BMW and fast station wagons, it was always an unfortunate combination. While Mercedes and Audi in particular took full advantage of the magic of the muddy über-station, BMW stuck to sedans with the M5. When asked, there was some murmuring about the stiffness of the body, but since cars like the X5 M and X3 M exist, that excuse is of course no longer valid. The ‘ultimate M’, according to BMW (and no one else), is even the XM, a huge SUV. Then come on with those M-Tourings!
The good news: it does. Today, for the first time in history, an M3 Touring is on the price list at BMW, while the M5 Touring will soon get its long-awaited sequel. The very first M5 Touring, and the very first BMW M-Touring at all, appeared in 1992. The car was handmade on the basis of the then four-year-old second generation of the BMW M5, that of the E34 model series. Just like with the first M3, there was something strange going on with the M5, because unlike you would expect, this was not the model variant with the largest engine. The 530i, 535i and 540i received a V8, but the M5 did it ‘just’ with a six-cylinder.
Actually even with two six-cylinder, because halfway through the life of this M5, the original 3.5 was replaced by a 3.8. This also applied to the Touring, which makes each individual version even rarer than the M5 Touring E34 as a whole. That says something, because in total only 891 M5 Tourings of this type were built. With 315 or 340 hp, depending on the engine, this M5 is not even that fast anymore by today’s standards. That was of course different in the first half of the 90s, and you could seriously surprise your fellow road users with it.
The E34 M5 always had a manual gearbox, which had to be guided from gear to gear with a firm hand. The six-seater gives a wonderfully raw sound and the car itself is so understated that a modern XM is simply laughable. Subtle bumper edges, modest logos and unique 17- or 18-inch wheels set it apart from other E34s, but only for those who paid attention.
E61: a supercar in everything
How much BMW had doubts about the whole concept of the M5 Touring became apparent when the E39 M5 was deprived of it. The next and, for the time being, the last M5 Touring did not arrive until 2007. We are lucky with that, because the car ends up in the middle of the life cycle of what is without a doubt the craziest M5 ever: the E60. The station wagon version is also known as E61, because the numbers differ per body shape from this generation.
If you want a supercar in station wagon form, you should definitely try an E61. By that we mean the performance, but certainly also the inconveniences that come with owning an exotic. Broken bearing shells, malfunction-prone SMG boxes, very expensive and nasty model-specific parts and astronomical consumption demand the utmost from the owner’s dedication, but then you also have something. A five-liter V10 helps 507 horsepower here and makes this a station wagon that is bizarrely fast to this day.
The top speed in particular is special, because without a limiter, such an M5 runs well above 300 km / h. The undersigned knows this better than anyone, because behind the wheel of exactly such a Touring, he saw the counter speed up to 315 km/h – with power left. Due to the grumpy gearbox and the high-revving nature of the engine, this is a car that does not just release its tricks, but that also makes it clearly different from the much easier RS6 from this period. Also with V10, by the way. What a time.
BMW M5 E61 alongside its much more famous, much more popular V10 rival of the time: the Audi RS6
Slightly more of the BMW M5 E61 were built than the E34 Touring, but with 1,009 units this is also a very rare car. This is of course reflected in the prices: where a sedan was sometimes no longer worth the repair costs at the lowest point of its price trend, patching up an M5 Touring has always been worthwhile. If you had the budget for it, of course.
The new M5 Touring will once again be a completely different beast. Instead of a raw six-in-line or a beastly V10, we now expect the combination of a V8 and electric power, rechargeable with a charging cable. No lack of horsepower, no doubt!
2023-08-13 14:06:27
#history #BMW #Touring #station #wagon
