BMW M5 Touring PHEV: The rediscovery of the power station wagon
BMW launches the M5 as a Touring after a break. The premiere at the Monterey Car Week in Pebble Beach is only surprising at first glance.
(Image: BMW)
- Stefan Grundhoff
The United States of America is anything but a country of estate cars. The five-meter-long family vans of the 1970s with gigantic load compartments and full-length bench seats have long been forgotten and the Americans have made SUVs the global trend vehicle of the modern era. But US customers also love to be a little different. What's more, high-performance sports estates have been a hot topic not only since the gigantic success of the competitor Audi RS6 Avant, which made a name for itself worldwide with its martial design and impressive performance – especially in the USA, where it currently starts at 125,000 US dollars.
The M3 has made good progress
The additional tailwind of the current BMW M3 Touring (test) from Europe, which is, however, too small for many customers in the USA, has now prompted BMW to launch a BMW M5 Touring again at the end of the year after a long absence. Its premiere at the world's most influential car event in Monterey is therefore not as surprising as it might seem at first glance. The designers have transferred the design of the BMW M5 Sedan to the estate form, which at BMW retains the Touring nickname. With the rear of the estate and the massively flared wheel arches, the latest-generation BMW M5 probably looks even more impressive to many customers than the anything but restrained sedan.
The technology and powertrain of the hybrid M5 Touring are identical to those of the four-door sedan and so the fast estate is powered by the familiar 4.4-liter V8 with twin turbocharging with electric assistance, which in its basic version delivers 535 kW and 1000 Nm of maximum torque. In addition, the 430 kW eight-cylinder engine is supported by an electric motor in the bell housing of the eight-speed automatic transmission, which can contribute 145 kW and 450 Nm. To ensure that the power is implemented in a worthy manner, the car is fitted with a variable sports suspension with a double wishbone axle at the front and a five-link axle at the rear in a combination of aluminum and steel.
500 liter trunk
In the medium term, the M5 Touring is unlikely to remain the same. Sharpened editions with names such as M5 Touring Competition or M5 Touring Red Label are likely to boost the performance of the family estate by well over ten percent. There should be customers for it, despite the impressive acceleration from standstill to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds, considering its kerb weight of just over 2.5 tons. The top speed is 305 km/h.
More about the 5 Series
BMW 5er Touring: Der erste Kombi mit E-Antrieb von BMW
The high-voltage battery in the rear of the vehicle with a usable energy content of 18.6 kWh enables a purely electric range of up to 67 kilometers and purely electric driving up to 140 km/h under the conditions of the WLTP. However, the maximum charging power is only eleven kilowatts. Depending on the position of the rear seats, the load volume is between 500 and 1630 liters. BMW allows a towing capacity of up to 2000 kilograms.
Incidentally, the idea of a luxury-class power station wagon is not entirely new: the first BMW M5 Touring was launched back in 1992, based on the E34 generation M5 Sedan. In 2007, BMW M GmbH also added an estate version to the fourth-generation BMW M5 with its spectacular V10 cylinder.
(mki)