The BMW M5 Touring makes a tempting proposition: keep the performance car, lose the need for a separate family hauler. Introduced for the 2025 model year, the G99 became the first M5 wagon officially offered in the United States. That matters beyond the enthusiasm for a long roof. It asks whether a driver’s car should be judged by its most memorable corner—or by how often its owner can actually use it.
The answer is more interesting than a horsepower headline. This Touring combines extraordinary ambition with unavoidable compromises, and its strongest argument is not that it replaces a lightweight sports car. It is that an enthusiast need not choose between an interesting drivetrain and a useful body. Calling it BMW’s ultimate driver’s car, however, demands a closer look at what that combination gives back—and what it takes away.
A Rare Return, Not a New Announcement
BMW’s wagon-shaped M5 history has been intermittent. The company’s historical account dates the first Touring to 1992: the E34, with a 3.8-liter inline-six. The next arrived in 2007, pairing the E61 body with a 5.0-liter V10 and seven-speed sequential transmission. The modern hybrid therefore continues an occasional tradition rather than an uninterrupted model line.
The American breakthrough is already history, too. BMW revealed the production car on August 15, 2024. Its live U.S. website now presents a 2027 M5 Touring. The 2025 car discussed here is the launch-year version, not a newly announced arrival. Keeping those dates straight also prevents contemporary shopping information from being confused with early review specifications.
The Hybrid Is More Than an Acceleration Aid
For the 2025 Touring, BMW specified a 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 and an electric motor integrated into the eight-speed automatic. Combined output is 717 horsepower and 738 lb-ft. The battery provides 14.8 kWh of usable energy. Those numbers describe a plug-in hybrid whose electrical hardware serves both performance and engine-off driving.
The distinction matters. Electric assistance is not merely a way to inflate the total output figure; the car can also use its motor without running the V8. In Car and Driver’s instrumented testing, the 2025 Touring traveled 29 miles electrically at 75 mph before the engine started. That is one test result, not a promise for every commute, but it demonstrates that the plug-in capability is substantive rather than decorative.
For an owner, that creates two separate reasons to appreciate the drivetrain. One is acceleration. The other is the possibility of reserving combustion power for journeys that need it. Neither makes the charging routine irrelevant: whether the electrical side fits everyday life depends on access to charging and the trips being made.
The Chassis Has Tools, Not Exemptions
BMW equips the Touring with M xDrive, an active rear differential, adaptive dampers and rear-wheel steering. The all-wheel-drive system has a rear-biased character, while rear-wheel steering helps maneuverability at low speeds and stability at higher speeds. This is a coordinated chassis package, not simply a powerful engine installed in a cargo carrier.
Yet equipment lists cannot establish steering feel or ride quality. In his November 2024 MotorTrend first drive, Jared Gall praised the Touring’s grip and body control but found little steering feedback. His account distinguishes capability from communication: a car can follow a chosen line impressively without giving its driver an equally rich sense of what the tires are doing.
That distinction is central to the title’s question. If “ultimate” means confidence and accessible speed, the Touring has a persuasive case. If it means intimate feedback, the case is less straightforward. Electronic sophistication should be evaluated by the experience it produces, not treated as proof that every traditional driver’s-car virtue survives unchanged.
Independent Tests Reveal the Compromise
BMW’s launch estimate was 3.5 seconds to 60 mph. MotorTrend subsequently measured 3.2 seconds and a curb weight of 5,456 pounds in its 2025 instrumented test. Acceleration is clearly not the obstacle. The more revealing question is how consistently the rest of the car supports that pace.
MotorTrend’s Aaron Gold reported troublesome body motion over uneven roads and criticized the ride. Car and Driver’s separate assessment, reviewed by Joey Capparella, was appreciably more positive about compliance and composure, although it also wanted more steering feedback. Those are different reviewers’ observations, not a unanimous verdict—and certainly not evidence of comfort without compromise.
The useful conclusion is narrower than either blanket praise or dismissal. Road surface, expectations and test circumstances matter. Neither a quick launch nor a successful highway journey establishes how satisfying a large performance wagon will feel on the particular roads its owner enjoys.
The Wagon Body Makes the Strongest Argument
The Touring’s practical advantage does not require a stopwatch. BMW’s current U.S. Touring guide lists 27.2 cubic feet behind the rear seats and 67 with them folded. These are current published figures, rather than the smaller preliminary estimates in the launch release. The same guide says the U.S. M5 Touring does not offer towing options: wagon versatility should not be mistaken for every capability of a utility vehicle.
That leaves a compelling, specific identity. The M5 Touring is for someone who wants the luggage opening and flexibility of a wagon without making performance an occasional, separate-car activity. It need not be the lightest, most communicative or most comfortable BMW to make that proposition worthwhile.
Its achievement is breadth, not the abolition of compromise. The thoughtful enthusiast’s answer is therefore conditional: this could be the most useful expression of a dream BMW, while still falling short of the purest driver’s car. Those are different ambitions. The Touring becomes easier to appreciate when it is allowed to pursue the first without automatically being awarded the second.
Cover: 2025 BMW M5 Touring (G99) in Isle of Man Green Metallic at Caffeine and Carburetors in Waveny Park, New Canaan, Connecticut, photographed October 20, 2024. Photo: Photo: Mr.choppers / Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mr.choppers — CC BY-SA 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . Indicate any changes; adaptations must retain a compatible share-alike license. · Photo source · Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0). Original photograph; WordPress may create display-size derivatives.
Sources
- Access granted: The BMW M5 Touring comes to America for the first time.
- The All-New 2025 BMW M5 Touring.
- BMW M5 Touring: Model overview, features, and specs
- All BMWs — Touring
- 2025 BMW M5 Touring First Drive! Was the 717-HP Wagon Worth the Wait?
- 2025 BMW M5 Wagon Tested: Weight, Weight, Don’t Tell Me
- Tested: 2025 BMW M5 Touring Is a Hybrid Wagon That Does It All
- 2025 BMW M5: When Raw Power Meets Precision Engineering
