Machines With Souls is on a roll. Views are up. Clicks are made. Reviews are building. But with each day, I become more aware of how my opinion can impact your automotive decisions. I get the emails, and the questions at events. And when it comes to the Roundel, specifically this 2025 BMW M5 Touring, I know even more weight is given to my thoughts.
Responsibility accepted. Here’s what I think of the car after spending a weekend with it (but no driving yet, sorry).
Pay attention to the name
Yea – Touring. As in: Grand Touring. You know, the thing you do in a Ferrari 575 Maranello along the Italian coast?
BMW uses the name because “wagon” is about as sexy as your grandmother in a bikini. Audi calls it an Avant, whatever. But I think the name has some merit, because this M5 really is built for covering great distances rapidly in comfort.
There is no carbon fiber roof option for the Touring (too expensive to engineer), and the car is extremely plush inside. There’s plenty of room in the back, and of course you get hatchback versatility.
This is important, because I’d like you to…
Put down the pitchforks
Oh my God – the weight complaints.
5,530 pounds. That’s a lot – 1,100 more than the outgoing F90. It’s more than the X5 M too (5,455). Supposedly it’ll be 0.1 second slower to sixty as well. If you think you’ll be able to feel that tenth, I have an island called Manhattan for sale.
It felt heavy in a “door slam” kind of way, but no way to tell until I get to drive one. Regardless, I doubt my opinion would change – don’t you already buy X5 Ms? This will handle better than that.
What the 2025 BMW M5 Touring is – is a daily driver. Drive it every day! Stop saving these things for back roads and suffering in a Civic during the week because your M car required you to mortgage your child’s inheritance to own. I want to see baby seats, roof boxes, and all-weather floor mats. Make it dirty for Chrissake!
If you do that, the weight won’t matter – it’ll just be a fast and comfy executive M car.
You think it’ll embarrass itself? Well, I have a theme park called Disney World for sale…
The Touring will outsell the sedan
BMW had a sedan on display as well, and I did not like the look of it nearly as much.
The wagon’s rear end hides the visual heft well, while the sedan looks bloated and gigantic. Seeing them parked next to each other only exacerbated the situation, and everyone seemed to feel the same way.
All of which leads me to believe that the wagon will outsell the sedan, and perhaps by a wide margin. Speaking of…
It’s a good deal
The base price of an F90 M5 was about $106,000, but spec it the way you’d like and you’d pay upwards of $140,000.
BMW goes a different route for this new G9X. The sedan starts at $119,500, with the wagon just $2,000 more ($121,500). I know the base price is a significant jump from the last gen, but you’re getting a lot more car.
Considering the hybrid tech, limited packages and options (there are many things as standard) and the lack of a Competition badge (for now), there’s really not much to add to the base price.
Regardless, the Touring being literally a few dollars more a month in a lease/buy option gives yet further incentive to go for the daddy-mobile.
But it’s weird
As the BMW team moved the M5s all over the event, it was weird to hear…nothing. Just that electric chime to let you know the car is backing up. I hear it in my sleep now.
Could we at least get, like, RoboCop’s voice? It is an M5, after all.
“Stand back, citizen. You have 5 seconds to comply.”
That said, I think I’d like it if I owned one. I know us M folk all add exhausts and want grumpy loud, but as the owner of said grumpy M car, I think I’d appreciate silently pulling out of the garage at 5:30 on a Sunday morning. I know my neighbors would.
I’m not sure yet, but I will assume that you probably can start the car in Sport mode, thus bringing the V-8 to life right away. Otherwise, you know…
“Dead or alive, I’m backing up.”
I hope it doesn’t kill wagons for good
I am expecting a BMW XM in a few weeks. That car uses the same powertrain as this M5, and by all accounts, it is a sales failure. It might not live to see 2026.
The M5 is different – it’s an M5, not a made up name meant for use as a driveway accessory. I expect it to do better than the XM.
But it’s still a hybrid M car, and I’m just not sure how many people want such a thing. I hope BMW can separate the body from the concept if it doesn’t sell, because everyone loves the idea of a wagon here.
The 2025 BMW M5 Touring is the wagon we need, but not the one we deserve
Which brings me to my final point. The M5 Touring drew a crowd. Nearly everyone loved it, happy to see one here after what…50 years of M cars?
But.
But it’s not the wagon we want.
Hand on my heart, I’d have had an M3 wagon instead of another sedan. A majority of G80 owners I’ve spoken to have said the said the same. It’s no lip service; these are people with the means to do so.
And that was the prevailing feeling throughout the event. It’s cool, but it’s not the M3 Touring. I’m afriad that ship has sailed.
So if you’re in the market, I encourage you to try the M5 Touring, and save the wagons!
Special thanks to Lou Cortez at BMW NA for bringing me out to Sunday Motor Co!
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