The 2025 BMW M5 Touring is...

I’m still waiting for the day when I get in the M3 and say “Gosh darn it, this is just a bit to…”. Tight? Slow? Gulp…cheap?! Hasn’t happened yet – I remain an M3 guy. But I love the idea of owning an M5 – I look at F90s weekly, secretly hoping to find the perfect spec. That’s just a fantasy, and up until about eight months ago, so was this 2025 BMW M5 Touring.

But it’s real now. Was it worth all the begging and pleading to get here?

The 2025 BMW M5 Touring Overview

Being a BMW fanboy that doesn’t align with what everyone’s idea of fandom can be tiring. You know the cycle: a new M car comes out, followed by hate and vitriol, only for that to slowly be replaced by acceptance and eventually, lust. Finally that car gets replaced so we can all pay too much for it on the used market, and round-and-round we go.

For about eight million reasons, BMW cannot make an E39 M5 anymore. It’s too mainstream of a brand now. But that doesn’t mean they are risk-averse. Failing to bring the G81 M3 Touring to America was a misstep, and they’ve tried to rectify it with this car: the 2025 BMW M5 Touring. It’s the first M wagon sold here, and the first M hybrid sold anywhere. A lot is riding on this car.

On paper, it has the goods. A plugin hybrid powertrain features a 4.4-liter V-8 coupled with an electric motor that pumps out 717 horsepower that’s sent to every wheel. Gigantic carbon ceramic brakes are poised to stop you in your tracks. Inside are amazing sport bucket couches, tech everywhere, and a gigantic sunroof that opens all the way to the rear hatch. Needless to say, the only thing it shares in common with an E34 is that badge.

That includes the weight. Let’s rip off the Band-Aid: 5,530 pounds of beef. Pick your jaw up off the floor so you can drop it again – this weighs about 100 pounds more than an X5 M Competition. I think of weight like I think of 0-60 times – it doesn’t matter because you won’t notice.

Is that the case here?

Performance Score: 7. Big Momma’s house

This car is such a technological tour de force, it’s like driving an F1 car with a boat attached to it.

Engine

BMW’s latest V-8, the S68 made its M5 debut in the sedan, and it carries over into the Touring. On its own, the engine makes 577 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque, and is helped by a permanent-magnet electric motor that makes 194 horsepower and 207 lb-ft of torque. Total numbers: 717 horsepower, 738 lb-ft.

That sounds like a lot – a hundred more than the F90 M5, but because of the weight, acceleration feels dulled. If you wish, you can drive up to 25 miles in electric-only mode, and that’s nice for not waking the neighbors so you can go to your Sunday morning drives at 5 AM. The M5’s computer determines when you need gas power, so if you dip your toe too deep into the throttle, the engine ignites…eventually. There’s a sluggish response when you call for more power, and adding hybrid drive modes only makes the M system more complex. 

“Do I need this mode for that turn? Orrr maybe this one? Max energy recovery? I don’t knowwwwwww.”

Place it in your favorite M modes with a more aggressive throttle map, and it starts to feel like an M5. The engine remains on in Sport throttle, and the battery acts less like a fuel-saver and more like a third turbocharger, transparently adding power. It’s brilliant. It’s also quiet. Turn off the fake engine sounds, and you can barely hear the motor roar. 

At the end of the day, this car is three tenths slower (3.3 vs 3.0) to sixty than an F90, which is the first time I can ever recall a new generation M car being slower than the model it replaces. It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme, but hints at deeper issues. All that tech, yet not any more ability.

Transmission

The M5 continues on with our friend, the ZF eight-speed. It’s flawless in its responses, and is eager to kick down as needed. The M5 remains all-wheel drive, and power flows seamlessly to every corner thanks to a transmission that’s always predictable. 

The one weird bit is the transmission selector, which now becomes a simple toggle switch like in the X3 M50. I do like having something to grab, but I suppose keeping the center console clear is a good thing.

Chassis and Steering

It’s here where the M5’s weight really comes into play. This is a heavy car that feels heavy – it squats and dives like a wild beast when you push it. Every BMW I’ve experienced has felt smaller the faster you drive it, so it’s a first.

Then, the ride. Gigantic 20- and 21-inch wheels and a granite suspension make this wagon bouncy and harsh. Don’t you dare put that suspension in Sport +. My eight-year-old complained from the back, and nearly hit her head on the roof over a particularly large bump. That roof has no carbon option, by the way. I’m well aware this isn’t meant to be a track car, but every M5 has been fun on the occasion that you might want to push it. 

Slow this car down to about 8/10ths, and it becomes a respectable grand tourer with typical BMW steering feedback. It’s not that this M5 won’t keep up with your friends on a back road, it’s that it simply isn’t thrilled about doing so.

Still, this car is so capable that tapping into its full potential will probably end up with you receiving a “jail-for-life” card. Grip is plentiful, and it’ll drift as eagerly as the last model. I drove a Touring up the mountains of the Coachella Valley in California on a recent shoot, and I must admit it’s as capable as anything I’ve experienced. 

Brakes

The 2025 BMW M5 Touring comes with regular steel brakes, but this one was optioned with a pair of carbon ceramics for $8,500. CCBs on BMWs work a bit better – aside from less fade and dust, the pedal feels a bit more firm (even though brake compound has no effect on that). With the car as heavy as it is, I’d select the option. All it takes is one sporty drive in your M5 to cook the standard steelies. 

Lifestyle Score: 9. Almost forgot this is the whole point

Would you be into, let’s say, a BMW 540i wagon? Nah – it’s the M5’s wide hips and squat stance that give it appeal. But the fact that it’s beyond useful for everyday life is a big bonus.

Start in the front, where a pair of BMW M’s comfiest Merino leather chairs feel like sitting on clouds. They hold you in all the right spots, even for a bigger guy like me, and rival even what comes in a Mercedes. No carbon buckets are offered, which I agree with for this car.

The back row has plenty of room for two kids (three if you must), and the hatchback opens to reveal a cargo area that’s as wide as an X5, if not quite as tall (or high off the ground). You must make some sacrifice for style.

At over 16 feet long, it was a stretch to fit into the garage – mere inches away from my door. Measure yours if you’re tight for space.

Fuel Economy: 2. Deep breath

The M5 Touring’s Monroney label reads as some sort of science experiment. If you simply drive it in electric mode (and charge it each night), you’ll never pay for gas. 

But let’s say you drive it like an M5 – you’re at 13 MPG. I tried to keep it in hybrid mode as much as possible, but the best I could manage on a longer highway drive was 15 MPG. You must also pay a $2,600 gas guzzler tax as you burn through 7.7 gallons of gas per 100 miles. It’s the only press car I’ve had that needed to be filled more than once during my time with it.

It’s not the body style’s fault, which is just a bit less than 200 pounds more than the sedan.

Go back to the F90 – that averages 17 MPG, had “just” a $1,000 guzzler tax, and burned just 5.9 gallons of gas per 100 miles. I hate to harp, but again, the weight hurts the overall goal.

Features and Comfort: 8. Everything, and nothing

The M5 has all the features you’d expect of a car costing $140,000 – this fully loaded example topped out at the same price that an F90 used to, and this car is much more complex.

Moo 5

This car is Comfortable – capital C. There’s a Bowers & Wilkins stereo as standard (it lights up!), Merino leather, that gigantic sunroof, and enough buttons on the center console to make an F-22 pilot feel right at home.

All those buttons are haptic, so you don’t press as much as lightly touch – that includes the steering wheel. But changing things like the following distance on the automatic cruise control isn’t easy, nor are all the drive modes you need to work through on the menu. I speak “BMW”, but if you don’t there’s going to be a learning curve.

Some other quibbles as well. That’s not real leather on the dash, or even fake leather. Same goes for the doors. Like the X3, it’s full of plastic inside. Carbon fiber trim is minimal, which is probably why it’s only $300 instead of $1,000 like in the M3. Even the ambient lighting in the rear is mostly gone. Step inside an equivalent Mercedes, and the difference is apparent. 

Store the stares in the back

It’s hard to argue with Isle of Man Green Metallic – I think the M5 stole the G80’s launch color and wears it better. As M5’s flagship sedan offering, all the paint options offered are no cost, but for $4,500 you can paint it ohhhh I dunno…Miami Blue?

Maybe you don’t need too. Everyone looked. EVERYONE. Is it because it’s an M5 wagon and the hype is real? Or because it’s a car everyone actually lusts after? Whether the effect wears off with time or not, this car gets stares.

It’s a bit of an odd mix in the styling department – somehow everything feels like it’s from the last generation of BMW things. But added all together, it’s a handsome car. Those wide hips help. Looks mean.

Out the door, this fully-loaded example is at $140,775. The base price is $121,500, so if you skip the brakes and the M Driver’s Package it’s a reasonable deal. 

Other sedans and wagons to consider

The 2025 BMW M5 Touring shows you the direction BMW M is heading

I see the “previews”. The camouflaged electric M cars pulling stunts and driving up walls. The eight million sensors and 13,000 lb-ft of torque.

And I see the haters. “E36 4Eva!”. Longing for the days of natural aspiration and manual transmission-only M cars. They were fun to be sure, but not big sellers. Not the way these cars are now. Not the way they need to be, if M is to survive.

The M5 Touring is what remains – a compromise. It’s electric, but inefficient. It’s a wagon, but not the one we wanted. And it’s powerful, yet not as fast as the last M5. In trying to please everyone, perhaps they pleased no one.

That’s too harsh. At its core, this is still an M5 – able to handle anything you throw at it, or in this case in it. It remains the Ultimate Daily Machine. There’s simply no comparison to an X5 M, and despite all its flaws, I’d still have one over an RS 6. I don’t know, I can’t really explain it. The M5 is more than the sum of its parts.

Chalk it up to legacy. That still counts for something.