The BMW M5 Touring marks the return of the estate bodystyle for the M5.
There’s something absolutely lovable about powerful wagons and now car enthusiasts have one more of these to fawn over. It’s the all-new BMW M5 Touring and yes there’s even a right-hand drive model coming to the UK, so stay tuned for its arrival in Malaysia either through grey market importers or through BMW Malaysia officially.
A Brief History Of M5 Touring Models
The wagon body style is something relatively common in Europe and the stardard 5 Series has been offered in it for some time now. With the high-performance M5 version, that’s not quite the case. We first saw an M5 Touring with the E34 generation. BMW opted not to put one into production with the E39 generation and then only made it available in Europe with the following E60 generation. After that, the M5 Touring was not to be seen at all throughout the F10 and G30 generation M5 models. Now with the G90 we’re finally getting another M5 Touring and this time the focus of the model is a lot more global in reach with markets like the UK and US being targeted.
About The 2024 BMW M5 Touring (G99)
This new M5 Touring is built on the same plug-in hybrid fundamentals as the current M5 Sedan. This means you get a heavy but extremely powerful vehicle thanks to the pairing of a 4.4L V8 twin turbocharged petrol engine with a 5th generation eDrive electric motor. The ICE unit puts out 585hp and 750Nm of torque while the electric element adds 197hp and 450Nm of torque at the 8-speed M Steptronic transmission input. With the optional M Driver’s package, this M5 Touring can reach 305km/h in a straight line. It completes the century sprint in 3.6 seconds.
It accepts 11kW AC charging which is surprisingly higher than what many fully electric BYD models can do, but doesn’t support DC charging as the battery isn’t that large. On a full charge, the car gets 61-67 kilometers of electric driving range. As an M car, you get an M xDrive all-wheel drive system and an electronically-controlled Active M Differential at the rear.
In terms of its design, the M5 Touring gets more racing-inspired character versus the standard 5 Series Touring. A higher proportion of the body is painted in body colour with a black solid finish reserved for the roof. The side frame design now incorporates flared wheel arches to further set it apart from the non-M model and this would have cost quite a bit to develop and produce.
The best reason to buy one is of course the load capacity which is 500L by default but can be expanded to 1630L with the rear seats folded.
M Enhancements
The BMW M5 Touring also gets some chassis reinforcement, which is probably the most costly part of the car’s development as it’s likely to sell in fewer numbers than the sedan. So while most of the drive system could probably be taken wholesale from the M5 Sedan, BMW M probably had to work out new calculations for the chassis. Here we see that they’ve added a tower-to-bulkhead stiffening plate, tower-to-front end struts and bracing elements in the front end structure like the sedan. However the rear gets unique underfloor struts, a cross bar, a stiffening plate and other bracing elements in the load compartment. Besides that, adaptive M suspension with electronically controlled dampers, Integral Active Steering, M Compound brakes and M light-alloy wheels are fitted as standard.
Just like the M5 Sedan, the BMW M5 Touring gets an M-specific control panel to customise the driving experience. You’ll also find M Dynamic Mode for adjusting the stability control settings and Track mode which includes an M Laptimer and the Boost Control function. It may be a heavy M car but you can at least make use of the immediate torque provided by the hybrid system.
