Pictured on a rather cold and somewhat wet runway in the United Kingdom, the M3 twins in the clip below couldn’t be more similar. The biggest difference between them is, of course, the body style. Practicality favors the station wagon, but when it comes to styling, the sedan wins hands down.
Optioned in Frozen Portimao Blue over a white interior, the M3 Touring is, obviously enough, an idea heavier than the four-door M3 Competition xDrive. 4,801 millimeters (make that 189 inches) long, the family-oriented variant weighs 1,940 kilograms (4,277 pounds), according to BMW UK.
Its nicer-looking brother makes do with 4,794 millimeters (188.7 inches) fore to aft, and tips the scales at 1,855 kilograms (4,090 pounds). To whom it may concern, trunk capacity is listed as 500 and 480 liters (nearly 18 and 17 cubic feet). Folding those rear seats down improves the M3 Touring’s cargo capacity to 1,510 liters (53.3 cubic feet).
Although it’s hard to tell with the naked eye, both rock similar wheelbases, and both are similarly wide. But alas, the M3 Touring is a bit slower on paper due to its more practical body style. BMW UK quotes 3.6 seconds to 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour), one tenth off the sedan.
The four- and five-door sibs top 155 miles per hour (make that 250 kilometers per hour) as standard. Customers who intend to defeat the electronic limiter don’t need to go aftermarket for it but to specify an optional package that raises it to 180 miles per hour (290 kilometers per hour).
Priced at £82,665 in the United Kingdom, which means approximately $102,345 at current exchange rates, the M xDrive-equipped M3 Competition requires an additional £2,095 ($2,593) for the M Driver’s Pack that unlocks the higher top speed. The M3 Touring is a few thousand pounds costlier.
As to how these cars fare in a straight line, you won’t be surprised to find out how close they are. Joe Achilles and Andy Ayers duke it out time and time again, with Joe’s M3 Touring always racing from a dig on the wetter side of the runway. Be that as it may, he and his car are more consistent off the line compared to Andy in the sedan-bodied vehicle.
In-gear rolling races obviously favor the sedan, and even though the wagon’s kickdown is spot on in automatic mode, it doesn’t have the legs on that M3 Competition xDrive. The braking tests favor the M3 Touring, though, because it boasts fresher rubber boots and massive carbon-ceramic brakes.
As a brief refresher, the compact executive siblings are powered by the B58-based S58 engine, a 3.0-liter sixer with two spinny lads for good measure. In Competition flavor, the M3 – regardless of body style – comes with a torque-converter automatic supplied by the best name in the biz.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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