Joe Achilles must be a very happy man right now. He’s onto his third G8X-generation BMW M3 in as many years but this time it’s the very special, highly anticipated BMW M3 Touring. And in this new video, he shows off the moment he took delivery of the M3 Touring, which had to have been a very special one.
Achilles’ first BMW M3 was a Competition sedan and, after only a year, he traded it in for a Competition xDrive. Now, he’s traded in his M3 xDrive for the M3 Touring, which is essentially the exact same car, just with a wagon body style. So it still packs the same 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged “S58” inline-six, with 503 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque. It also has the same eight-speed automatic transmission and xDrive all-wheel drive system as the Competition xDrive sedan.
On the outside, Joe Achilles didn’t change much about the M3 Touring and stuck with the same Dravit Grey paint as his Competition xDrive. It’s a color he really liked on his previous car, so he kept it with the new one. On the inside, though, he changed things up a bit. Instead of the Fiona Red interior of his previous car, he went with a full Silverstone leather interior, which is a two-tone black and light grey interior. It works well with the Dravit Grey exterior and makes it feel a bit more upscale than the flashier Fiona Red.
The only real difference between his previous M3 sedan and this new M3 Touring is the tech. BMW gave the M3 Touring its newest iDrive 8 system, ahead of the M3’s LCI update. So it will feel quite a bit different inside than his previous car, as the way he interact’s with every system in the car is entirely different. Which is good, otherwise it would feel almost exactly the same as before and might not feel entirely like an upgrade.
Obviously, it’s also far more practical than before. With the hatchback trunk and power folding tailgate, the M3 Touring has the practicality of a small crossover, which makes it the ultimate family/daily vehicle. It’s every bit as usable as the boring crossovers that dominate the market, but it has enough power and performance to rival exotic supercars from just a few years ago. It’s a combination of excitement and sensibility that few other cars can offer and it’s the first M3 to ever do it.
Achilles will be very happy with his car over the coming years. That is, unless he trades it in for something new in a year’s time…