BMW is bringing back its powerful M5 sedan in a touring version after a long hiatus. The world premiere will take place somewhat unexpectedly at Monterey Car Week in Pebble Beach, as Americans generally have little affinity for station wagons.
The United States is far from being a country of station wagons. The over five-metre-long family wagons of the 1970s with massive cargo spaces and bench seats are long forgotten, and Americans have made SUVs the global trend vehicle of modern times. However, US customers also love to be a bit different. Additionally, powerful sports wagons have been a hot topic, especially since the tremendous success of the Audi RS6 Avant, which made a name for itself worldwide with its aggressive design and impressive performance—particularly in the US, where it currently starts at $125,000.
The additional momentum from the current BMW M3 Touring in Europe and the fact that it was deemed too small for the US market have led to the return of the BMW M5 Touring at the end of the year, and it will even make its way to the United States. The premiere at Monterey, arguably the world’s most influential automotive event, is therefore not as surprising as initially thought. The almost shameless design of the BMW M5 sedan has been transferred to the wagon form, which BMW continues to call the Touring. With the wagon rear and the massively flared wheel arches, the latest generation of the BMW M5 may appear even more impressive to many customers than the already bold sedan.
The technology and drivetrain of the hybrid M5 Touring are identical to those of the four-door sedan, so the fast cargo carrier is powered by the well-known 4.4-litre V8 twin-turbo with electric assistance, delivering 535 kW / 727 PS and a wild 1,000 Nm of maximum torque. The 430 kW / 585 PS V8 turbo engine is supported by an electric motor hidden in the eight-speed automatic transmission, contributing an additional 145 kW / 197 PS / 450 Nm. In the medium term, this will hardly be the final configuration for the wagon version. Sharper editions with name additions like M5 Touring Competition or M5 Touring Label Red are likely to bring the family wagon’s total power to over 800 PS. This immense power is necessary for many customers, as the 5.10-meter-long BMW M5, even in its Touring version, shares the sedan’s problem: its curb weight is just over 2.5 tonnes—a lot of work for the variable sports suspension with a double-wishbone front axle and five-link rear axle, made of a combination of aluminium and steel.
Thanks to the power of its two hearts, the family wagon accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds, reaching a top speed of 305 km/h at the driver’s request. But the Bavarian can do more. The high-voltage battery in the rear of the vehicle, with a usable energy content of 18.6 kWh, provides a purely electric range of up to 67 kilometres, and the plug-in hybrid can drive purely electrically up to 140 km/h. However, the maximum charging speed is only 11 kilowatts. Some may like the design of a 5 Series Touring; others may prefer the cargo space, which ranges from 500 to 1,630 litres depending on the position of the rear seats. A tow hitch with a capacity of up to 2,000 kilograms is available as an option.
The idea of a high-performance wagon in the luxury class isn’t entirely new, as the first BMW M5 Touring was launched in 1992, based on the M5 sedan of the E34 generation. In 2007, BMW M GmbH added a wagon version to the fourth-generation BMW M5 with its spectacular V10 engine.
