After the BMW M3 Touring finally hit the road, there really was one journalist who fans wanted to hear from most—Chris Harris. Not only is Harris one of the best journos around, he’s also one of the few that can genuinely show off what a car can do. So when Harris released his video review of the M3 Touring, I couldn’t click fast enough.
In this new video, Harris takes the M3 Touring to the track, to show how it can slide around like a normal M3 should. Does he test out the practicality of the trunk or show how many boxes fit inside? No. As Harris rightfully says, words can tell you about that sort of thing. What you want to see is what the M3 Touring can do at its limit, because that proves that, despite its practical nature, it’s still a proper M3.
He also shows off the duality of the M3 Touring by flipping off the all-wheel drive system and traction control, leaving it in two-wheel drive mode and properly hooning it. The point of that is two-fold: it’s fun and it shows that the M3 Touring can still drive like an M3. That’s always been the point of the M3, it can be an everyday sport sedan that’s comfortable enough, high-tech, and practical, but it can also tear up a race track. That’s the beauty of BMW M’s xDrive system, it can be safe and secure on wet, slippery roads but it can also allow for genuine hooliganism.
What’s interesting about the G80 M3 Touring is also its comfort. According to Harris, if you leave it in its comfort settings, it’s a much more usable car on the road than the outgoing F80 M3. While the new M3 is firm, it does round out bumps surprisingly well. UK roads are known to be worse than our own U.S. roads, so if Harris finds it comfortable enough, it likely is.
However, can we all just take a moment and appreciate the fact that we’re getting video reviews of a BMW M3 Touring being drive around a track, sideways in a cloud of tire smoke? That’s something BMW fans have been hoping to see for decades and it’s finally here. Thankfully, it seems that the car itself was worth the wait because it’s getting nothing but stellar reviews. Unfortunately for us ‘Mericans, it still doesn’t really exist for us.