The 2023 BMW M3 Touring is the first production Wagon M3but if its suspension setup team had done its job, it would have felt like a sedan.
Frank Weishar doesn’t consider himself a professional racer, but he has driven the Nürburgring 24 Hour no less than 12 times. He also scored countless test rounds across Europe in various prototypes of the first BMW M3 Competition Touring.
His main gig these days is project lead on motivation for G81 3 Series BMWincluding M3 Touring.
He is the man accused of tearing up the famous Goodwood Hillclimb closely this year in front of thousands of fans, who have likely witnessed the ‘salvation’ of the year, as he pushed Strong carriage to the limit of adhesion.
In an exclusive interview shortly after Goodwood ran, Frank said CarExpert Touring’s development is complete, with only minor tweaks needed ahead of its upcoming launch and launch later this year.
“Early on in the development of the M3 Touring, our main goal with the car was so that the driver would never realize they were sitting in the Touring body unless they happened to be looking in the rearview mirror.” I said .
“I am pleased to say that the overwhelming response has been received by everyone who has driven the vehicle during its final stages of development.”
This process has since been expanded to include no less than 120 rounds of Nordschleife for endurance testing, followed by additional rounds to adjust Sport and Sport+ suspension settings.
“We not only use Nordschleife, we also run the M3 Touring on various tracks such as Sachsenring, the GP track there and Hockenheim,” explains Mr. Weishar.
“For example, to create the Comfort setting, we used different roads around the Nürburgring as well as high-speed motorways and local roads around Munich to get the best results.”
BMW has held the M3 Competition regularly as a sponsor of the M3 Touring project. According to Frank, the hard work on the Touring began after the front and rear axle shifting was completed, and the wagon’s rear rails were enlarged to accommodate the larger wheels and tire packs.
“We had to do an extensive tuning program including springs, dampers and anti-roll bars to consider the M3 Touring’s additional length and weight, around 85kg, with most of it at the rear, ” I said .
“It means the entire hydraulic system at both ends is unique to the M3 Touring, so that we get the right balance between the front and rear axles.
“We tried not to do much with the anti-roll bars from the standard 3 Series Touring because we found that you can get some unwanted car movement if you make them too stiff, so we have studied the spring ratio for better results. “
The prototype of the M3 Touring managed to score impressive times around Nordschleife, with an official run time of 7:30.00 – not much slower than the upcoming M4 CSL, which is already a remarkable feat.
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M3 Touring joins the Nurburgring
“It’s like a sedan, really calm,” says Frank. “You don’t have to do too much with the steering even when going through high-speed sections on Nordschleife.”
“The car is really easy to handle in fast corners, and with a quick change of direction I would say the car is mostly neutral but with a little or under dial so you really have can throw it from corner to corner without losing. rear. “
One of the unique features of the M3 Touring that affects steering is the small groove above the rear door, which you can feel in action at 120km/h.
Since the M3 Touring will likely appeal to buyers who take advantage of the wagon’s versatility compared to its sedan mate, we’d love to hear what Frank has to say about suspension compliance in both Comfort mode and Sports.
“You’ll definitely feel the bump because we want to have that connection to the road, but it won’t disturb the car and there’s no body movement when you hit the bump,” he said.
“Instead, it just feels like a very solid car. It’s also the steering adjustment we’ve set up for the M3 Touring. It’s very firm in the center and direct, but it’s not too heavy – like a GT3 car in that respect,” he explains.
“Our common goal was to develop the M3 Touring as a car that is fun but not too nervous, but also to use two-wheel drive if you want to drive it a bit more or you can drive it very precisely. and fast.”
The M3 Touring’s extra weight, especially at the rear, means it has about 10% more spring rate than the regular M3, where the front end is almost the same for both variants.
M3 Touring buyers will be able to stick with the standard steel brakes or optional carbon-ceramic stoppers, though Frank suggests that conventional brakes aren’t quite capable enough, even after the laps at Nordschleife.
“In hard braking conditions with steel brakes, the car is really stable and the pedal feeling is constant throughout the lap. There’s no real difference between the M3 Touring and the regular M3,’ he said.
Save for some final software tweaking, the M3 Touring is ready for full mass production with final registration in about three weeks.
He’s understandably tight-lipped when asked about a more dedicated version of the M3 Touring, but thinks there’s no real point to a lightweight CS model due to its obvious lifestyle deviance.
