91% of you are getting into that CSL – the original version. I feel BMW may have made a dud with that 2.2-million dollar example. Speaking of BMW, this Tuesday is the release of my review of the new M5 Touring. I might not like it very much, but no spoilers yet – just a question. Is it the M5 wagon you want?
You do have another option.
The 2025 BMW M5 Touring vs the 2008 BMW 535xi Sports Wagon
Yea yea – an M wagon is finally here. Dealers are selling allocations faster than BMW can build them. It easily outsells the sedan. The sky is full of rainbows and unicorns, and we’ll all hold hands and eat bratwurst. Yay.
Sarcasm? Yes, please. The truth is that this is a heavy and expensive car, and probably not the wagon you were envisioning. No, the M3 Touring is never coming here. Instead, you get a V-8 hybrid with more drive modes than the Batmobile and more speed than an F-15. The price might not seem terrible to start: $121,500. That’s literally the limit of the most expensive M3, so BMW knows what its doing.
Want another M5 wagon? Your options are extremely limited, but wouldn’t you know, I found the perfect E61 to use as a donor car and make my own version of the ultimate M wagon. This is another car BMW sold everywhere except the US. What is it guys, do you not like us?
Fine. We can do it ourselves.
The 2025 BMW M5 Touring
I’m going to assume you can just walk into any BMW dealer, spec anything you want, and pay less than MSRP. That’s probably not going to happen, but remember, rainbows and unicorns.
- The M5 offers more standard colors than any other BMW in the lineup. Nevertheless, we want Individual, so it’s $5,000. How about Daytona Violet Metallic, a classic M color
- Wheels are no cost, I’ll take the 951M style
- Silverstone Extended Merino leather, again no cost
- Carbon fiber trim is only $300? Okay – but there isn’t much of it in the car
- The Executive package for $1,600 is a steal – you want your kidneys to glow, and your butts to heat.
- Active Driving Assistant Pro is one of the better autonomous self-drivers on the market, so sure, let’s do it for $1,700
- Carbon Ceramic brakes – $8,500
The grand total for my spec: $133,875. This is a 717-horsepower hybrid M car that weighs more than an X5 M. It is brutal with its speed, but no faster than the F90 is replaced.
It’s hard to know how much these will depreciate, but I bet it’s nearly 50% like other M5s of recent memory. That means BMW M5 Touring values will dip into the $70k range in three years. But if you’ve always wanted a BMW wagon (and can’t see yourself in an RS 6), then the M5 is it.
Or is it?
The 2008 BMW 535xi Sports Wagon
The genesis of this article actually started with this car. It’s The perfect donor.
- 118,000 miles
- Black Sapphire Metallic over tan interior. Shame about the ugly wood trim though
- Minor damage, but repaired.
- Six-speed automatic, with xDrive
- Tinted windows, intakes, exhaust – ahh, who cares, we’re gonna rip it apart!
Now, we need an E60 M5 that’s falling apart. Here’s one for $24,888. Another for $19,200. They are easy to find in average or bad shape. By the time we’re done Frankensteining our creation, we’ll spend about as much as we would on a new M5, but this one will be manual. With a V-10! And no one will have it at the car show. I hardly see the sedans as it is.
But it’s a lot of work, and a lot of money. Would it be more special?
