- BMW has introduced a wagon version of its iconic M5 sedan, dubbed the 2025 BMW M5 Touring.
- This is the third Touring model in the M5's history, and the first to be sold on US shores.
- Like the sedan, the M5 Touring gets a twin-turbo V-8 with hybrid assistance, for a total output of 717 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque.
It's here! Following months of speculation and dozens of renders bouncing around the internet, BMW finally pulled the cover off its long-awaited M5 Touring. The big news: the third-ever M5 wagon is coming to America.
Is that the liberty bell I just heard pinging?
I first saw this car behind (literal) closed doors during the M5 sedan's premier more than two months ago. As if we were entering a musty CIA dark site, BMW employees asked us to leave our phones behind, then led pairs of us car writers into a dimly lit antechamber for waterboarding. Err, to unveil the M5 Touring. I've been impatiently awaiting the Touring's official coming-out party ever since.
What can I add to the conversation beyond what the photos will show you? In person, the M5 Touring looks stunning. You won't get that impression from this first round of press images, since BMW chose to photograph a matte-black Touring on a dark background.
But in the metal, this wagon just looks right. There's a body line stretching along the Touring's entire length. It catches the light just so, terminating at the wagon's trailing edge where it meets a perfectly tapered roofline. A just-right spoiler caps the Touring's roofline, but every component part of the Touring's all-important cargo hold looks perfectly judged.
My first instinct, after taking in the M5 Touring's profile, was to walk around the front and double check that BMW hadn't given the M5 Touring the Angry Beaver treatment. Thankfully, as with the M5 sedan, design sensibility prevails.
With the fold-down rear seats, there's an undeniable boost in practicality over the M5 sedan. With their front wheels removed, you'd have no problem fitting a pair of road bikes in the rear hold, which is my barometer for an excellent cargo area, and a threshold that's surprisingly difficult to overcome for most vehicles.
As an official figure, BMW estimates 57.6 cubic feet of cargo space, which is... a number that probably means something to someone. For context, that's about 10 more cubic feet than a Toyota 4Runner with its rear seats up. In practical terms, you'll have no trouble ferrying your family of five to the airport, checked bags in tow, for a week abroad.
But back to the exterior: Every last one of these M5 Tourings should be painted in the stunning Isle of Man Green metallic. It's a color exclusive to BMW's "M variants," and the shade I saw in that CIA dark site photo room.
Sure there are M badges postered across every inch of the Touring, which is such a cliche at this point it probably shouldn't bear mentioning. But with the right paint color (matte black is the absence of not only color but imagination), this is a great-looking BMW.
Mechanically, the Touring is identical to the M5 Sedan. Except for, you know, the hatch in the back. That means an M Hybrid drive system producing 717 horses and 738 pound-feet (577 hp and 553 lb-ft from the twin-turbo V-8; the rest from the electric motor).
Zero to sixty comes in 3.5 seconds, and there's about 25 miles of pure electric range.
BMW North America set the Touring's price at $121,500, plus $1,175 for destination and handling. The car will launch worldwide in the fourth quarter of this year.
Yes, the thing still weighs 5,530 pounds by BMW's estimate. Roughly the same as the sedan. Yes, that's a metric shitload (Note: this is a European term, please excuse their French). But we make special allowances for the wagon version of any hot sedan. We demand less knife-edged character and expect more comfort. More often than not, that makes for the best version of a given model.
After a track test in the new M5 sedan, I can assure you the M5 Touring handles much lighter on its feet than it looks on the stats sheet. There's all that weight, sure, but there's all that power and civility and composure, too.
Plus it's an M5 wagon. Finally on our shores. How cool is that?