BMW M5 Touring (2025 – ) review

Jumping for joy at the idea you can run a 727 horsepower M car with a clean conscience and more wallet-friendly hybrid running costs? Eyeing the savings over the uglier and more expensive XM using the same tech? Hold that thought, because the reality is that electrification, M style, is more about going fast than it is saving on your Benefit in Kind or fuel costs, though you can go 40 miles or so on pure electric and, with a charged battery, we were getting decent efficiency. Though once it had drained it very much reverted to trad M car on that score, so don’t kid yourself. On the flipside if your monthly budget covers that Porsche 911 you’d always promised yourself but family life is still getting in the way the M5 Touring is a tempting way to spend the same kind of money, and pretty much as fast on paper. No two ways about it, though, this is one expensive and extravagant car. But it feels worth it!

The M5 Touring is a frighteningly complicated car, mechanically and electronically. As such it would be a brave purchase down the line as a used car but as the first owner you’re at least covered by a regular three-year warranty, with the option to extend at extra cost. Which we likely would, given the potential expenditure if anything does go wrong.

We’ll say BMW is delivering the M5’s huge power with an impressive level of responsibility, the sophisticated all-wheel drive system putting that performance safely to the road in all weathers. Unless you fancy yourself the hero and want to turn it all off for running in traditional rear-wheel drive. Which you can if you want. Best have quick reactions and a healthy budget for rear tyres if that’s your bag. Back in the real world and given how much fun the M5 Touring is to drive it would be a waste to then hand over control to the black boxes but, if you want to, it takes autonomy to the limit of what regulations permit. On that, we drove the M5 across several European countries en route to the Le Mans 24 Hour race and it was interesting to see how the level of available driver assistance automatically adjusted to local laws each time we crossed a border. In that sense it is at least futureproofed and ready for the moment we’re permitted to use more of this semi-autonomous tech on British roads.

Two seven-hour days at the wheel to and from Le Mans certainly offered us chance to test the M5 Touring’s comfort as well as its speed. And for all the focus on going quickly BMW hasn’t forgotten this is essentially a six-figure luxury car at heart, the sculpted sports seats up front supremely supportive while the optional cooling for the perforated Merino leather was much appreciated in the June heatwave conditions we were driving in. An option we’d definitely be choosing, heating for those colder days already fitted as standard. The panoramic roof was another nice option, the natural light brightening up the otherwise somewhat dark interior, also helped on our test car by the optional two-tone upholstery. Performance machine or not the M5 Touring is also a family estate car, albeit a very flashy one. The two outer passengers in the back get a better deal than the one stuck in the middle, the boot big but a little shallow in height, so you might need a roof box if you’re using it as intended for a high-speed blast to the Alps for a family ski holiday. For which it would be absolutely perfect. But that fits the look, and the ride comfort and refinement make it a very relaxing place for racking up the big miles. Or, at the touch of a button, hunkered down and ripping up race tracks, this being a family estate car capable of doing both!

The M5 Touring presents as the expensive car it genuinely is … but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to make it even more expensive. Soft Merino leather and a banging Bowers & Wilkins stereo are welcome start for the standard spec, and the illuminations on the Interaction Bar running across the dash are an amusing novelty with some practical use when it flashes orange to warn you of hazards in your blind spots or obstacles when parking. The twin-screen BMW digital cockpit and the operating system powering it is one of our favourite tech packages in the business as well, favourites available in big, swipeable tiles with more detailed settings in phone-style widgets. Three cheers for the retention of a trad turn-and-push physical control wheel for those who don’t like jabbing at screens or using voice assistants, too. Beyond that BMW offers various options bundles, up to and including the self-explanatory (and, ultimately, expensive) Ultimate Pack, which may actually prove to be a sensible investment when looking ahead to resale values given it includes desirable features like the expanded Driving Assistant Professional features, aforementioned ventilated seats and panoramic roof, suede rooflining, carbon mirrors and fancy ceramic brakes. After setting fire to the regular brakes when we first tried the prototype M5 on a track we’d definitely be wanting those!

The M5 Touring is as bewilderingly complicated as it is blisteringly fast, there being a huge range of configurability and settings for everything from the hybrid system to how the suspension, steering and brake pedal feel. Technophiles and petrolheads are going to love all that but, thankfully, if you just want to slip it into D and go you can do just that. Or ask someone so-minded to pre-programme the two red M shortcut buttons on the wheel. The physical size and weight are as intimidating as the combined 727 horsepower and 1,000Nm of torque delivered by the pairing of a massive V8 petrol engine and an electric motor integrated into the automatic gearbox, and this can be an issue on narrower roads both in town and out in the sticks. On motorways and A-roads the M5 is the absolute boss, though, the effortless combination of combustion and electric power proving seriously addictive, with the sense there’s always plenty left in reserve. That demands some self-discipline, and it definitely feels built for derestricted German autobahn more than camera-lined British roads. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that there’s still plenty to enjoy at more modest speeds, BMW somehow gifting the Touring with the agility, feel and fun factor of a car half its size or weight.