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The M5 Touring combines an electric motor with a twin-turbo V8 to produce 717 horsepower.Matt Bubbers/The Globe and Mail
Shopping for a used station wagon these days will test even the most determined buyer’s patience, and budget. To say used wagons are rare and expensive is underselling the problem. Personally, after months of searching for a reasonably priced low-mileage used BMW 3 Series or Volvo wagon, I’d suggest a shopper’s best bet is to stand on a street corner waving a wad of cash at passing wagon drivers in the hopes they’ll stop and sell theirs.
New wagons aren’t exactly easy to find either. The good news is that BMW will have a new one hitting Canadian dealerships in January. The bad news is the 2025 BMW M5 Touring – a plug-in hybrid with all-wheel drive, a twin-turbo V8, roughly 40 kilometres of electric range and 717 horsepower – is going to start at $138,000. If you’re wondering what the M5 Touring is like to drive, read this review of the nearly-identical 2025 M5 sedan.
With the Audi RS 6 Avant wagon scheduled to be phased out and Mercedes-AMG yet to launch a next-generation E 63 Wagon, the BMW will have the rarefied high-speed wagon market almost all to itself. The Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo, which does without a V8 and relies solely on battery power, is a worthy competitor, but even it costs $20,000 more than the pricey M5 Touring.
While the BMW is by no means the prettiest thing on the road, nothing else matches new M5 wagon’s oddball combination for versatility, speed and handling.
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With a hatch opening and extra space, the M5 Touring offers a great combination of versatility, speed and handling.Matt Bubbers/The Globe and Mail
It’s a combination of qualities BMW expects will speak to Canadian drivers. The company’s sales projections have Canada as the fourth largest market worldwide for the M5 Touring in terms of sales volume, behind Germany, the United States and the U.K., and ahead of Switzerland. For the M5 sedan, on the other hand, Canada isn’t in the top five.
“We have always been big wagon fans here in Europe, especially in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy; those are typical wagon markets,” said Daniela Schmidt, BMW’s product manager for the M5. “But internationally, the wagon, only in recent years, has caught a lot of attention. We saw that also through the M3 Touring, which is unfortunately not available in North America. But that helped us to make the decision to offer the M5 wagon in North America.”
“Interest is really high,” she said. “We are seeing more and more markets jumping onto this [M5] wagon, although they are not typical wagon markets like Korea, Hong Kong, Macau.”
As for what’s behind this newfound global interest in pricey wagons, Schmidt thinks it’s about standing out. “In this high-performance segment, people want to differentiate themselves from the crowd and by opting for the wagon, they differentiate even more than with the sedan,” she said.
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The dash of the 2025 BMW M5 Touring.Fabian Kirchbauer/Courtesy of manufacturer
Wagonheads whose budgets don’t stretch to six-figures, however, have few options. Most reasonably priced wagons – the Subaru Legacy, Golf SportWagon, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, BMW 3 Series and Audi A4 Avant to name a few – have been killed off by automakers, in favour of more popular and profitable SUVs. Old budget-friendly family favourites such as the Toyota Corolla, Ford Taurus and Focus wagons are all long gone and unlikely to ever return.
Wait 10 or 12 years, let depreciation work its magic, and M5 Touring prices may come down to earth; but for those who can’t wait that long, the used wagon market is a treacherous place right now.
At a Toronto-area BMW dealer on a recent weekend, there were three groups of customers milling around the pre-owned section, and two of them were on the hunt for a 2018-ish 3 Series Touring. I was one of them, trying – and failing – to find a used wagon (or even a hatchback sedan) for my parents who are trying to replace their beloved 2011 3 Series Touring, which they also bought used. A salesperson at this dealership said they didn’t have any wagons and they weren’t likely to get one anytime soon. One of this dealer’s customers had offered to trade in a 2018 or 2019 wagon but wanted it valued at $35,000.
Andrew King, an avowed wagonhead and managing partner of industry analysis firm DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc., wrote, “I think the high residuals are a case that, while there are not many enlightened souls who purchase wagons (sadly), the people who do like them really like them a lot – and are willing to pay extra to get one.” The same is true of prices for any niche vehicle with a small but loyal following, he added.
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The front seats of the 2025 BMW M5 Touring.Fabian Kirchbauer/Courtesy of manufacturer
To give scale to Canada’s used wagon scarcity, consider this: there are currently more used Ford F-150 pickups for sale (5,450) on AutoTrader than there are station wagons (3,700) of any make and model. There are nearly as many used Porsches for sale (2,550) as there are station wagons. Meanwhile, if you want an SUV, you’ve got 98,000 used ones to pick from.
Adding to the problems for anyone in the market for a new-ish used car is the fact the pandemic and semi-conductor related shortages have caused the supply of vehicles coming off-lease and back into the market to dry up, according to DesRosiers. Its data shows the supply of lease maturities is expected to continue to shrink through to 2027.
“Until 2027, the Canadian used-vehicle market will contend with a constrained supply of younger used vehicles, impacting the average age of vehicles changing hands and setting a pricing floor for younger used product,” King wrote.
As for my own wagon hunt, I’ve given up. Instead, I’ve suggested to my parents that they replace their beloved old 2011 3 Series Touring with a newer sedan. Compared to hunting for used wagons, shopping for good used sedan is like shooting fish in a barrel.
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BMW projects Canada to be the fourth largest market worldwide for the M5 Touring.Matt Bubbers/The Globe and Mail
The writer was a guest of BMW. Content was not subject to approval.
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Publish date : 2024-11-05 11:00:00
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