BMW M3 Touring now in Thailand – M3 Competition wagon with 510 PS, 650 Nm, xDrive; RM1.38 million

The G81 BMW M3 Touring, the first ever M3 wagon, is now available for order in Thailand. The M3 Touring comes in Competition form only, with an eight-speed automatic gearbox and xDrive all-wheel drive. The price? 10,399,000 baht, which is equivalent to RM1.376 million.

An M3 wagon is something that many enthusiasts have yearned for over the decades, but strangely, BMW has never used the M3 recipe on the 3 Series Touring. Until 2022, when Munich marked the 50th anniversary of BMW M with this car.

Under the hood is a the S58 3.0 litre twin-turbocharged straight-six with the Competition spec’s 510 PS at 6,250 rpm and 650 Nm of torque from 2,750 to 5,500 rpm. There’s no manual or pure rear-wheel drive option, so it’s an eight-speed automatic gearbox with M xDrive AWD, which gets a rear active locking differential and a rear-wheel-drive mode if that’s your drift.

The M3 Touring gets from zero to 100 km/h in just 3.6 seconds, which is only a tenth of a second slower than the M3 Sedan and M4 Coupe. The capacious M car hits 200 km/h in just 12.9 seconds and opting for the M Driver’s Package raises the electronically-limited top speed to 280 km/h.

Of course, there were some chassis work too. The M division took into account the wagon’s larger, heavier body, and fitted uprated rear dampers to match. The structure itself was strengthened with specific underfloor and boot bracing to maintain torsional stiffness. Adaptive dampers and variable-ratio steering are standard.

The rest of the M goodies are shared with the sedan and coupe – they include 10-step traction control integrated in the ECU, a brake-by-wire system and M Compound disc brakes that hide behind standard 19-inch front and 20-inch rear forged alloy wheels. Carbon ceramic brakes and track tyres are on the options list.

The G21 3 Series Touring was given the same design treatment as the other M3/M4 variants, which means a full-height grille, trapezoidal headlights, split centre air intakes and vertical air curtain inlets. Muscular fenders, diagonal side gills and a heavily sculpted bonnet with fake ‘vent’ divots are also included.

However, unlike other M cars, the M3 Touring doesn’t get a carbon fibre roof; instead, the metal panel is painted black, although you can specify a body-coloured finish together with the door mirrors. At the back, you’ll find a giant rectangular diffuser (with quad tailpipes, optionally available in chrome) augmented by a bespoke Gurney flap atop the tailgate spoiler.

Like the exterior, the M3 Touring gets the same interior enhancements as the sedan and coupe. Those two bodystyles don’t have the wagon’s 500 litres of boot space though, expandable to 1,510 litres by collapsing the 40:20:40 split-folding rear seats. From conquering the Nordschleife in 7 minutes 35.06 to your local IKEA store. Want one? We only have the booted G80 M3 (RM827,800 with extended warranty and service) and two-door G82 M4 (RM848,800).

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