BMW M5 Touring review

Interestingly, you’ll be buying the Touring for the load-lugging ability, but in terms of raw space, it’s not actually that much bigger than the huge-booted saloon. So where you get 466-litres of deep space in the saloon boot, there’s only 500 flat in the Touring.

But, and it’s a big but, the Touring has a much more usable hatchback and more useful space - especially if you have a dog. As in the saloon, the back seats split 60:40 and can be dropped via levers in the luggage compartment, but with the Touring you get a full-height rear. Ok, so the seats don’t fold completely flat and the windows in the back are relatively tiny, but it works.

Working forwards, there’s plenty of space in the back for 6ft passengers, there are lots of charging points scattered about and a mounting bracket and power outlet in the rear of the front seats so that rear-seat passengers can attach their own infotainment screens. They can also sort out their own seat-heating and air-con from the touchscreen in the rear of the centre console.

M-specific front seats are excellent and you get a big bank of curved screens up front, all with top-notch graphics and response, BMW’s latest 8.5 iDrive to play with.
There’s a techy-looking, M-specific flat-bottomed steering wheel, lots of M5-only buttons and graphics, and some really nice fit and finish. It feels quality all the way through.

Plus, there’s the usual raft of options and ADAS systems. Too many to list here, but including a huge head-up display and stuff like Parking Assistant Professional which allows automated parking and manoeuvring over a distance of up to 200 metres.

Basically, you get a smartphone remote-control M5. Yes, we know James Bond already had that in a 7 Series some years ago, but here it is for real.