BMW M3 Touring the reason why owning a station wagon is cool

The popularity of wagons has ebbed and flowed in South Arica over the years. While they were most certainly seen as more mundane family transport back in the day, there has been a resurgence of late that sees the likes of the BMW M3 Competition Touring becoming a more, must-have, high-performance car than a people mover.

And I had barely gone barrelling down our test strip in this bonkers Touring when international news broke of an even more hardcore version, BMW M3 CS Touring, was going to become available later this year for those that get just how cool it is to own a station wagon in 2025.

BMW M3 Touring scoops awards

But don’t take my word for it, BMW M Touring has not only resonated with petrolheads around the globe. It has also raked in the awards, having won the “Golden Steering Wheel” award presented by motoring magazine Auto Bild and the Bild am Sonntag newspaper in Germany.

In Great Britain, it was crowned “Dream Car” of the year by Autocar magazine, while Top Gear magazine gave it the title All The Car You’ll Ever Need in its “Car of the Year Awards”.

Of course, the big question is, is the BMW M3 Touring worthy of all these accolades? The short answer is yes, and then some!

Tried and trusted 3.0-litre mill

A quick summary of what is new for this year consists of a small power hike of 15kW. This sees 375kW become 390kW. More than enough to pin your dog’s ears back when out for a brisk run in the country.

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This package rides on new forged lightweight alloy wheels. And it offers newly designed front headlights, new interior trim elements, and steering wheel. Further advances in digitalisation comes with the introduction of BMW Operating System 8.5 to underpin the latest generation of BMW iDrive.

But this is a road test. That means you get to find out just how fast a family wagon wearing a BMW M badge can be. With BMW not yet having made the switch to smaller capacity turbocharged engines with battery assisted power like Mercedes-AMG have done with the C63 SE Performance, you are left to “make do” with the tried and tested 3.0-litre straight six from the Bavarian firm.

Torque runs longer

Two hard boosting mono scroll turbos do duty, and thanks to some computer box remapping. A full 390kW is now available at the same 6 250rpm as before. The torque number stays the same at 650Nm but runs a little longer to 5 730rpm.

The eight-speed M Steptronic torque converter gearbox with Drivelogic also remains. As does the rear-biased M xDrive intelligent all-wheel-drive system that is tasked with getting this power to the ground without fuss.

Leave the BMW M3 Touring in the default 4WD, or even 4WD Sport mode, and you will feel like a champion driver in complete control of the car. This BMW M3 Touring eats up tar at a serious rate of knots. Engaging launch control sees it tear at the ground as it bolts away from the line.

A tested time of 3.56 seconds to get to 100km/h and an exit speed of 242km/h in only 800 metres bears testament of its prowess. You would think that there is no downside to this high-performance fest. But there is and it not going to jail for speeding, it has to do with something a little more technical.

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Unleashing the beast

Because the BMW M3 Touring does not run a double clutch setup that would allow the car to dial in the exact amount of rpm to be on the boost and ready to go in a blink of an eye, you have to sit on the brake pedal and build boost for what seems like ages before you get the chequered flag to unleash the beast.

So, if you found yourself in a street dice or even in heads-up racing at the dragstrip, you would need to time the lights just right or you will be caught off boost and this takes a whole lot of bite out of the jump off the line that delivers the times shown.

But in wrapping up, the thing that makes this BMW M3 Touring so special for a true enthusiast like me, is the ability to pull one of the M toggles you can pre-configure and switch off DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) and activate 2WD mode.

All the power and torque are sent to the back wheels only and there is no intervention from the nannies. After some brisk driving, you get out of this family wagon shaking from the adrenalin rush. This makes the BMW M3 Touring an unbeatable package.

BMW M3 Touring road test results