New BMW M3 Touring and hybrid M5 rock M-Fest at Kyalami
Hats off to the good people at BMW that thought it wise and managed to get the BMW M3 Touring Competition into local showrooms.
While SUVs continue to dominate sales and sedans struggle to maintain a foothold, South Africa hasn’t had a huge appetite for estates or as we like to call them, station wagons and to date the only option has been the Audi RS4 Avant.
It was a bold move and seems to have paid off with the full allocation already taken up.
The M3 Touring along with its bigger M5 sibling was shown for the first time at the recent BMW M-Fest held at Kyalami.
It’s the biggest BMW event of its kind in the world and proving just how popular it is and how strong the brand is in Mzansi, all 33 000 tickets were sold out over the two days.
The M3 Touring is a far cry from the station wagons of the 70s and 80s and as a performance BMW that has its roots from the first M3 launched almost 40 years ago, it’s everything we’ve come to expect from an M3.
It combines superb performance and practicality with 500 litres of boot space which increases to 1 510 with the seats down.
It also has a slew of international awards including the”Golden Steering Wheel” award in Germany and with a time of 7min 35.060sec, holds the Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record for estate cars.
That’s courtesy of BMW’s most potent in-line six cylinder engine with M TwinPower Turbo technology that produces 390kW and 650Nm.
All South African versions come with the M Driver’s Package which will get you to 100km/h from a standing start in 3.6 seconds and top out at 280km/h.
That power is delivered via an eight-speed M Steptronic transmission with Drivelogic to all four corners with an active rear M Differential and if you’re feeling brave, there’s a selectable rear-wheel drive option.
Apart from the fact that the M3 touring adds an extra dimension to the looks over the sedan it handles exactly the way an M3 should as we found out during a couple of hot laps around the Kyalami Grand Prix circuit.
It’s fast, really fast and that engine doesn’t mind hitting the red zone before the next gear quickly propels it forward or the exhaust pipes blips as you throttle down.
The steering wheel sits comfortably in your hands and gives good feedback with the sport seats providing fantastic support as you manoeuvre around the 16 turns and different elevations.
Despite numerous laps with various journalists during the course of the afternoon the brakes remained effective and slowed the M3 Touring down very quickly every time it was asked.
Getting out of the car you completely understand why it’s already been fully allocated.
M-Fest was also the first time that the wraps were taken off the seventh generation M5, the most potent M5 to date.
As a plug-in hybrid it’s now also a new energy vehicle (NEV).
Using the same technology as the BMW M Hybrid V8 endurance racing car, the M5 combines the much-revered twin turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 with 430kW and 750Nm and an electric motor with 145kW and 280Nm with a pre-gearing stage that allows effective torque at the transmission input to be increased to 450Nm so the net result is you get 535kW and 1 000Nm.
The power is sent to the road with the all-wheel drive M xDrive with a rear biased set-up that BMW says is particularly pronounced in 4WD Sport mode.
Like the M3, if you’re brave enough you can choose to use only the 21-inch rear tyres (the front are 20-inch) with the Dynamic Stability Control system switched off.
Using launch control, combining the V8 and electric motor gives a sprint time of 3.5 seconds to 100km/h and with the standard M Driver’s Package reach a top speed of 305km/h.
According to BMW the 18.6kWh battery will propel the M5 up to 140km/h, provide a range of 67-69 kilometres and on a 7.4kW charger takes three and a half hours to charge.
I was a passenger for the first few laps before I had a chance to take the wheel and what strikes you is how incredibly comfortable and well laid out the interior is.
There’s loads of legroom at the back, the cockpit features an M-specific control panel on the centre console, M multifunction seats, BMW curved display, head-up display with M-specific content and it has a newly designed flat-bottomed M leather steering wheel with illuminated M buttons.
Putting the M5 through its paces around the track despite the fast getaway, you quickly feel its 2 435kg weight around the corners.
The battery adds to its low centre of gravity and with adaptive M suspension with electronically controlled dampers and integral active steering that turns the rear wheels it’s not exactly nimble but it is very steady at speed around the corners.
You have to stomp on the brake pedal to slow it down and the glorious V8 sound behind you adds to the overall experience when pushed hard.
The light steering may not be to everyone's liking but the M5 isn’t a track beast and for everyday driving with the odd foot to the floor excursion it’s perfectly acceptable and a fantastic example of how technology can produce something special.
Pricing
BMW M5: R2 690 000
BMW M3 Touring: R2 218 841.80