BMW M3 Touring: price, specs and release date

  • M3 Touring revealed and detailed in full
  • 510PS output and xDrive all-wheel drive only
  • Priced from £80,550 and on sale now

The new BMW M3 Touring is finally here, as after months of teasing it BMW has released a full set of images and details. It's the first time the Munich brand has put an estate version of its hottest 3 Series into full production after many years of M car fans begging for one.

Going up squarely against the Audi RS4 Avant, as well as the upcoming, hybrid-only Mercedes-AMG C63 Estate, the new M3 Touring is available to order now with no price premium over the equivalent all-wheel drive saloon - it's actually cheaper, weirdly. 

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2022 BMW M3 Touring price and release date

The BMW M3 Touring unsurprisingly shares almost all of its parts with the M3 saloon, but that estate body should command a price premium, right? Well, yes and no. 

Yes, the M3 Touring is more expensive than the cheapest M3 saloon, with a starting price of £80,550. But because the Touring comes as standard with xDrive all-wheel drive it is, according to BMW's latest configurator prices, £420 cheaper than the xDrive-equipped M3 saloon. Make sense of that one. 

While that might seem like a no-brainer compared to the saloon, it does make the M3 Touring £10,000 pricier than the cheapest spec of Audi RS4 Avant. We don't yet know how much the upcoming Mercedes-AMG C63 Estate will cost, but you can bet that given the extra hybrid complexity it's either similar to the M3 or more expensive still. 

The BMW M3 Touring is on sale now, with BMW taking orders. Expect first deliveries to arrive before 2022 is out, with a public reveal happening at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. 

 

BMW M3 Touring: exterior and interior design

You don't need to be a BMW product manager to work out that the 2022 BMW M3 Touring is based closely on the saloon – it has the same toothy grin and blistered wheel arches that make the standard car so, er – impactful.

The main change is at the back where you, of course get an estate car roofline (but also a tasty rear diffuser and quad exhaust pipes). BMW has even added some subtle roof rails to increase practicality. Like the regular M3 saloon the M3 Touring is significantly wider, longer and slightly lower than the regular 3 Series Touring thanks to those imposing front and rear ends and wider track. 

The M3 Touring has a luggage capacity of 500 litres loaded to the window line and quite a lot more than that if you pack it to the roof. You also get 40:20:40 split/folding rear seats - how sensible - as well as BMW's trademark separately opening rear window for easy access. The tailgate is electrically operated as standard, while you can option rubber anti-slip devices that rise from the boot floor and hold your stuff in place when you start hooning it about. 

The rest of the cabin is identical to the standard M3 saloon, save for a touch of extra rear headroom. 

BMW M3 Touring: engine and performance

The new M3 Touring has the practicality of an estate, then, but this is an M3 first and foremost. That means it has to be quick, and with 510PS from a 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight-six it's certainly that. 

Yes, the M3 Touring is, like the saloon, only available in Competition spec. And because it's all-wheel drive only it'll accelerate from 0-62mph in just 3.6 seconds, which is a 0.1 second deficit from the saloon. If you claim you'll notice this, then you're lying. 

The top speed is 155mph, but like the M3 saloon you can spec the optional M Driver's pack which raises that top speed to 174mph. That's 6 mph less than in the saloon, but that only matters if you live next to a German Autobahn and you're late. 

That xDrive all-wheel-drive system is switchable, which means you can have huge grip when you want it and a pure rear-driven estate car when you don't. You get the same chassis upgrades as the M3 saloon, too, plus options including carbon ceramic brakes. 

BMW hasn't detailed a weight figure yet for the M3 Touring, but we know the 3 Series Touring is 70kg heavier than the equivalent saloon. That means a fairly hefty kerbweight of around 1850kg is on the cards. 

Whether the M3 will also be offered as a slightly detuned, 480PS rear-wheel-drive model is yet to be confirmed but it would give the M3 Touring a USP against the four-wheel drive RS4 and new C63.

Did BMW ever make an M3 Touring?

BMW has made an M3 Touring before – it was based on the E46 M3 that was on sale from 2000-2006. It was kept under wraps until 2016

What is a touring BMW?

BMW uses 'touring' as another name for an estate car or wagon, much like Audi refers to its estate cars as 'Avant' models. 

Will the BMW M3 Touring be quick?

We're expecting the BMW M3 Touring to get from 0-62mph in less than four seconds and to have a top speed that's limited to 155mph. 

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