2025 BMW M5 Touring First Drive: The Most Mega of Wagons

• This is the first BMW M5 wagon ever sold in the United States.
• Power is the same 717 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque as the M5 sedan.
• Pricing starts at $125,275 including destination.

What's the motivation?

The Touring uses the same powerplant as the standard M5, which I drove not long ago. The high-level overview is this wagon packs a plug-in hybrid powertrain consisting of a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, all-wheel drive, and an eight-speed automatic transmission with an embedded electric motor supported by a battery with 14.8 kWh of useable capacity. If this powertrain sounds familiar, that's because it's been lifted from the definition-bending BMW XM.

Packaging the electric motor inside the transmisson allows for better mass centralization (as opposed to sticking it on one of the axles) and tidier packaging. But it also means that when you're driving the M5 Touring in its fully electric mode, you will notice the transmission shifting gears. For drivers with a moderate amount of EV experience, it's a bit of a weird sensation at first, but for those not accustomed to driving an electric car, it's not something that'll likely bother you. 

So it's fast?

"Fast" doesn't quite do the M5 justice. It's actually difficult to put into words what it feels like when you really lay into the M5 Touring. Yeah, it's fast. But it's faster than that. Acceleration is so effortless, especially at moderately high speeds, like 50 to 100 mph, that it's almost disorienting. Deliberate and giggly stabs at the throttle are usually followed by silent, unrelenting thrust and a sudden realization that you didn't really want to go that fast.

While the twin-turbo V8 certainly deserves some of the blame, the hybrid side of this equation shares some of the guilt. This isn't a plug-in hybrid centered around efficiency. Sure, the M5 Touring can deliver an estimated range of about 25 miles on electric propulsion alone, but its primary purpose is to provide instant power, no matter how fast you're going. The e-motor's maximum output of 197 hp is usually enough to negate the need for a downshift, saving time, minimizing drama, and only helping to deliver a feeling of acceleration I've only ever experienced in a high-powered EV. 

On a section of derestricted autobahn outside of Munich, Germany, the M5 Touring positively storms its way past 160 mph. Savvy readers will notice that this is beyond the standard limited top speed of 155 mph because the car I'm driving is equipped with the M Driver's package, which raises the top speed to 190 mph. No, I didn't go that fast. And no, I don't want to try; not on a public road, anyway. 

Handling itself

Like the M5 sedan, the Touring is a very heavy thing. The extra roof length and additional glass make it look longer than the sedan but the two are, in fact, essentially identical in length and width, and the Touring is only marginally taller. The massive 285/40ZR20 front and 295 35ZR21 rear tires match those on the sedan and ensure plenty of stick. The suspension, too, combined with the rear-wheel steering, make the M5 Touring feel far more planted, predictable and nimble than you might expect. It's still massive — BMW estimates 5,530 pounds — but you need to be pushing quite a bit to really feel that mass.

On the roads north of Munich, the M5 Touring is w-i-d-e and is constantly flirting with either the center line or the grassy shoulder. Fresh memories of the Touring's monstrous acceleration on the autobahn trigger unusual levels of caution accelerating toward or out of even modest corners. After nearly 100 kilometers of these picturesque roads, dare I say that the M5 Touring is just too capable and too fast for the real world?

Only a madman would try to approach the Touring's considerable limits on anything that's not a closed course. And at brisk but still relatively sane speeds, the immense capability of the M5 means that you're not even remotely close to the limits of its sizable tires or sophisticated chassis and all-wheel-drive system. As a result, even moderate speeds — speeds high enough to make your passenger start feeling around for their own brake pedal — the M5 Touring can come across as remote, not communicative or just plain bored with you.

I have no doubt that you could absolutely hoon this wagon around a racetrack, but it almost seems a waste to try to drive it with any aggression on the street.

What about the rest of the M5 Touring?

Being a midsize station wagon, the M5 Touring does offer ample storage capacity and the convenience of a hatchback. Its claimed 17.7 cubic feet of capacity behind the rear seats and 57.6 cubes with them down trail the cavernous Audi RS 6 Avant's 30 cubic feet and 59.3 cubes, respectively. But then again, the M5 Touring doles out 717 horsepower to the Audi's 621 hp. So, there? 

Passengers are treated to the same tech-forward interior that you get in the M5 sedan. From the rear seats forward, there's no difference between the two models. I'm impressed with the M5's seats and thankful that BMW decided to make these chairs more luxurious and accommodating than the carbon buckets you can get in the M3 and M4. The M5 is all about all-day comfort, just as much as blistering speed, and it shows.

The M5's myriad settings and drive modes is a bit intimidating, but BMW does allow you to save two modes to shortcut buttons on the steering wheel. From the drive modes to the seats to the various other vehicle settings, once you get them dialed in, you rarely have to revisit them.

Available as a 2025 model and priced at $125,275 (including a $1,175 destination fee and a $2,600 gas guzzler tax), the M5 Touring will mark the first time BMW has made this long-roofed variant of its storied sedan available in the U.S. With a cool factor that's nearly off the charts and enough performance to scramble your brain, the M5 Touring should be the most mega wagon the States has ever seen. And while wagons have never really been about all-out driving nirvana, I almost wish the Touring wasn't quite so fast and quite so serious just so you could enjoy its limits on a more regular, slightly less illegal basis. Then again, the world needs more wagons, no matter how ridiculous and intimidating they might be.