BMW M3 Touring vs THE WORLD: taking on the Porsche Taycan GTS Sport Turismo

They’re both corkingly good cars, that’s the first thing to mention. No electric car handles and drives better than Porsche’s Taycan, and no Taycan does it better than the GTS. The Turbo S may be faster, but this is the sweet spot: 590bhp meets a chassis with 20 per cent more roll stiffness than the Turbo S. It’s flat, crisp, accurate and fast.

Photography: Mark Riccioni

The M3 Touring doesn’t have the same level of body control, but then no petrol has the advantage of putting a dense heavy mass low down between the axles. The Porsche is also longer, wider and substantially lower. But let’s put body control to one side. It helps passengers as well as driver feel more confident and secure, but there’s a broader matter to discuss.

Is it fun? Does it make you happy? There’s a clear winner here for me, and it’s not the Porsche. Here’s the deal: if someone offered me both cars and said I had to take a mate out for a ride in one, it would be the BMW every time. It makes noise, it feels alive, it moves around, you can switch it to 2WD hooligan mode, it’s more interactive, more of a laugh. And it’s the same when you’re solo. Or when you have the family on board. The Porsche, for all its talents, is a little po-faced. Deeply satisfying and capable, but the BMW has a sense of humour. Must do, after all have you seen what they did to the nose?

The estate, especially in this Frozen Portimao blue, does more to distract you. The haunchy rear three-quarter angle is a dazzler, the whole car looks more settled and balanced. But it still doesn’t look £85k’s worth, where the slippery, low and sleek Porsche can carry off the £107k tag. That’s because we still believe a 3 Series should know its place, should slot into a line-up. But I’ll tell you this right now – I’d have the M3 Touring over any other fast wagon, up to and including the E63 and RS6. It’s the right package, the right size, you see. 

The BMW has a sense of humour. Must do, after all have you seen what they did to the nose?

The cars in the next class take up too much road space. Even the Taycan, although only 60mm wider, is marginally trickier to place on the road. The M3 fits. And its 500bhp gives it performance to match the 600bhp of the next tier up. We didn’t strap the timing gear to the Touring, so add a tenth or two to these saloon figures if you must: 3.2secs to 60mph, 7.4mph to 100mph, 11.4secs at 124mph for the standing quarter. Searingly fast though, eh? It splits the ground between the E63 and RS6. The Taycan, weighing 450kg more, returns claimed figs of 3.6secs and 11.8secs for the quarter mile.

But in every real world situation it’s the faster car. It’s the response, the control and the ease. You’re not upsetting the peace if you pull away vigorously, the car’s not squirming, it’s just scooted quietly, effortlessly into the distance. The throttle is exact and predictable, the muscle is accessible at will, you never have to think about managing the gearbox. Joining traffic on motorways, slotting into gaps, all that stuff becomes simple, easily achieved. It helps make the Taycan so easy to live with and use. 

I wish Porsche would get over its reluctance with energy recuperation. Braking is done via the brake pedal – obviously – but I like using paddles or lifting off and feeling that retardation, it gives you direct knowledge that you’re harvesting energy. Having said that, when you do lift off in the Taycan it does something else that feels good: it just surfs on. Mass plus low drag (0.25Cd) means it coasts brilliantly. 

But it’s still not going to travel as far, nor as simply as the M3. A 59-litre fuel tank means you’ll travel 350 miles before a stress-free five minute stop. A 83.4kWh (usable) battery in February means about half the BMW's range, plus the infrastructure anxiety to go with it. That fear makes the Porsche a short range prospect. But then it’s not a car that’s going to do family holiday duties easily either. 

On paper the 446-litre boot doesn’t sound too far adrift of the M3’s 500-litre zone. But in reality the Porsche’s is much tighter, with intrusive rear wheelarches and a sloping tailgate. The seats-folded volumes paint a better picture, with 1,212 litres playing 1,510. As Ollie Kew proved recently, you can fit a pair of St Bernards in the BMW. They’d have found the Porsche much more intimate. Then there’s the BMW’s separate opening tailgate glass, its superior rear leg and headroom, it’s just a more functional, versatile car. 

Until you get to the driving environment. Look, I only have one main issue: it’s all a bit marketing department. Silly graphics, light up badges, colours, modes, busy-ness. Just give it a rest BMW, there’s no need for the sensory overload. The Porsche dials all that back to great effect. It’s a simpler, more logical, more focused cabin. Much has already been written about the M3's optional carbon seats with the manspreading insert. They’re starting to bug me now, and not just because they make left-foot braking awkward – getting in and out of them is a literal pain. 

Luckily the M3 Touring driving experience is very engineering led. It rides well, detectably more cushioned at the back than other versions, and that, combined with the fiery torque delivery, means you feel the car move around. It squats and rolls a little, doesn’t feel as tense as the Taycan on the road. And 4WD Sport mode is terrific – I honestly don’t think there’s a better performance 4WD system out there than this, its ability to feel rear drive, but nudge the exact right amount of power to the right wheel at the right time, is uncanny. 

And the more I use that engine, the higher I rate it. Even the calibration of the eight-speed auto seems better here than in other M3s. I thoroughly enjoyed driving it, found it a more open and engaging car than the Taycan GTS. That car, though, is immaculately composed. An occasional hint of hobble because it’s taut and stiffly set-up, but the grip levels, the traction out of bends as it loads up an outside rear, the management of the torque vectoring. It’s a clever, clever car, as well as a very effective and enjoyable one. If it was me, I’d be looking at the slightly lifted Cross Turismo instead though.

But the M3 Touring wins here. Maybe this is all rose-tinted specs, because we’ve wanted this car to happen for so long, but I reckon BMW’s engineers felt the same, and went the extra mile. Maybe you agree, maybe you don’t and I doubt anything I’ve written here would persuade a Taycan Sport Turismo buyer to switch to an M3 Touring instead. Just as well, apparently the waiting list is now a year long.