car.
BMW M3 Touring Interior
A glance into the cabin continues that, as there’s the usual black-and-red motorsport theme with lashings of M-specific detailing and badging. The three-spoke leather-rimmed steering wheel is a delight to hold and it’s flanked by slender carbon-fibre gearchange paddles. Poking over the top two spokes are the bright red M1/M2 driving mode buttons and the same colour is found on the prominent engine-start button on the centre console. That’s next to a drive selector only fitted to BMW M cars with built in controls to alter the transmission’s characteristics, and it’s surrounded by a suite of buttons allowing the driver to tweak the rest of the car’s sub-systems.
The already-quite-sporty standard front seats can be replaced by lighter and more extreme M Carbon buckets. They’re not cheap, though they are electrically adjustable and heated. And while they are very comfortable to spend a lot of time in, they’re a bit awkward to get in and out of, so choose carefully.
Despite the high-performance look and feel, the M3 estate retains all the same practicality as other 3 Series Tourings. That means three seatbelts in the back, ISOFIX child-seat mountings and a 500-litre boot. The glass in the rear hatch can be opened independently of the main tailgate, too, which is handy for dropping small items into the back when the car is parked in a tight space.
BMW M3 Touring Performance & Drive
As with all modern BMW M cars, the M3 Touring allows its driver to customise the driving experience to their preferences or the road conditions at any moment. Press the SETUP button on the centre console and a menu pops up on the touchscreen making this particularly easy.
There are three disparate settings for the engine, for a start. It’s a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre straight-six with up to 510hp and 650Nm of torque, so even in the default setting it’s feisty. Ramp it up to the Sport or Sport Plus modes, however, and it really comes alive, with a more rousing sound and razor-sharp throttle response. It also allows this ‘family’ estate to do 0-100km/h in just 3.6 seconds.
Indeed, otherworldly acceleration is on tap seemingly regardless of road conditions thanks to standard fitment of M xDrive all-wheel drive. It’s a rear-biased system, though the standard setting is designed to be safe and stable on slippery surfaces. The driver can choose the more rear-led 4WD Sport mode if they wish – and the car is huge fun in this setting – or, on track, with the stability control turned off, the M3 Touring can be made fully rear-wheel drive. There’s even a system that rates your drifting skills…
A race circuit is probably the only place you’ll make use of the firmest suspension settings available, as they’re too uncomfortable for the public road, though thankfully it’s perfectly fine in its Comfort mode and the M3 makes for a surprisingly good long-distance cruiser.
Adjustment of the power steering and brakes is also possible, and there are several modes of operation for the standard eight-speed automatic gearbox, including a fully manual setting with incredibly abrupt gearchanges.
If it all sounds a little complicated and overwhelming, worry not, as you can just jump in and drive if you wish, and the M3 Touring is a special car at normal everyday speeds and in everyday driving, too. Most owners, we suspect, will take time to explore all the settings and then program their favourites into the M1/M2 modes accessed via those red buttons on the steering wheel.
BMW M3 Touring Pricing
The M3 Touring isn’t listed for sale at the time of writing, but it retailed for €153,000 earlier in the year. That’s over €50,000 more than the M340i xDrive Touring, hardly a slouch itself with a 374hp engine and xDrive all-wheel drive. Still, if you can afford the M3, you won’t settle for less.
Carzone Verdict
While the general Irish car-buying population doesn’t love estates, car enthusiasts have always admired them, especially the high-performance variants, and the M3 Touring goes straight in as one of the most desirable new cars of the year. It retains all of the M3’s exciting driving dynamics and mixes them with a practical estate body while looking more muscular than ever. The only question is: what took BMW so long?