You wait ages for an M3 wagon, and then two come along at once. Sort of. This is the new BMW M3 CS Touring, the fastest, most powerful version of Bavaria’s coolest new car.
Clearly making hay while the Audi RS4 is having a nice holiday and everyone’s forgotten about the Mercedes-AMG C63 wagon, BMW has ushered in the ‘Competition Sport’ version. And like its two- and four-door siblings, this Competition Sport Touring packs an uprated powertrain.
Where that 3.0-liter turbocharged six-cylinder produces 523hp in the not-at-all-regular Competition, it now makes 542hp and 650Nm of torque, allied to an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive for rapid acceleration and speed.
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Indeed, it’ll reach 300kph flat-out. It can go from 0-100 kph in a tenth of a second faster (3.6sec) and power through 0-200kph in 11.7sec. From 80-120 kph in 2.7sec in fourth gear and 3.5sec in fifth gear if you’re feeling lazy. There are also bespoke settings for the adaptive dampers, steering, and brakes.
As per BMW’s other modern CS cars, the 3.0-liter features a new, more powerful set of turbochargers with higher charge pressure (2.1 bar), plus a few tweaks in the engine management code to allow for the 20hp increase. The mountings for this engine are stiffer, too.
There’s an M-specific exhaust with a titanium rear silencer to make the noise more...titanium-like, and the ability to change the “titanium-ness” via the M modes including Sport and Sport+.
Speaking of which, those modes change the aggressiveness of an already very aggressive car. And speaking of aggressive looks, there are conspicuous red contour lines around various elements on the outside, and carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) parts, including hood, splitter, air intakes, mirror caps, and rear diffuser to signify its extra muscle.
Inside, there’s lots of CS badging along with carbon-fiber bucket seats and CFRP paddle shifters. Compared to the not-at-all-regular 1,865kg M3 Touring, this CS shaves off 15 kg. Yeah, it is not exactly lightweight.
Still, it looks cool, especially shod with those exclusive forged 19-inch/20-inch alloys and a choice of green, blue, white, or sapphire black body colors. Plus, you can show off your coolness through the M Drift Analyzer and Laptimer apps, standard on the CS, among many other driver assistance systems and features.
BMW’s only building a limited number of these M3 CS Tourings, and there’s no word on: a) how many it’s building in total, and b) how many of those will make it to our shores. But we do know how much they’ll cost in the UK: each car starts at £120,600 (about P8.75 million before taxes). Worth it for the most powerful version of BMW’s coolest new car?
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
