What's all this about?
It's the car we’ve all been waiting for. The 3 Series Touring has finally been given the official M treatment, and this is the result. Fitted with the same engine as the M3 Saloon and decked out with similar visual upgrades, it’s the first M3 estate ever to go into full production.
Looks mean. What has BMW done to it?
As with the four-door M3, the M3 Touring gets the same big grille and swollen wheel arches, as well as bold side skirts and larger air intakes. It gets the M3 Saloon’s aerodynamic door mirrors, too, and the LED headlights with darkened inlays. However, BMW has also fitted glossy black roof rails and a gloss black roof, although customers can choose to have the roof panel painted in the body colour.
The M3 Touring is 85mm longer than the standard 3 Series Touring, as well as being 76mm wider and 4mm lower. And it comes with light alloy wheels measuring 19 inches at the front and 20 inches at the back. Special track tyres are an optional extra.
And inside?
The M3 Touring’s cabin is much the same as that of the M3 Saloon, with red M buttons and the option of M Carbon bucket seats. Like the M3, it’s now fitted with the Curved Display screen that combines the digital instrument display and central touchscreen in one wide unit. However, the boot is much bigger, at 500 litres (the same as a standard 3 Series Touring), and folding the rear seats down sees that grow to 1,510 litres.
Does it have all the M3 running gear?
Pretty much. BMW has dropped the M3 Saloon’s 510hp straight-six petrol engine straight into the front of the M3 Touring, along with the eight-speed automatic gearbox. However, the M3 Touring will only be offered with BMW’s xDrive all-wheel-drive system, whereas the M3 Saloon is offered in rear-wheel-drive form.
With that power hiding under the sculpted bonnet, the M3 Touring sprints from 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds (a tenth slower than an all-wheel-drive M3 Saloon, but three-tenths faster than a rear-drive example) and tops out at the obligatory 155mph top speed.
Officially, the car returns between 27.2 and 28mpg and emits between 229 and 235g of carbon dioxide every kilometre it travels. That makes it only marginally less economical than the xDrive saloon and just slightly more polluting.
What about the suspension?
It has that, too. BMW has fitted Adaptive M suspension as standard, allowing the car to be tuned for the prevailing road conditions. Like the M3 Saloon, it has softer and firmer settings for the suspension, depending on whether the driver requires comfort or control, and settings that sharpen the steering, throttle response and brakes.
How much?
Prices for the M3 Touring start at £80,550, which makes it a few hundred pounds cheaper than the current M3 Competition xDrive Saloon. The car will debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this week, before going on sale in September.
James Fossdyke - 22 Jun 2022
