BMW M3 Touring review

The launch hype has now died down, but popularity seems to be enduring. It might be just us, but we seem to be seeing quite a few of them on the road. And used values haven’t been hit too hard. Early cars, now two years old, with around 12,000 miles on them are asking upwards of £65,000. If you can’t afford new – or find the idea of initial depreciation abhorrent – you know what to do.

Because the money for buying a new one – excuse the pun here – is a bit rich. £91,865 before you start on the options. Meaning you’re going to be in for six figures pretty quickly.

Try to keep it to the £7,275 Ultimate Pack to get yourself in under six figures. This brings heated steering wheel, keyless entry, superb laser-infused headlights, carbon fibre exterior nonsense, and a ‘drive recorder’ which definitely won’t end in a bum-puckering moment as you attempt a personal best to share on the forums.

Otherwise as you’d imagine, it comes well equipped for such a hefty outlay. Standard kit includes the 14.9-inch super-wide display, heated electric seats with memory, a Harmon/Kardon hi-fi and wireless phone charging. You can’t really pick and choose your options: everything is grouped into hefty packs.

With a 59-litre fuel tank and fuel economy never much above 25mpg, you’ll be refuelling every 320 miles or so. BMW claims 27.4mpg, but we found an average of 23.5 more realistic. CO2 emissions are officially 231g/km.

Rivals? Not many to shop between, at the moment. The Audi RS4 Avant is ageing, and the 2.0-litre hybrid C63 AMG seems to have disappeared without trace. We haven’t seen a single one anywhere since it was launched. You could look to go electric, with a Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo 4S providing the closest parity on price and performance. It’ll be faster point to point, but needs to stop for a charge every 240 miles or so. The M3’s range is almost 100 miles superior.

What about an Alpina B3, might we suggest? BMW has recently swallowed up its storied tuner, which means the in-house rivalry won’t be as rich as years gone by. An Alpina Touring is just as quick, has more heritage, and you don’t have to drive around with two giant beaver teeth on the front of your £90k car. Just a thought.