Yahoo Autos Take an In-Depth Tour of the New M3 Touring With This 10-Minute Video From BM
The first-ever production M3 Touring might not be coming to America, but it's still one of the most exciting cars set to debut this year. BMW has released an in-depth walk-around video giving us an up-close look at the longroof M3 before its debut, detailing all of the changes the company made to ensure the car lives up to its iconic name. And there are plenty of changes.
The BMW M YouTube channel invited Klaus Huber, head of driving dynamics for BMW M, to explain all of the upgrades and modifications made to the M3 Touring from its switch from sedan to wagon body style. The company wants the Touring to be just as capable as its four-door saloon counterpart, and that means a whole bunch of chassis, suspension, and traction calibration changes to cope with the 510-hp S58 twin-turbo straight-six and M-designed xDrive system.
To that end, BMW M has given the M3 Touring a totally revamped suspension setup with stiffer springs, retuned dampers, and stiffer roll-bar bushings. The electrically assisted steering, ABS, and DSC have also been retuned to make the M3 Touring "drive like a real M3," according to Huber. The company spent additional to ensure the car drives well whether it's empty inside or packed with a bunch of people and their luggage. It's a delicate balancing act, as you can imagine.
Of course, the body has been given some significant changes as well, apart from the obvious front-end changes to the grille. Both the front and rear fenders have been widened to accommodate proper M3 wheels and tires measuring 275 mm wide up front and 285 mm in the rear. There's also a new rear bumper to show off the M3's signature quad-exit exhaust.
BMW has yet to tell us exactly when it plans to debut the M3 Touring, but considering this prototype looks to be production-ready, we suspect a full reveal by summertime.
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