BMW hadn’t sold a Touring version of a real M car for years until the current M3 appeared in 2022. But now it’s making up for lost time and is getting ready to reveal three new hot wagons. One is the M5, another is the mildly facelifted M3 Touring, and the third is the car you see here, the CS Touring. As its name suggests, the wickedest 3-Series wagon yet is a shooting brake version of the M3 CS sedan BMW launched last year, and will feature most of the same aesthetic and functional mods to make it sharper to drive than the base Touring, without compromising on cargo capacity.
Unlike the M4 CSL coupe, which comes only
in rear-wheel drive, the CS sedan is restricted to xDrive all-wheel drive and
automatic transmission, the same configuration already used by the regular M3
Touring. But what the CS does inherit from the CSL is the same S58 3.0-liter
bi-turbo six that’s tuned to deliver 543 hp.
That gives it a healthy 40 hp advantage over the current M3 Touring, but the gap will narrow soon when that
ordinary M3 Touring gets the same bump from 503 hp to 523 hp that the M4 has just been given. BMW quotes a 3.2-second zero to 100
km/h time for the CS sedan and the wagon is unlikely to be more than a tenth
slower.
The last time we spied a CS Touring
prototype it still had an ordinary M3 grille, but this latest test car has the
CS-specific grille bars that, together with the aggressive front splitter, give
the front end an even angrier look. Other upgrades will include changes to the
suspension geometry and a cast aluminum strut brace. But BMW probably won’t
offer a carbon roof on the wagon.
Back in September, we reported on a rumor
that fewer than 2,000 CS Tourings will be produced and that even building such
a low number of cars could be a struggle due to production capacity
constraints. Sadly, no matter how many BMW does build, it won’t be offering any
of them in North America, where the plain M3 Touring is also a no-show. It’s
not all bad news, though. BMW has confirmed that the upcoming M5 Touring will
be available in the U.S.
