BMW M teases the upcoming BMW M3 Touring on their Instagram channel while unintentionally (or is it?) confirming the rumored curved display. If you blow up the teaser social media image, you can clearly see the very large display which will eventually end up in the 3 Series Facelift, and therefore, in the BMW M3 and M4 Facelifted models. The heavily camouflaged prototype was photographed by BMW’s own marketing and PR team near the Arjeplog test center in Sweden.
The new display design which floats on top of the dashboard consists of two separate, but connected screens. It’s the very same approach as in the BMW i4 and iX electric crossovers. So it’s likely that same screen sizes will be used in the M3 Touring as well. The left LCD measures 12.3-inch in the i4/iX while the touchscreen to the right measures in at 14.9-inch. BMW’s latest iDrive 8 is going to replace the current M3’s iDrive 7.
Mechanically, things will remain the same as they are now. The BMW M3 Touring will come only in Competition xDrive spec, packing 503 horsepower (503 PS) and 479 lb-ft (650 Nm) of torque from its 3.0 liter twin-turbo inline-six. Being a Competition xDrive model, it will only get an automatic gearbox and all-wheel drive. Purists might bemoan the setup but it honestly doesn’t make sense for BMW to sell any other.
Read: “BMW M: 50 Years of the Ultimate Driving Machines” book
Competition xDrive models are going to be the most popular M3/M4 models by far and away, once they’re on sale for awhile. So it only makes sense to fit the relatively limited-run M3 Touring with the most popular running gear. The top speed is normally limited to 250 km/h, but with the M Driver’s Package this electronic limit can be pushed up quite a bit.
If you’re like most BMW enthusiasts, you’re counting the days until BMW finally takes the wrapping off the upcoming M3 Touring. BMW fans have been waiting for decades for their favorite brand to make a proper wagon variant of their favorite sport sedan, something to rival the Audi RS4 Avantand Mercedes-AMG C63 S Wagon. But unfortunately, the BMW M3 Touring won’t come to the United States for the reasons outlined here.
[Render by Motor.es] [Info via Bimmertoday]
