How do you get to know a person and form a bond when your meetings are fleeting and unscheduled? And what about a car? Yes, I remember Divakov used to talk about the importance of the first hundred meters at the wheel. After that, he’d say, you begin to adapt and get used to it, but you need to grasp its essence while your impressions are still fresh.
I want to get accustomed to the current-generation BMW M3! I just haven’t been able to click with these cars, whether it’s the sedan or the related M4 coupe. But now that this incredibly tempting Touring model has appeared… I won’t just memorize the first hundred meters; I’m going to live with it for a few days.
Just look at these lines. BMW has managed, on its first attempt, to capture the territory that belonged to Audi. After all, since the Porsche-co-developed Audi RS2 Avant, the “Four Rings” have been firmly associated with the term “fast estate.” BMW also had a previous attempt to enter the segment—a E46-generation BMW M3 Touring that never made it to production languished in the company museum for years. But now it’s a guest star at photo shoots for the new G81 model.
The first attempt to create a cargo-passenger M3 was made in 2000, when a fully functional prototype of the BMW M3 Touring E46 series with a 3.2-liter inline-six (343 hp) was built. It remained a single copy.
The lineage is evident in profile: the rake of the rear pillars, the proportions… Although, thanks to a lower window line, the old car looks lighter. The evolution of buyer tastes is best illustrated by the bumpers. The 2000s BMW M3 is restrained, intelligent power with a small dark diffuser and a neat quad exhaust. On the new car, everything is exaggerated and put on display, and I still haven’t adapted to its face. But in this light graphite paint and with the offset license plate, you have to agree, it’s quite acceptable! If you don’t like it, just take another look at the rear end.
In Germany, the M3 station wagon starts at €107,000 – just €1,000 more than a similar all-wheel-drive sedan.
The 3 Series still retains exterior door handles designed for a natural grip, but inside it’s hard to find differences from a 5 Series, the updated 1 Series, or some Changan model—it’s simply two monitors placed on top of the dashboard, with no attempt to integrate them into the interior’s style.
The screens covering two-thirds of the dashboard are practically useless when driving, which is why Track mode turns off the right display. Although it’s more appropriate to dim the instrument cluster—the head-up display provides all the information, and the right one can mirror a smartphone or quickly adjust the chassis.
These virtual instruments will appeal most to CSKA fans. Unfortunately, the red and blue bars are difficult to read in various variations.
When configuring this estate, the owner opted for the standard sport seats over the rigid buckets with their towering bolsters. And they did the right thing: regular track days are not in this M3’s future, despite the Competition badge, unlike daily drives during the warmer months. These seats don’t complicate entry and exit, yet they provide ample support in corners. But I won’t rush just yet; I’ll calmly cruise from a small regional town to Moscow.
The firm seats with many adjustments are comfortable
This is usually not the best idea in current M3 and M4 models due to the very stiff suspension, the willful automatic transmission, and the strange calibration of the electro-hydraulic brake booster, which operates on logic similar to a Tank 500’s. But I’ve heard that the Touring has the most civil calibrations in the entire family, and I really hope that’s the case.
The S58 engine is undoubtedly one of the best in automotive history. It offers excellent performance, ample potential for refinement, and impressive reliability.
The awakened cold S58 engine brings a pleasant smile: even in warm-up mode, it’s not shy about announcing its 510 hp potential (and from spring 2024, power was increased to 530 hp). While the motor burbles, I pull up the matrix of settings on the right-hand screen to put everything in Comfort mode. And they call this comfort? If you can still feel some damping at the front, the rear axle rolls over bumps as if it’s not compressing the springs at all. Of course, in character and feel, this shaking can’t be compared to body-on-frame SUVs; it’s a different thing. But it’s still not very comfortable.
The underbody of any M-Class is a complex of powerful guards and a web of reinforcements. Perhaps this is why the exposed oil cooler seems particularly vulnerable. The rear differential with locking mechanism boasts a surprisingly large finned area.
And the tire roar starting from 70 km/h? The homologated Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires, with the star on the sidewall, make it difficult to converse with passengers. It’s astonishing because just half an hour earlier I was driving on this same road in my own BMW 330i coupe in complete silence. I don’t recall such tire noise in the current-generation coupe either. Maybe the long roof of the Touring acts as an amplifier?
From the steering, of course, at civil speeds I wasn’t expecting anything—these days that’s just naive—but the power steering tries hard, creating the correct logic of reactive action, and it still feels more natural than, for example, the systems in Audis. Moreover, in Sport mode the wheel is slightly lighter and cleaner than in Comfort—a rare case!
An analog island between the seats allows quick access to the driving settings menu.
Sometimes you want to engage the sport engine mapping as well. The Efficient setting makes even this engine phlegmatic. You need to change lanes with acceleration, but the pedal feels like rubber. You push, you press—and you wait! The delays in the S58—yes, my son, it’s not a fantasy. In Sport mode, of course, the M-car accelerates brilliantly, but the transmission starts to hold onto gears, even on throttle lift-off, which reduces overall comfort. It could use an intermediate Normal mode.
But if the complaints about the powertrain arise largely due to the car’s class and level—after all, the M3 is the ultimate—then the brake pedal calibration is objectively suboptimal. You get used to the heightened sensitivity quickly, but the fact that it doesn’t allow for a smooth stop is terribly irritating. At the very last moment, when speed drops to practically walking pace, you start to ease pressure off the pedal to come to a seamless halt, but the car interprets this as a desire to go—and locks up the torque converter! Just like early DSG gearboxes, which also made smooth stopping impossible.
I don’t rule out that some people might not even notice this, as the culture of proper braking is fading into the past, but for me it’s an important aspect of daily driving, and the M3 Touring is no better in this regard than the M4 coupe. Well, except that the trunk is much more convenient, and the separate lifting rear window (which the 5 Series no longer has) makes loading bags even easier.
And then the next day, I made it to the test track.
Oh-ho-ho, yes! From the first attempt, the M-car confirmed its official figures: 3.6 seconds to 100 km/h and 12.6 seconds to 200 km/h. To activate launch control, you need to fully disable the stability control, and this doesn’t go unnoticed: at launch, the M-car spins its wheels noticeably, leaving marks on the asphalt and wiggling its tail. Look how much it squats onto the rear wheels in the first moment.
When starting off with two pedals, the M3 crouches like a hound. The resemblance is reinforced by the wagon’s distinctive roofline.
The sprint isn’t accompanied by a memorable engine soundtrack; it’s as if numbers are just running on a screen in a slot machine, and after 21 seconds the M3 Touring literally hits an invisible wall—the limiter cutting in exactly at 250 km/h. The BMW holds a straight line perfectly; acoustic comfort at maximum velocity is almost more pleasant than at seventy, since the aerodynamic noise is moderate and the tire roar is gone.
Finally, the M3 is in its element: flight at the third “hundred” is its natural habitat. Here it breathes fully, gulping air through its radiator package. The steering wheel gains weight and doesn’t feel as sharp, but after 50 seconds this portal into its happy world ends along with the straight dyno road. Braking—and this is what such a sharp pedal is for: when you need to slow from 250 to 100, it feels almost perfect. Short travel, understandable effort, very high effectiveness.
That one minute of flight was the first bright episode in two days of interaction with the M-car. But as the numbers on the screen return to civil values, the intensity of our relationship diminishes. Communicating with it is like talking to an excellent specialist in a narrow field who immediately falls silent when the topic changes. But the M3’s topic has always been not just high-speed straights, but corners!
Of course, the all-wheel-drive Touring turned out to be no lightweight: 1869 kg on our scales. But this chassis has so much mechanical grip, and the brakes are so indefatigable, that you needn’t feel self-conscious about the extra weight. Just look at the tire dimensions: before, the M3 had 275-mm wide tires at the rear, but now that’s what’s fitted at the front! And the wheels are not only different widths but also different diameters: 20-inch wheels are fitted at the rear.
The BMW M3 is safe and quick on the turn-in, with a short understeer that’s easy to manage as speed increases. The M3 has an effective stability control system that prevents unnecessary slides—previously, even with the electronics engaged, oversteer would develop. The maximum turn-in speed of 83 km/h is limited by cold asphalt—the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires were slippery.
This car is fantastically stable not only in a straight line but also in corners, even bumpy ones. Give it an open road without speed cameras, and leave the patches and seams. This is where the dampers reveal their quality—you see this brutal expansion joint on the overpass in the middle of a bend with your eyes, but instead of a crash and skipping off the line, you just get a couple of thumps from the tires. The energy capacity for such a short-travel suspension is outstanding!
The trunk is beautifully finished, pleasingly shaped and convenient. The roller shade slides up when the window is opened separately.
The rear seatback is divided into three sections.
There’s space in the underfloor for the removed net and shade.
Some might complain about a slightly inherent understeer—unlike the coupe, the Touring is reluctant to respond to throttle-lift provocations. If you want a powerslide, just press the accelerator more decisively. But the Touring only proved once again that big, dramatic drifts are alien to this generation M3, unlike the previous one. A sudden breakaway of the rear wheels and an overly sharp steering rack, which demands extremely precise input, make driving in a slide exhausting. And you also need to exit it smoothly, because a quick throttle closure and regained grip, combined with the quick steering, have been the cause of many unpleasant videos online.
Until now, the BMW M3 Touring was only available in the Competition xDrive version, but this year the M3 CS Touring wagon was added. It features an engine boosted to 550 hp, a carbon fiber body kit, a stiffened chassis, and more advanced tuning.
On a road without cameras and other cars, this M-car becomes a real teleportation device. Devilish engine pull, hellish levels of grip, fiendishly sharp reactions. Has BMW M sold the M3’s soul for such a result? Because the most vivid emotion from teleporting is the result, not the process. Transitioning into triple-digit speeds makes the M3 a memorable and omnipotent car. But in the confines of cities, it languishes and irritates the driver.
Maybe to create a full-fledged union, you really do need to give it a ring? A session at the Moscow Raceway track could bring us closer; there the Touring goes just as well as the sedan and coupe. It’s a pity it wasn’t allowed to go its own way and stop being a supercar. Soften the suspension, calm down the steering and brakes, add versatility beyond just the trunk.
The BMW M3 Competition is commonly called a “compote,” but why does it feel like it’s made from dried fruit? Nutritious, sometimes sweet, but lacking a bright, vivid flavor. And the packaging was so promising. On our last evening, I looked at the brackets of the M-car’s taillights, admired the rear end one more time—and drove off to return it, obeying all speed limits, recalling that I never liked compote, even as a child.
Technical Specifications: BMW M3 Touring Competition xDrive
| Category | Specification |
|---|---|
| Vehicle | BMW M3 Touring Competition xDrive |
| Body Type | 5-door estate/wagon |
| Seating Capacity | 5 |
| Dimensions, mm Length Width Height Wheelbase Track (front/rear) | 4801 1903 1446 2857 1617 / 1605 |
| Ground Clearance, mm | 123 |
| Luggage Capacity, l | 500 — 1510* |
| Curb Weight, kg | 1865 |
| Gross Vehicle Weight, kg | 2370 |
| Engine | |
| Type | Petrol, direct injection, biturbo |
| Position | Front, longitudinal |
| Cylinders | 6, in-line |
| Displacement, cc | 2993 |
| Bore/Stroke, mm | 84.0 / 90.0 |
| Compression Ratio | 9.3:1 |
| Valves per Cylinder | 24 |
| Power Output | 510 hp / 375 kW @ 6,250 rpm |
| Torque Output | 650 Nm @ 2,750 – 5,500 rpm |
| Transmission | 8-speed automatic |
| Drivetrain | All-wheel drive (AWD) with multi-plate clutch for the front axle |
| Suspension (Front) | Independent, spring, MacPherson strut |
| Suspension (Rear) | Independent, spring, multi-link |
| Brakes | Ventilated disc brakes |
| Tires | 275/35 ZR19 (Front), 285/30 ZR20 (Rear) |
| Performance | |
| Top Speed, km/h | 250** |
| 0-100 km/h, sec | 3.6 |
| 0-200 km/h, sec | 12.9 |
| Fuel Economy | |
| Combined Cycle, l/100km | 10.4 |
| Fuel Tank | |
| Capacity, l | 59 |
| Recommended Fuel | Petrol (Gasoline) RON 95—98 |
- * With rear seats folded down.
- *** Electronically limited.
Photo: Vladimir Melnikov
This is a translation. You can read the original article here: Компот из сухофруктов: тест универсала BMW M3 Touring
Published September 24, 2025 • 11m to read
