There can hardly have been a more eagerly anticipated BMW M car. It has been conspicuous in its absence ever since the E30, the first 3-Series that was given the Motorsport division treatment. At the turn of the millennium, more than two decades ago, a feasibility study on the E46 suggested one was imminent.
It's been a long time coming. Some 36 years, in fact, but finally the BMW range has an M3 Touring.
Production has only just started in earnest, having been revealed in the spring of its 50th anniversary of M celebrations and revealed publicly in the summer.
MotoGP fans will have seen it at Silverstone, when it performed pace car duties, and testing was undertaken at the Nürburgring, the fabled Nardò Ring test track, the Sachsenring and the Tyrolean Alps.
The result is a shade more than 500bhp from the twin-turbo straight six, with xDrive all-wheel drive and a sub-4-second 0-60mph time. Unquestionably, it has delivered on its overdue promises.
BMW says it: '[takes] the combination of racing-oriented performance and everyday practicality to the extreme.'
"It will definitely be more a racehorse than a workhorse," reckons M3 Touring product manager, Hagen Franke.
It's a bonafide Winter Wagon, too, and you'll see the imposing instant classic on the Winter Wagons lawn at the Scramble on Sunday 8 January.
