Bavarian Endurance Battle

Touring

Never Underestimate The Family Car.
The Family Car

Never underestimate the family car.

There is something wonderfully German about taking a perfectly sensible family car and deciding that what it really needs is more power, better suspension and the ability to embarrass sports cars.

Audi did it. Mercedes did it. And BMW created some of the most beautiful Tourings ever built, combining the practicality of a wagon with the engineering, balance and performance expected from a BMW. They were designed to carry families, luggage, tools and groceries while quietly hiding the fact that underneath all that practicality was still a driver's car.

And if you still think the long roof doesn't belong on a racetrack, don't take our word for it.

Ask BMW.

What began as an April Fools' joke became the BMW M3 Touring 24H, a genuine BMW M Motorsport race car based on the G81 M3 Touring and incorporating racing technology from the M4 GT3 EVO. BMW took it to one of the most unforgiving endurance races in the world, the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

And the grocery getter didn't just show up.

It finished fifth overall and won its class.

Apparently even BMW eventually looked at the Touring and asked the same question we did:

Why shouldn't the grocery getter go racing?

So yes, the long roof belongs here.

Now it's your turn.

Touring Challenge Generations
E30 • E36 • E46 • E34
E39 • E61 • E91 • X1
Non-M
Welcome To The Long Roofs

Agility Meets Muscle.

Bavarian Endurance Battle created Touring as the place where the BMW family lines finally cross. This is where 3 Series and 5 Series get to race together, creating a battle that doesn't exist anywhere else in BEB.

The smaller 3 Series Tourings bring the agility, compact dimensions and nimble character that made the 3 Series famous. Across the grid, the larger 5 Series Tourings arrive with more size, more presence and the potential for considerably more muscle.
Agility meets muscle. 3 Series meets 5 Series.
And the long roof is the price of admission.
With that long, smooth roofline stretching toward the rear of the car, the Touring even looks like it was designed to cheat the wind.

The extra windows, however, contribute absolutely nothing to the aerodynamics.
They're there so everybody you pass can get a better look.
The Grocery Getter

Nobody expects the wagon.

Touring doesn't demand respect. It doesn't particularly care whether you give it any.

Let Vintage talk about heritage. Let Dreier argue about which generation is superior. Let Geschäftsklasse straighten its tie and discuss important business.

The wagon has groceries to deliver.

Nobody expects the wagon. That's part of its advantage. Let them see the extra doors, the long roof and all that glass and assume the family hauler doesn't belong in a twelve hour endurance race.

That assumption tends to disappear rather quickly when the grocery getter fills the mirrors, follows them into Turn 3 and comes out the other side in front, shaking that big Bavarian ass as it disappears from view through the next few corners.

Don't be mad.

You underestimated the grocery getter.

Besides, BMW gave the Touring extra cargo capacity for life's necessities: groceries, luggage, tools, someone else's dignity, two or three shattered egos, a few hearts stolen at Turn 3, and enough trophies to make the trip home slightly heavier.

And with the rear seats folded down?

There's probably room for the excuses too.

Bring the wagon. Bring the family hauler. Bring the BMW nobody expected to become a twelve hour endurance race car. Because practicality never erased the engineering underneath it.

The roof simply got longer.

The Long Roofs

Don't Let The
Long Roof Fool You.

There's A BMW Hiding Under There.
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