If you belong to the breed that believes wagons are the most practical vehicles out there, then this news will make you happy. BMW is coming up with a wagon based on the M3 called the M3 Touring. This is the first performance wagon from the German automaker that’s set to hit the production line. It has been spotted a few times before, but there was no official confirmation on it… until now.
BMW has teased the M3 Touring on its Instagram page, thus confirming that it has broken the shackles and come out of its orthodox mentality that a performance wagon is not something customers want. Do you think it will do well?
That’s An Interesting Way To Announce Its Arrival
The camouflaged BMW M3 Touring can be seen standing in the snow, a very unlikely place where you’d find a wagon in general. It’s BMW’s way of showing that the M3 can play in the snow even though it’s a simple people-hauler in a conventional sense.
A helicopter emerges and directs the driver to drift and turn in certain ways. In the end, we get to see the wagon’s made a ‘2022’, suggesting that the M3 Touring will arrive this year. After decades of wait, it’s finally happening!
BMW Made An M3 Wagon Two Decades Back
The M3 Touring is not a new ideation by any means. Back in 2000, the automaker came up with the E46 M3 Touring, but it never made it to production. Two decades later, BMW decided to get back to the drawing board and realize this unfinished product. In 2020, we spotted it testing, but it disappeared again after this appearance. A year later in October 2021, we saw it out in the wild once again, which gave us hopes for the umpteenth time. But, now that BMW has officially announced its arrival, we are sure we’ll be seeing it a lot more often from now on. }
What Do We Know About The BMW M3 Touring So Far?
There isn’t a lot known about the M3 Touring officially, but there’s a lot to speculate. It has been spotted a few times, so we have an idea of what it will look like. Up front, it will look identical to the M3 and the M4, courtesy of that huge bucktooth grille and headlight setup. BMW hasn’t gone soft in keeping this a subtle-looking wagon. Even with the camouflage on, we could see a lot of cuts and creases all over the body.
Apart from this, we also saw it ride on nice 20- or 21-inch wheels shod in low-profile tires. It sure seems to have a long wheelbase, which points at healthy legroom. At the rear, we noticed the quad-tailpipe setup, a spoiler, and a signature shark fin antenna. A rear diffuser will also be present, although it isn’t very evident in the latest spy shots. To further add to the sportiness, there are side skirts and winglets at the front and back.
It goes without saying that the M3 Touring will share the M3 coupe’s engine and transmission. The 3.0-liter, twin-turbo six-cylinder mill makes 473 horses and 406 pound-feet of torque. A six-speed manual gearbox powers the rear wheels exclusively. It could be offered in the same state of tune in the M3 Touring, or perhaps with 10-15 horses and pound-feet of juice extra to dilute the weight disadvantage and make it feel just as peppy as the M3.
An M3 Touring Competition will also be offered unless BMW comes with some weird reasoning to not offer it. Expect it to churn out at least 503 ponies and 479 pound-feet of twist. The manual gearbox will make way for an eight-speed automatic transmission here, with an option to route power all four wheels.
To put things into perspective, its rivals, the Audi RS4 Avant and the Mercedes-AMG C63 Estate make 444 horses and 443 pound-feet of torque, and 503 ponies and 516 pound-feet oomph, respectively.
Final Thoughts
For what it’s worth, BMW has been pretty bold with the M3 in recent years. We saw the M3 forego the twin-clutch gearbox, move away from the ‘rear-drive-only’ mentality, and now, offer it in a different shape altogether. This was one niche that BMW didn’t have covered, so it’s good to see the Bavarian commit to a practical beast for the masses.
That said, the BMW M3 Touring will not arrive Stateside when it launches.} But, such is the love for this grocery-getter that a petition was filed to convince the corporate overlords in München to sell the M3 Touring here. But, we still don’t think that’s going to happen.
What are your thoughts on the BMW M3 Touring? Share them with us in the comments section.