The Bavarian manufacturer officially announced its intention to release the first-of-its-kind BMW M3 station wagon almost two years ago – in August 2020. The announcement was followed by a lengthy teaser campaign that finally came to an end: the “charged” Touring was completely declassified ahead of its public debut, which will take place on June 23 at the Good wood Festival of Speed.
The dimensions of the BMW M3 Touring are 4794x1903x1436 mm, that is, it is 85 mm longer, 76 mm wider and 4 mm lower than the civilian “shed” of the third series. The novelty, whose design is generally borrowed from the M3 sedan, rides by default on 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels. Regardless of the choice of body color, the roof and rails in the standard will always be black – as well as the original rear diffuser. Optionally, laser headlights identifiable by blue inserts and an M Carbon exterior trim package will be offered.
Like a sports sedan, the M3 station wagon received a tougher body than the usual 3-Series, with additional struts, adaptive M-suspension with electronically controlled shock absorbers as standard, M Serotonin steering with variable gear ratio, and active rear M-differential.
As expected, the M3 Touring will be available only in the senior version of the Competition, which has a three-liter inline “turboshaft” boosted to 510 hp and 650 Nm. The maximum torque is available in the range from 2750 to 5500 pm, the cutoff is triggered at 7200 pm. The engine is combined only with an eight-band automatic transmission with the Drivelogic function and the M xDrive all-wheel-drive system. It has three settings: standard 4WD, track 4WD Sport with an emphasis on the rear wheels, and rear-wheel drive 2WD with the stabilization system disabled. Among other things, there is a special mode for drift – M Dynamic Mode.
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BMW M3 Touring Competition gains the first hundred from the spot in 3.6 seconds (just 0.1 seconds longer than the M3 Competition sedan and the M4 Competition coupe), the second – in 12.9 seconds. A dash from 80 to 120 km/h will take 2.7 seconds in 4th gear or 3.5 seconds in 5th.
The optional M Driver’s package will increase the electronically limited maximum speed from 250 to 280 km/h. The M Race Track package with carbon-ceramic brakes, M Carbon “buckets”, track tires, and carbon fiber parts in the cabin will also be offered for the super universe. But the M Drive Professional package (advanced tracking control with 10 settings plus telemetry) is part of the standard equipment.
By the way, even before the official premiere, the novelty became the fastest station wagon at the Nurburgring, driving the 20.83-kilometer configuration of the famous circuit in 7 minutes 35.06 seconds.
Among other things, it was the M3 Touring Competition that became the first full-fledged “M”, which was equipped with an iDrive 8 driver interface with a curved display combining a 12.3-inch dashboard and a 14.9-inch multimedia screen. Many “civilian” BMWs have already been equipped with a similar cockpit, but, say, the newest M4 CSL did not get it. For conventional models of the 3-Series family, iDrive 8 appeared only last month as part of a planned restyling.
Production of the BMW M3 Touring Competition will be established at the Munich plant next to the sedan. In his native Germany, the market debut will take place this December, prices will start at 97,800 euros, including 19 percent VAT.