There’s a very good reason why the Nürburgring didn’t have a session for tourist drives (Touristenfahrten) tonight. You can put the blame on BMW as it rented the Green Hell to test prototypes and shoot marketing footage. Exciting new models such as the M4 CSL and M3 Touring hit the track, but there were other tasty M&Ms as well, including the XM.
Nürburgring “resident” Misha Charoudin happened to stop by the Nordschleife while BMW was doing its thing. That’s not all as he reports German magazine Sport Auto was there to do a hot lap of the challenging circuit with both cars. The M4 CSL allegedly did it in anywhere between 7:15 and 7:20 while the M3 Touring was reportedly clocked in at 7:30.
As if these yet-to-be-confirmed lap times weren’t impressive enough, the cars weren’t pushed to their limits. Being prototypes, the subsequent production versions could prove to be even faster. Even if the long-roof M3 did it in 7:30, it’s already more than enough to claim the fastest wagon title. As it stands, the record belongs to the Mercedes-AMG E63 S with a time of 7:45.19 established in September 2017.
Is The M3 Touring Just As Fast As The M5 CS?
As is the case with these reports, take the provided information with the proverbial pinch of salt. Based on the Competition xDrive, we can safely assume the M3 Touring will be one of the fastest estates ever. To put the 7:30 lap time into perspective, Sport Auto’s Christian Gebhardt driving the M5 CS lapped the ‘Ring in virtually the same time (7:29.57).
BMW has been teasing the spicy wagon for a while now, so the world premiere is inching closer. But first, the M4 CSL will be released in May, before the M2 and XM scheduled to appear in 2022. Logic tells us the M3 Touring will be short-lived since it’ll be based on the M3 LCI. Hopefully, demand will be big enough to warrant a next-generation model.
Source: Misha Charoudin / Instagram
