Come in, Audi RS 4 Avant, your time is up. In a totally unexpected and yet utterly wonderful new development from the halls of Munich, BMW has announced that - for the very first time - it's getting an M3 Touring ready for production. SIGN. US. UP. NOW. PLEASE.
Four M shared product lines
We've been hoping for this for years but, while BMW and its affiliated subsidiary Alpina have done some tasty fast wagons in the past (both 3- and 5 Series-based), the German firm never felt the need to 'wagonise' arguably its most famous nameplate. And, now that we're onto the seventh-generation 3 Series, it was probably fair of us to assume that the time for an M3 Touring to be finally announced had long since passed.
However, here we are. With the next M3 Saloon due to be unveiled any day soon, BMW has teased us with these glimpses of the same high-power engine in a 3 Series Touring body. As a result, the impending M3 Touring will comfortably see off the fastest Three estate, which is presently the M340i xDrive Touring. Alongside new versions of the M4 Coupe and M4 Convertible, it means there will be four disparate model lines in the next M3/M4 family.
First M wagon since the V10 M5
While BMW has only ever done two generations of M5 Touring (for the second M5, the left-hand-drive-only E34 of 1992, and for the fourth M5, the E61 V10 of 2007) previously, it has toyed with the idea of transferring the M Division expertise into a 3 Series Touring shell. There was a prototype knocked together in 2000, using an E46 M3's oily bits (that's the third M3, by the way) and an estate frame. However, despite the fact that the E46 M3 Touring never saw the light of a showroom (booooo!), this M3 Touring is going to go all the way.
Technical details are scarce right now but we know a six-cylinder M TwinPower turbo engine will provide motive power, most likely through an M xDrive system - as used on the current M5. BMW would also draw your attention to the classic M styling cues on the M3 Touring, such as wide tracks on both axles, large front air intakes and, of course, quad exhaust pipes at the back. Don't get too excited too early, though (it's too late for us, mind), because the M3 Touring is (according to BMW) 'still in the early stages of its approximately two-year series development process'. Which means you're not likely to be able to buy this thing until 2022. Seriously; we CANNOT wait that long.