BMW M5 Touring 2026 Review

The BMW M5 Touring should be the perfect car for the modern, well-to-do car enthusiast and their family.

A snorting 4.4-litre twin-turbo petrol V8 developing 430kW/750Nm on its own augmented by an electric motor and 18.6kWh battery pack that deliver emissions-free motoring (61km according to WLTP) and staggering power and torque figures of 535kW and 1000Nm.

This labrador-friendly, long-roofed M car also manages 0-100km/h in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 305km/h.

Problem is, progress comes at a cost — and we’re not talking about the staggering $265,700 list price of the ‘G99’ Touring, either.

The cost here refers to a loss of purity: bewilderingly complex drive modes, feel-free steering, brake-by-wire and a 2550kg kerb weight — these stats don’t sound promising. But as the M5 sedan already proved, BMW’s boffins can almost outrun the numbers.

How does the M5 Touring drive?

First we have to understand exactly what the M5 Touring is trying to achieve, because in trying to be everything to everyone (including regulators) it ends up compromised.

The low-speed ride, for example, is clumsy. The M5’s 20- and 21-inch staggered wheels shod in huge 285/40 front and 295/35 rear Hankook tyres slap expansion joints, sometimes hard enough to elicit a wince.

Energy efficiency can be considered average for the performance and 2.5-tonne heft. We saw about 50km of EV range from a full battery, and around 11L/100km in mixed driving after that — a whisker better than this car’s ‘F90’ predecessor.

The e-motor can carry the M5 at up to 130km/h, so you can genuinely commute without disturbing that V8. It’s quiet, too, with steering that’s light and easy to twirl, deceptively excellent four-wheel steer powered turning circle and a mushy, Toyota hybrid-like brake pedal.

Then the ferocity with which the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 blares into life, elevated revs to warm the catalytic converters, is a welcome surprise. One senses the M division could have chosen to blend the V8’s start into electric drive more smoothly, and decided to instead preserve the theatre.

Whatever primal part of the brain is pleased by a burbling V8 likes the M5 once moving in free flowing traffic. This is where the M5 starts to get under your skin.

Due to the masses of grip and refinement you can be unaware of the sheer speed the M5 Touring is carrying, be that cruising on the motorway or on a back road. Like a bull in the China shop that is Australia’s tightly-controlled speed environment.

The rare times you get to indulge in full throttle are quite special. We’re accustomed to instant punch from EVs but the sensation of a petrol, twin-turbo V8 hauling through its eight ratios is different.

As long as the drive mode settings are amped to your preferred level of insanity — there are eight parameters; important ones in this case include 4WD Sport, M Dynamic ESC, Drivetrain Sport Plus — the M5 obliges on-throttle adjustment, too.

Oversteer moments (we didn’t sample full 2WD lunacy) are digital brutality, the M5’s central brain conducting its AWD system and active M rear diff the shake the rear tyres loose first, then deliver a decimating blow of all-paw suck out of a bend.

Delicate, adjustable and brimming with feedback the M5 is not, instead this is a force of nature — and there’s heaps of satisfaction in that.

There are usability wins, too. For example, the latest adaptive safety systems are all present, but well-integrated. And, if you want them gone, the M5 allows you to make sure lane-keep assist, speed sign bonging and driver attention monitoring stay disabled when you switch the car off.

Relax and the M5 catches you off guard. All the good stuff flows in and makes it easy to ignore those theoretical foibles as the general public, clearly intimidated by the M5’s feral front-end, trip over themselves trying to dive out of the right lane and let this beast pass.

Open the taps, dispatch the traffic, reel in your destination and obliterate the nav’s predicted arrival. If only Australia had Autobahns…

How is the M5 Touring’s interior?

Although it doesn’t dominate proceedings, the M5’s cabin technology plays a strong, supporting role. The crisp, bright screens are integrated into one unit and oriented toward the driver.

As has been the case for some time, BMW’s climate controls are within the 14.9-inch touchscreen but are persistent in a bar at the bottom. Processing power can handle this as well, with quick switches between native software and wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto.

The iDrive control has evolved over the years, the M5 continuing to organise key functions (gear shifter, parking sensors, start/stop button, drive mode and hybrid settings) on the centre console.

Storage is strong with a butterfly opening felt-lined centre bin, door bins that fit a 600mL bottle, a wireless charging pad, four USB-C charge points, and two cup holders. Nice, soft-touch materials are present as is BMW’s signature new-car-smell.

The seats are comfortable with generous electric adjustment, come with two-position memory plus heating and ventilation standard — there are basically no extra-cost options for Australian M5s.

That means plush ‘Merino’ leather upholstery is standard in a choice of colours, as is a warm, sophisticated 18-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system that elevates the M5 experience. Our only gripe was that the M5’s under-thigh cushion extension is, strangely, buried in the touchscreen.

The back seat doesn’t rival an SUV for space but you’ll easily fit two adults in the back with a big glass roof letting light in and remarkably good toe room, given the M5 has to pack a battery.

The additional, upright glass makes the Touring a better place to be a passenger in than the sedan, too. Niceties include separate climate zones and heated seats for outboard passengers.

In the M5 sedan the boot is compromised by battery packaging, this is much less significant in the Touring. It’s a really long space with a slight upward slope and narrow width through the middle, so although it looks huge the official rating is 500L — identical to the smaller M3 Touring.

The final verdict

Look at the numbers and it’s easy to let prejudice and bias write the M5 Touring off as a sanitised version of a once-great nameplate.

But as an owner, you will grow to love this car, and see the value in that price — it’s the intangible feel-good factor that comes with being able to slink around in quietude yet rouse the full fury of that twin-turbo V8 sledgehammer performance at any time.

Flawed? Definitely. The BMW M5 Touring remains a car any car enthusiast should want in their dream garage, even if the cheaper M3 Touring manages to nail similar highs for less money.