The BMW M3 Touring is still new enough that you might not have seen one in the metal at all, even if you live in a country where it is officially on sale. The rapid wagon was officially revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June 2022 and production didn’t kick off until November of that year, a mere 11 months ago. But BMW is already preparing to roll out an updated version, as these spy shots show.
The reason for the speedy update is that the M3 wagon arrived late in the model cycle. The M3 sedan and M4 coupe were both launched in September 2020 and the M4 convertible joined the gang a year later, so all three are due for a refresh next year, and that means the M3 Touring will also benefit from the same upgrades.
The regular, non-M, 3-Series, and 4-Series cars are also due a facelift, and while none will be radically different from the cars we’re familiar with, they’ll receive more detailed makeovers than the M cars, whose facelift will be restricted to new LED lights.
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BMW tends not to mess with its M models too much, so the design team has focused its attention on changing the design of the DRLs in the front lamp units and the look of the lighting graphic in the rears, too. Unlike the non-M cars, which will probably get subtly reshaped front and rear bumpers, the M3s plastics will probably not change.
And if BMW’s actions follow the template of previous M facelifts, we’re probably not going to see any more power from the 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six engines. The base M3 sedan and M4 coupe make 473 hp (48- PS) and offer a choice of manual or automatic transmissions, whereas the 503 hp (510 PS) Competition models of both are only available with the auto ‘box, though you do get a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive.
Unless you want the Touring, that is. BMW only sells the M3 wagon in Competition trim with the auto and xDrive all-wheel drive, and that decision doesn’t seem to have hurt sales one iota. Plenty of BMW fans in North America, where the M3 wagon isn’t available, would take one in any configuration if only BMW would give them the chance. Sadly, there’s zero chance of that happening after the facelift, which is likely to be revealed early next year.
