Coming in hot! Hardcore BMW M3 CS Touring teased for the first time

The first official images of the new BMW M3 CS Touring have hit social media, featuring the more hardcore and certainly more powerful version of the brand’s already thrilling family wagon on the famous Nürburgring race track in Germany.

Of course, our spy photographers and many others had seen the M3 CS Touring testing before, which BMW acknowledged when it referred to the car as “the not so secret, secret” in one of its social media posts.

The standard M3 Touring is already one of the meanest-looking estate cars you might cross paths with on the school run, but the CS version gets an even more aggressive front end design that adds a new splitter with aero fins. 

Based on our spy pictures, there will also be a new grille pattern and yellow daytime running lights, which were both featured on the latest BMW M4 CS that was unveiled last May, and the BMW M3 CS we drove in 2023. The rear hasn’t altered as far as we can tell.  

The 542bhp engine from the M3 CS and M4 CS has also probably made its way into the M3 CS Touring. This tuned version of BMW’s twin-turbocharged ‘S58’ 3.0-litre in-line six cylinder delivers around 20bhp more than the standard M3 Touring, plus 650Nm of torque, and is more responsive, too. 

As is the case with the regular BMW M3 Touring, the engine will be connected to an eight-speed automatic transmission and a rear-biased, all-wheel-drive system. Whatever power is sent to the rear axle will be managed by an active rear differential.

We don’t expect the 0-62mph time for the M3 CS Touring will be all that much quicker than the standard car’s, which only needs 3.6 seconds to complete the benchmark sprint.

13

But BMW’s CS-badged cars aren’t entirely focused on acceleration figures anyway. They also feature numerous chassis tweaks, such as lowered and stiffened suspension, lighter wheels and carbon-fibre elements to reduce weight. 

On the M3 CS saloon, the roof, bonnet, front splitter, door mirrors, rear diffuser and spoiler were all made from carbon fibre, along with the bucket seats and other interior trim. We expect the majority of those items to be carried over to the M3 CS Touring, except for the carbon-fibre roof, based on our pictures.

Exactly when the new BMW M3 CS Touring will be unveiled hasn’t been announced yet, nor have we any idea when the first examples will start hitting the streets. When it does finally land in showrooms, we expect it will cost upwards of £120,000 considering that the M3 CS saloon had a price tag of more than £115,000 – a £33,000 increase over a regular all-wheel drive M3 Competition at the time.

Need speed and space in equal measure? These are the best fast estate cars...