Forget The M3 — This BMW M Car Deserves Your Attention
6 minutes reading
Thursday, 1 Oct 2026 00:00 0 9 autotech
For a certain minority of Americans, wagons never went out of style. Witness the Subaru Outback, a stalwart of modest utile integrity. A yet smaller subset, people of greater means, will hunt in a minuscule luxury segment, the high-performance wagon slot, which is slimmer than even the sports car niche of 911s, Corvettes, M2 Coupes, and the like. Back in the wagon aisle, Mercedes-Benz will sell you a 577-horsepower AMG E53 for a starting price around 100 grand. Audi offers the excellent, 621-horsepower RS6 Avant (for closer to $130,000). But nobody out-hits the 717-horsepower BMW M5 Touring, which, trust me, if you have the means, is one of those “ultimate driving machines” worth a closer look.
Good question. Simply put, it’s the BMW M5 sedan but with more utility. Stock power includes a 4.4-liter V-8 mated to a 14 kWh battery with 27 miles of electric-only range. That boosts the fuel economy of this BMW from a pretty miserable 13 MPG combined once the battery is drained, to 54 MPGe. To refresh your memory, MPGe is supposed to be a measure of energy and, loosely, a stand-in for how far you can travel on that electric fuel. Loosely, because it’s obvious that 54 MPGe doesn’t equal 27 miles.
Okay, this isn’t a Prius, but if you did plug it in each evening, you could do a lot of driving in the M5 Touring without ever using gas. And unlike with lots of mild hybrids that never seem to run in actual hybrid mode, it’s easy to tour in the M5 Touring without ever waking up the gas engine, thanks to an electric powertrain that adds 194 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque. It’s not muscular, but it’s certainly adequate.
In turn, when you’ve left the school drop-off zone and are rolling on a booted battery and that V-8, acceleration is simply blistering. You can jump from 0-60 MPH in 3.4 seconds, and it’s just as gratifying that passing power will rip you from 40-90 MPH in an instant, so two-lane clots that would otherwise stifle an amusing backcountry rip simply vanish with every smash of your right foot.
It’s About Handling, Not The Engine
BMW
You can get a BMW X5M for about the same $130,000 price tag of the M5 Touring. The X5M gets a slightly less potent version of the same 4.4-liter V-8, producing 617 horsepower via its hybrid setup. The X5M is nearly as quick to 60 MPH, and nearly as agile.
However, just because a taller crossover can be forced to slaughter apexes and pull nearly the same 1g of cornering force as its wagon cousin doesn’t mean you’d enjoy it. Sitting lower feels far more comfortable at the limit of grip because the “lever” effect is shorter from the ground to your cranium. Also, you feel like you sit “in” the M5, not on top of it. Plus the wagon’s AWD powertrain can be switched to rear-wheel-only, meaning you get the full effect of a BMW’s historic front-engine, rear-drive handling, with a slight bit of understeer and highly kinetic drive-by-the-seat-of-your-pants engagement. The eight-speed transmission is an automatic, but paddles and dual M modes enable very rapid gear changes.
Just LOOK At It!
TopSpeed | Michael Frank
This is O.G. BMW fun. With massive skirting, wings, and ground effects, the M5 Touring is hardly shy. Think BMW M3, just way roomier. But also, the M5 Touring is kinder to your spine. Even vs. the X5M or especially the XM, the adaptive dampers don’t hammer you when you’re plowing down the Interstate in comfort mode, whereas those M-badged crossovers feel extra-stiffly sprung. Meeker brethren, like Volvo’s V60 wagon or the non-AMG E-Class, are more pliant, for certain. But there’s a cold-medicine fog to their ride quality. Meanwhile, even at its mildest preset, the M5’s especially quick steering makes the car feel especially awake and invigorating.
More Second-Row Legroom Than A BMW X3 — And Rival E-Class Benz
There’s an obvious argument for why wagons are nearly dead in America. We have SUVs. Why would we want a wagon? In theory a box with a taller roof should hold more junk. Except that a higher ride height also eats into cargo capacity. Take the far more affordable, if less muscular, BMW X3 and compare that to the M5 Touring wagon. When all seats are upright the X3 has a bit more volume (31.5 cubic feet vs. the M wagon’s 27.7 cubes). And yet they tie for cubes (67.1 vs. 67.2 for the M Touring) with seats folded. So a high roof doesn’t default to a massive distinction in roominess.
Plus, sedans and wagons tend to have more capacious and comfortable accommodations for passengers, and the M5 rocks this metric, with more second-row legroom not only vs. the X3—but also vs. another obvious rival, the Mercedes-AMG E53 Wagon. And in case you’re more likely to cross-shop vs. the X5M Competition, that big ute just nips the 37 inches of second-row knee room the M5 Touring offers. So opting for the M5 Touring buys you true four-passenger comfort for full-sized adults, but unlike a 5 Series sedan, you’re getting SUV-like utility with that rear seat folded.
A Very Teutonic Cabin — With Some Interesting Twists
I tend to dislike optional racing seats offered in some super sedans. Mercedes-AMG perches are amazing on the track — and less comfortable the rest of the time. They’re simply too racing-focused. BMW seems to understand this, so while the M5 Touring gets sportier seats than a standard 5 Series, they’re adjustable, with decent cushioning and enough comfort for hours of driving. (Yes, my tester, in addition to purple paint, also had grape-hued seating, and no, you don’t have to go that route.)
Meanwhile, every M5 Touring comes with a Bowers & Wilkins sound system (sonically excellent), a panoramic sunroof, and a beautiful, futuristic cabin. Add the Executive package, and you get front and rear heated seats, backlit M-specific ambient lighting, power rear sunshades, and a 14.9-inch infotainment TFT display with BMW’s iDrive interface.
TopSpeed’s Take
TopSpeed | Michael Frank
I understand why some buyers would default to an AWD SUV vs. a wagon. But I’m speculating that if you can afford this BMW, this is an N+1 decision. You can have an SUV and this M5 Touring; you’re not weighing one vs. the other. Further, and really this is the gist, the ultimate argument in favor of the M5 Touring is scarcity. Just how many X5s, Cayennes, and GLSs roll around your exclusive zip code? Why add to that not-especially-unique pack, when your car can stand completely apart? Plus, you’re not only winning aesthetically and thumbing your nose at the fray — you’re rewarded with an awesome, constant-grin-inducing beast that just so happens to also be exceptionally pragmatic.
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