For many BMW enthusiasts, the M3 Touring is the ultimate dream car. Not only is it the first of its kind but it’s also probably the best everyday daily driver BMW currently makes. It’s the sort of car every BMW fan would kill to own. So it makes sense that it would win Autocar’s 2023 “Best Dream Car” award.
As part of Autocar’s awards for 2023, Best Dream Car is for the car that most enthusiasts dream of owning. That’s a straightforward enough concept. However, you’d imagine that the best dream car would be something like a proper sports car or supercar, something with two doors, dramatic styling, mind-bending performance, and an exotic noise. Instead, Autocar chose a five-door, all-wheel-drive wagon.
The BMW M3 Touring is much more than just a five-door wagon, though. It actually has some of those aforementioned characteristics. For starters, it’s supercar fast, thanks to its 503 horsepower twin-turbo I6 and all-wheel drive. The M3 Touring rockets to 60 mph in under four seconds, which absurdly fast for a wagon that crests 4,000 lbs. It also handles remarkably well, though, with the capability of a much lighter, more focused ports car. BMW did an excellent job creating the G80 M3’s chassis, steering, and suspension and those same traits make their way to the M3 Touring as well, just with its added practicality.
For decades, BMW fans have been begging the brand for an M3 Touring, believing that such a car would be the best all-around daily driver. Now that it’s here, their suspicious have been mostly confirmed. Out of the box, it’s genuinely hard to find a better daily driver. There are few reasonably practical cars on sale that are faster, better to drive, and as well-equipped and high-tech inside. There’s nothing it does poorly.
Is it perfect? Of course not, nothing is perfect. Its face is still just not good looking. Some fans claim it’s grown on them and that’s great. But you don’t marry someone because their looks grow on you. It’s also a bit on the firm side for a daily driver and could use a set of better coilovers. Aside from those two things, though, there’s nothing to nit-pick, it’s a sensational car. And what makes it so good is that there’s never a time you can’t use it. It’s great on track, taking the kids to school, and even handling some light snow. There may not be a daily driver with fewer compromises than the M3 Touring and that’s why it’s Autocar’s 2023 Dream Car.
[Source: Autocar]
