The M5 Touring is headed our way. Finally

The M5 Touring is headed our way. Finally

Performance wagons are making a comeback. The M3 Touring made waves with its arrival last year, and we couldn’t get enough. But now its full-grown sibling is on its way, and its size is met with an impressive price point.

The new M5 is a controversial topic among car enthusiasts. Some believe its 2.4-tonne weight is preposterous, but when we put it through its paces last year, we found it actually plays to its strengths. Yes, the F90 M5 was a weapon on and off the track, with cornering ability that felt engineered for a sci-fi movie, but even for a tyre-shredding 5 Series, it’s almost too much for most consumers. This new model is heavier, but it also feels more M5.

It is one of the hardest-accelerating cars this side of a supercar, yet it's incredibly refined on the open road and still competent through the corners, offering a touch more of an executive saloon and sensible character than its predecessor. You can read our full review of the new BMW M5 here for a more in-depth breakdown of this PHEV twin-turbocharged V8 monster.

In many ways the new M5 is impressive and really plays to what an M5 is intended to feel like, despite passionate criticism. Nevertheless, what's better than a performance saloon? A performance wagon. And South Africa is getting it, despite local enthusiasts getting the short end of the wagon stick owing to our local fixation with SUVs.

I'm glad to see that BMW South Africa soaked up the praise and incredible response to the M3 Touring and is now bringing in the 5. While bespoke configurations typically carry an equally stunning premium, this is not the case with the M5 Touring. To receive your M3 with more space in the rear, you would have to fork out an added R20k, which is a mighty attractive offering. The M5 in its traditional design starts at R2,765,000, and for the added cargo space, you can expect an additional R30k.

Starting at R2,795,000, the new M5 Touring is an aggressively priced performance station wagon and will compete in a world previously dominated by the iconic and more affordable Audi RS6 Performance. Yes, Mercedes-AMG produces the E63 wagon, but we won't be receiving these models.

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So, yes, it will be a unicorn of sorts on our roads, much like its M3 sibling. The Touring’s R30,000 premium is one of the smaller spec options available, and considering carbon ceramic brakes are an additional R166,400, R30k doesn't seem that much at all. The Audi RS6 Performance is still the more affordable option at R2,370,300, but we know that BMW loyalists will see the Touring as the only logical choice.

BMW M5: R2,765,000

BMW M5 Touring: R2,795,000

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