There are countless “[Insert Car Company Here] should make [Insert Car Style Here]” articles on the interwebs. There are countless car configurations that enthusiasts wish their favorite brands would make. One of the most popular is the BMW M3 Touring, a wagon version of the world’s most famous sport sedan and a car that almost all BMW enthusiasts wish the brand would be made. Yet, BMW has never officially done so. There’s been a prototype or two but nothing actually resembling intent to make a production M3 wagon. But if that’s got you down, you should by this E34 BMW M5 Touring.
Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of the E34 5 Series and I’ve made that opinion quite clear before, drawing ire from E34 enthusiasts. However, I do like the E34 BMW M5 Touring for of a few reasons; its wagon body style helps alleviate that concrete slab-styling of the sedan’s trunk and the fact that it’s an M5 wagon. This specific one, currently for sale on Bring-A-Trailer, is especially great because it’s spec’d perfectly.
For starters, it’s a 1995 model year, which means it’s post refresh. So it looks a bit better and it packs the bigger engine, a 3.8 liter inline-six. That bigger engine makes 340 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque and it delivers both in a linear, mechanically delicious manner. It’s a proper ‘six that engine. It also gets a six-speed manual gearbox, which is great in a car from 1995.
This specific car was imported from Germany and moved to Oregon but now lives in California, which is a great place for a car to live out its years, where rust is kept at a relative minimum. It has 184,000 miles on it, which isn’t an insignificant amount but it’s fine in a car as old as this and as well kept as this. The only modifications include a new Ground Control coilover suspension kit and, surprisingly, some extra sound-deadening. So the owner of this car wanted it to be comfortable and quiet as well as fun, which sounds good to us.
It’s wearing Oxford Green Metallic paint over black Nappa leather interior, which is quite possibly the best possible color scheme for this car. It’s also sitting on staggered OEM M-Parallel wheels, my favorite of that era.
The seller of this E34 BMW M5 Touring has a video of him opening the door, starting it up and popping the hood. The doors still open with that old-school sound of solidity and everything still seems to look and feel tight. With the engine running, he manually revs it with the throttle linkage and it sounds great still. (Also, does anyone else miss being able to manually rev an engine, especially on one like this with independent throttle bodies?)
This is a great car and, at the time of writing this, is at a great price. The current bid sits at $25,000 and it’s likely to go up in the three remaining days. However, you can likely get this M5 for considerably less than a loaded BMW 340i sedan and you’ll be getting something that’s infinitely more enjoyable to drive, easier and significantly cheaper to fix and even more practical. It’s not perfect, with a couple of minor rust spots, but it seems to be in great mechanical shape and can offer years of enjoyment. So if you’re sad that you can’t get a proper M wagon at your BMW dealer, check this out instead.
[Source: Bring-A-Trailer]