2025 BMW M3 Competition Touring review

When Drive Managing Editor Trent Nikolic drove the BMW M3 Touring at its launch 18 months ago, I remember him describing it as “being one of those days where you simply can’t wait to get to work”.

I was filled with the same excitement just before it was my time to get behind the wheel of one. I’ve long been a BMW fan, but since owning an E91-generation 3 Series Touring myself, the M3 Touring (wagon) is arguably my dream car.

The fact that the M3 Touring is a thing at all is worthy of celebration. In a world where SUVs dominate the roads, BMW going back to the wagon for its performance kicks is simply awesome.

So, the anticipation of spending a week in the 2025 BMW M3 Competition Touring was real. Here’s how I got on…

The BMW M3 Competition Touring is the most expensive form of M3 that you can buy right now. The German car maker has done the M3 CS and M4 CSL in years past, but these were merely limited-run special editions.

BMW is also bringing out a lightened CS version of the M3 Touring, though this is due later in 2025, and it too is limited in terms of production allocation.

The M3 Touring is a full-time production variant of the M3 line-up and is priced from $186,900 before you add on-road costs.

There is really only one rival for the M3 Touring, and it’s Audi’s RS4 Avant. Audi has been doing go-fast wagons for decades and, although it is effectively between generations right now, that car costs $182,005 plus on-road costs.

Mercedes-Benz used to manufacture the Merc-AMG C63 Estate, though it has since been discontinued in Australia – in fact, Mercedes-Benz doesn’t sell any wagons locally anymore.

Within the BMW range, the M3 Touring is $2000 more expensive than the M3 Competition xDrive sedan. While the M3 sedan can be had with a six-speed manual transmission and rear-wheel drive, the M3 Touring only comes in full-fat M3 Competition xDrive specification.

MORE: 2025 BMW M3 – All-wheel-drive models to get power increase
MORE: 2025 BMW M3 CS Touring super wagon revealed at Bathurst

The BMW M3 Touring is underpinned by an all-wheel-drive system fed by a snarling, growly twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre inline-six-cylinder engine. Total system outputs are 390kW/650Nm harnessed by an eight-speed traditional torque-converter automatic transmission.

You can certainly spend up on an M3 Touring, though our tester was fitted with no additional options aside from the no-cost red brake calipers. The car was upholstered with the standard merino leather (‘Tartufo’ colour) inside the cabin, plus carbon-fibre trims.

It also gets equipment including ambient lighting, head-up display, automatic tailgate, Harman Kardon 16-speaker audio, seat heating, wireless smartphone charging, and M design highlights throughout. You can select extra bits and pieces, such as the M carbon bucket seats ($7682) or the carbon-ceramic brake kit ($14,616), though these are wholly unnecessary in a wagon.

Read on to find out why.

It’s a welcome sign to see just a regular set of M sports seats inside our M3 Touring. While the option-up M carbon buckets are fantastic for the racetrack, they’re uncomfortable for everything else.

In comparison, the broad-shouldered seats fitted to our tester have plenty of support for fast cornering while remaining soft enough for longer journeys.

It feels like a special place to spend time. Every panel of the interior feels suitably prestige, while the contrasting trims around the front row are surprise-and-delight features. The carbon-fibre accents to the steering wheel and centre console look fantastic, plus the silver trim pieces make a nice point of difference.

I am surprised that the M3 Touring goes without a sunroof; it felt a little dark inside the cabin as a result. M cars usually either have carbon-fibre roofs or full panoramic glass roofs, whereas the M3 Touring simply paints the roof black.

However, there is multicolour ambient lighting to liven the interior up at night time.

Space inside the interior is brilliant – there is ample room around the driver and front passenger, while the level of storage is similarly impressive. There’s a big centre console compartment with a pair of USB-C ports, twin cupholders, a wireless smartphone charger, and big door pockets for large bottles.

The space in the second row was also quite impressive. Behind my own driving position, there was enough leg room to be comfortable on longer journeys (I’m 194cm tall) and there’s good space side to side. I’d call it as comfortable as an equivalent-sized SUV, easily.

The boot is easily one of my favourite parts of the M3 Touring.

Opening the tailgate reveals a very usable 500 litres of cargo space, up 20L on the M3 sedan’s boot capacity. Fold the rear seats down in 40:20:40 split fashion and 1510L of storage capacity awaits.

Not only is it power-operated for ease of use, but you can independently pop open the glass portion if you want to quickly drop shopping bags in the boot.

The cargo blind fits neatly beneath the boot floor for a simple integration, the rear seats can be dropped remotely using switches on the side of the boot, while there’s even a small amount of underfloor storage for thin bits and pieces.

All car controls are at arm’s reach including the 14.9-inch touchscreen. That’s especially handy because you’ll be using it often to control mundane things like air conditioning. The last time I drove a pre-facelift M3 it had physical controls for those kinds of functions, which feels like a bit of a backwards step for ease of use.

I do like the fact BMW has retained the rotary controller for the iDrive 8.5 infotainment system, but it’s barely needed – the system really needs to be operated by touch rather than a controller. There’s too much content to scroll through otherwise, and the amount of icons on the menu page is overwhelming.

I ended up running the majority of my week through wireless Apple CarPlay, which works really well. Also embedded within the system is wireless Android Auto, digital radio (DAB+), embedded satellite navigation, traffic and news updates, and app-based connectivity allowing remote access to vehicle check or remote locking and unlocking via a compatible smartphone.

I like the way the 14.9-inch infotainment screen sits within a single panel to join with the 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster.

There’s decent adjustability of the instrument cluster to view varying information and graphics, and you can also configure how you want the head-up display to look too.

The BMW M3 hasn’t been rated by ANCAP in either sedan or wagon body style. However, the BMW 3 Series range, which forms the basis for the M3, has been rated as a five-star vehicle from 2019, hinting at a decent basis for the M3.

All manner of safety inclusions are fitted to the flagship BMW M3 Touring. It’s fairly easy to adjust these systems on the go through the infotainment software.

I do want to point out that I wasn’t annoyed by a driver monitoring system or constant nagging from the speed sign recognition system. BMW includes a healthy measure of active safety measures that don’t annoy the driver.

Likewise, its integration of the adaptive cruise control and lane-centring is done to a high standard. There was never any instance in which I was concerned the M3 couldn’t handle mundane freeway driving on its own – it sat an appropriate distance behind the car ahead and stood squarely within lane markings.

The BMW M3 Touring is covered under BMW’s showroom-wide five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. This matches alternatives from Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

Maintenance is meant to take place on a “condition based” schedule, which means the car should tell you when it needs a service. BMW sells an upfront five-year (80,000km) service plan that costs $4436.

A year of comprehensive insurance coverage costs approximately $4314 from one leading insurer based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male driver living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

This compares with a $3654 for the 2025 Audi RS4 based on the same parameters.

Unsurprisingly, fuel consumption for our drive was nowhere near BMW’s 10.4 litres per 100 kilometres combined efficiency claim.

Though no one’s buying an M3 with an eye on fuel efficiency, our time with the car resulted in a rating of around 14.5L/100km. Its 59-litre fuel tank must be refuelled with 98-octane petrol.

There’s little doubt that BMW M has worked its engineering magic to ensure the M3 Touring wagon handles and goes just as well as its sedan counterpart.

I’ve driven an entry-level manual BMW M3 before, the M3 CS, and now this M3 Touring, and there is simply no sense that the latter is anything less than its forebears.

In fact, it feels arguably better.

There’s an underlying compliance to the M3 Touring that renders it more manageable to live with everyday, whereas a normal M3 can feel firmer driving on particularly nasty bits of bitumen.

But, then again, the M3 Touring is only too happy to get up and boogie with a moment’s notice. My favourite way to settle in for dynamic driving is using the configurable M1 and M2 buttons on the steering wheel, where if you press one, the whole car’s character changes in an instant.

The car’s adaptive suspension firms up to stay unwaveringly flat through corners, the throttle/transmission combination perks up to provide explosive power as soon as you lean on the throttle, and even the brake pedal becomes more effective at providing enhanced stopping power when you breathe on the pedal.

Of course, these parameters are easily adjustable in the car’s infotainment set-up screen, but having them all in their hardcore modes makes the M3 Touring a perfect partner to back-road blasts.

The full weight of its 390kW/650Nm outputs feel rapid when pinning the throttle – it’s almost difficult to try and pry yourself forward from the soft leather seat.

Outputs are sent through an eight-speed automatic transmission to an ‘M xDrive’ all-wheel-drive system (including the ability to switch from all- to rear-wheel drive). Together with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S rubber at each corner, the grip on offer is astonishing.

You can carry plenty of speed into corners with confidence, while the way the M3 puts power to the ground is remarkable.

Compared to the equivalent M3 sedan BMW says the wagon is merely 0.1 of a second slower from zero to 100km/h, completing the sprint in 3.6 seconds. It feels easily as quick from the seat of the pants.

The eight-speed automatic transmission is smooth, quick, and responsive – marked improvements over the old dual-clutches that could be temperamental and hesitant at low speeds.

Despite carrying extra weight over the M3 Competition sedan, there is next-to-no body roll felt through corners, and the feelsome steering rack provides a healthy dose of information through to the driver’s fingertips. Direct, quick, and weighty, twirling the steering wheel is a true delight to the senses.

I love the minute adjustments you can make even while you’re in the middle of a corner – open your steering up and the car faithfully tracks wider, apply more steering and the car carves a sharper line.

The entire experience is accompanied by a raucous exhaust note that gets angrier the harder you go. There are crackles on the overrun, a warbly note at low revs, and a snarly crescendo as you climb higher through the rev counter.

I have an E91 Touring at home, but the M3 Touring is the car I wish I had.

It’s a one-size-fits-all solution for the everyday commute, country touring, family haulage, and even being capable on a racetrack.

It reminds me of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Draped in practical load-lugging bodywork, the actual driving experience is anything but mundane.

But then, it doesn’t leave out the everyday comforts either. The interior is gorgeous and comfy, the tech integration is super smart, and driving the thing is equally as entertaining as an M3.

Out of all the M3 variants you could choose (and there are plenty), this is the one I’d put my own money behind.