Introduction to the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring
Over the years, BMW has used the letters 'CS' to varying effect, but in recent times these Competition Sport models have become ever more desirable. The latest to get the treatment is the long-awaited BMW M3 Touring, with the limited-build CS edition gaining a sharper chassis set-up, more power and enhanced looks - and an increased price tag, as well.
Pros & cons of the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring
Pros:
• Wonderful handling
• Monster performance
• Rarity and credibility
Cons:
• Looks might be a bit overblown for some
• Firm low-speed ride
• No longer available new
Exterior & design of the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring
• Several specific detail changes
• Super-aggressive appearance
• Staggered fitment alloy wheels as standard
The BMW M3 Touring has a mean appearance and hunkered-down stance as it is, so for the CS it's basically just carbon-fibre garnish and badging which marks it out as the ultimate fast wagon from Munich.
The front splitter, with its distinctive end-plates, is made of carbon, as are the air intakes, the side sills, the door-mirror caps, the rear diffuser and the bonnet - although the roof, which might look like it is made of the same lightweight material, is merely painted black as production limitations mean no M3 Touring, not even the CS, can have a carbon top.
Nevertheless, with all this detailing and the exposed carbon sections on the bonnet, the CS has a motorsport aura about it which lifts it above the regular M3 Touring for initial visual impact, although there may be those who feel this variant is a little too gaudy in the looks department.
Dimensions of the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring
Length: 4,796mm
Width: 1,918mm (mirrors folded)
Height: 1,447mm
Wheelbase: 2,857mm
Paint colours for the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring
The CS has a much more limited palette available to it than the regular M3 Touring, with BMW just offering the four main colours: Frozen Solid White, Black Sapphire, British Racing Green or Laguna Seca Blue.
Beyond that, the brake callipers come in either red, black or gold (the latter only for the optional carbon-ceramic set-up), while the staggered-fitment 19-inch front, 20-inch rear alloys are rendered in Gold Bronze or Black, both of these being matte-effect colours.
Interior, practicality, tech & comfort of the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring
• Front seats are marvellous to look at...
• ...but uncomfortable to sit in after a while
• Various CS-specific detail touches
The passenger compartment of the BMW 3 Series Touring is excellent across the range, so with the sporty accoutrements of the M3 model enlivening its ambience, the anticipation levels pre-drive ramp up ever further.
But the CS takes things to a subtly higher plane, thanks to discreet CS badging around the place, as well as a red-and-black colour scheme encapsulated in the contrast stitching and an Alcantara M steering wheel with a 12 o'clock top marker.
Getting comfortable in the driver's seat
There's a full range of electric adjustment to the exquisite-looking carbon-backed bucket seats up front, which are one of the star attractions in the BMW M3 CS Touring's cabin.
And once you're in them and you've got them adjusted, the driving position is exceptional - all low down and properly focused, as you'd expect of a car like this.
But while the seats aren't bad to sit in for short journeys, after longer distances their rigid side bolsters and those strange tray-like things in the squabs start to make them a little uncomfortable - especially if you're of the larger persuasion and you have to shuffle around in the seat to adjust position.
Infotainment and technology
It'll be hard to ignore the focal point of the BMW M3 CS Touring's cabin, which is the 'Curved Display' construct on the dash, merging a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster with a 14.9-inch touchscreen that runs BMW's OS 8.5 software.
This all looks superb and BMW has, since perfecting iDrive, been one of the best companies going for the main in-car control interfaces, so it works well overall. Lovely head-up display for the driver, too.
Nevertheless, all the climate controls are on the touchscreen and that does rob the Beemer of the ultimate in easy usability, even if the company does the right thing and keeps the main functions for the HVAC on a strip at the bottom of the touchscreen at all times.
Anyway, beyond that, there's a wireless smartphone charging pad neatly integrated at the bottom of the centre stack and the M3 CS Touring comes with the desirable Harman Kardon Surround Sound system as standard, as well.
Practicality around the cabin
Up front, the CS is no more nor less practical than any other BMW 3 Series Touring, courtesy of large door pockets complete with a dedicated drinks-holder receptacle in each, as well as a decent-sized glovebox and a little open storage tray just aft of the CS-emblazoned rest pad on the central tunnel.
However, there are no central cupholders, so front-seat occupants' coffees will have to go into those slots in the door bins.
Rear-seat passenger space
For two adults, the rear bench in the BMW M3 CS Touring is fine, because leg- and headroom are both perfectly adequate.
The central position is more for occasional use, due to the large hump in the floor for the transmission tunnel and the relative narrowness of the seat squab.
Further, while there are more deep door pockets and a central armrest which folds down to reveal a couple of cupholders, the back of the transmission tunnel in the BMW is bereft of anything like air vents or USB sockets.
Boot space in the BMW M3 CS Touring
There's no loss of boot space in the CS version of the M3 Touring, so owners will have access to a reasonable 500 litres with all seats in use, while dropping down the 40:20:40 split-folding rear row liberates up to 1,510 litres of cargo capacity.
Safety in the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring
The current-generation BMW 3 Series has a full five-star Euro NCAP safety rating, with highly impressive subsection scores of 97, 87, 87 and 76 per cent for protection of adult occupant, child occupant, vulnerable road users and safety assist accordingly.
However, our only note of caution is that the BMW was put to the test back in 2019 and the evaluation process has got considerably tougher since then. Anyway, the full BMW Euro NCAP report can be read, right here.
Performance of the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring
• Enhanced straight-six taken to 550hp
• Manages 0-100km/h in just 3.5 seconds
• Chassis gets various tech upgrades
Since its launch in 2020, the 'G80' M3 Saloon has used a twin-turbo 3.0-litre straight-six petrol engine called the 'S58', which means it is a proper BMW M engine.
Also deployed in the M4 (the Coupe and Convertible models), it originally made 480hp and 550Nm in the standard M3, rising to 510hp and 650Nm for the Competition. In some markets, the 480hp M3 could be had with a six-speed manual and rear-wheel drive, while the Competition was offered with an eight-speed M Steptronic auto only, with a choice of rear- or all-wheel-drive xDrive tech.
The 'G81' M3 Touring, however, which came a little later than the saloon in 2022, was only ever provided with the Competition xDrive set-up, which means four-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox.
As with all M3 and M4 Competition models, a 2024 facelift and tech update for 2025 saw peak power increase to 530hp. However, this CS derivative preceded that uplift to the regular Touring, so for a while it had 40hp more than its source material; now the power gap is just 20hp, with peak torque no different.
Competition versions of the G81 M3 can do 0-100km/h in 3.6 seconds, irrespective of whether they're 510- or 530hp models, but the CS trims that time by a tenth to 3.5 seconds.
Another area the most special of the M3 Tourings outperforms its stablemates is on top speed: all other versions could do a limited 250km/h top speed, with the option to raise to 290km/h with the M Driver's Package upgrade, but the CS has a 300km/h ceiling as standard.
Driving the BMW M3 CS Touring on UK roads
Words by Matt Robinson on 4 March 2026
Have no fear that the M3 CS Touring's purposeful visual posturing promises an enhanced driving experience on which the dynamics then fail to deliver.
Following a slightly up-and-down history for the 'CS' letters on the back of a BMW, the German firm has really got into its stride with this subseries of ultra-special M cars since the thoroughly compelling, 635hp F90 M5 CS of 2021.
And so, thankfully, the M3 CS Touring is a most worthy addition to this fabled canon of automotive greats. Sure, it's not flawless. The low-speed ride is firm and there's quite a lot of tyre noise from the car at most speeds - as it's 15kg lighter than the other M3 Tourings and that means some of the hidden sound-deadening has been stripped away.
Also, although we always defend it against such criticisms, we still have to admit that in and amongst BMW's astonishing back catalogue of great soundtracks from its M cars, the S58 is not the most tuneful engine it has ever created (although we still think it sounds pretty fine in the wider scheme of things, especially in the EV age we live in today).
Otherwise, though, what the CS does is takes a truly brilliant car for driving engagement and enjoyment, in the form of the M3 Touring xDrive, and then polishes its kinematics to a shining lustre of coruscating brilliance.
The chief weapons in its armoury are forged alloys at all corners, reducing unsprung mass and minimising that feeling of lead-footedness that can afflict many high-performance cars on big, heavy, showy wheels, as well as suspension that gets its own specific and focused state of tune to capitalise on that mass-reduction philosophy.
The net result is that the CS feels more tail-happy, alive and playful in the corners than the M3 Touring Competition, giving it a glittering extra dimension of agility and sharpness that marks out the very finest-handling cars in the world.
About the biggest compliment we can pay the M3 CS Touring here is that it never, ever feels like it weighs 1.9 tonnes; such is its keenness to get swiftly turned into a corner, the rabid front end of the car controlled by steering with greater feedback and nuance than in the standard M3, that you could easily convince yourself that BMW had stripped out all the rear seats and unnecessary weight.
This couples to the performance, which is absolutely sensational. We don't think the last M3 Touring we drove, a 2022 510hp derivative, felt in any way slow, but the CS is utterly ferocious as it rips around the dial to its maximum revs.
Even making it surf along on the midrange torque from lower rpm, there's an urgency and strength about this car's sheer speed which makes you wonder if 550hp and 650Nm are only very conservative estimates on BMW's part.
And, returning to that earlier point we made, while this might not be as spine-tingling to listen to as the carbon-airbox-equipped S54 in a 2003 M3 CSL or the mental V10 BMW deployed in the M5s and M6s of the late 2000s, the straight-six engine nevertheless makes a superb, angry, serrated snarling noise as it homes in on the redline, with much of its exertions accompanied by a rumbling overlay from the exhaust system with its titanium backbox.
So the CS is stupidly fast, emits a great modern-era soundtrack and handles like a dream. And if you're worried that the slightly crunchy low-speed ride takes the gloss off things, fret not; once you've got about 50-60km/h dialled up on the speedometer, the glorious abilities of the expensive, sophisticated damping in the suspension come to the fore, so that the BMW actually proves itself to be a surprisingly amenable thing for long-distance motorway cruising.
Therefore, unless you've got a CS wagon and you're only ever driving it around towns at urban speeds on heavily potholed roads, you really ought to adore the way this exalted M3 Touring goes about its business.
Irish pricing & rivals to the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring
• Was priced new at over €220,000
• But no longer available
• Few rivals can match its dynamic prowess
At the time of writing, a 'basic' 530hp BMW M3 Competition Touring xDrive costs €161,805 here in Ireland. The CS, regrettably, has already all sold out (there was a limited worldwide production of about 2,000 units, give or take), and it was priced at an eye-watering €220,270 in Ireland.
And when you consider that a car at the other end of the BMW 3 Series Touring range costs less than a third of that amount (the line-up currently kicks off at €61,275), then you can see how expensive - and exclusive - the CS truly was.
Rivals are also thin on the ground these days. Porsche has stopped making the Sport Turismo version of its Panamera, though Audi has the monstrous 639hp PHEV RS 5. The only other real direct comparison can be made with the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E-Performance Estate, which is a near-€200,000 car in any specification, but which has a lacklustre four-cylinder-derived powertrain. It's nothing like as capable and composed to drive as the M3 CS Touring.
Servicing the BMW M3 CS Touring
There's a condition-based servicing system on the BMW M3 CS Touring, so how often you'll have to visit a garage to subject it to maintenance will depend entirely on how you drive it. There's a mandatory 2,000km running-in service, but after that BMW recommends a 12-month/16,000km schedule under normal operating conditions.
However, if the vehicle is "regularly driven hard or on tracks", BMW halves the recommended distance to 8,000km. Basically, it's a pricey performance car with a highly specialised engine and drivetrain, so it's going to need more servicing, more often - and at raised costs, too.
BMW M3 CS Touring warranty
Every new BMW sold in Ireland comes with a three-year, unlimited-distance warranty as standard, which is a strong level of cover for something like the CS. Additionally, you can extend the warranty beyond this point on a year-by-year basis for extra cost, although that will depend on the condition, service history and mileage of the car by each annual renewal point.
Verdict - should you buy the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring?
It's a bit of a moot point to ask this, as you can't buy a new G81 BMW M3 CS Touring even if you wanted to. But this is a monumental shame, because it's one of the greatest all-round performance cars we've ever had the privilege to drive. Aside from its challenging exterior looks and brittle low-speed ride, everything else about this BMW is exemplary. Those people lucky enough to already own one ought to see their significant investment protected, too, as we move forward into the future, as the rarity value and desirability factor of the CS could possibly see it appreciate from this point on, rather than depreciate as is the case with most new cars. It is a simply stunning thing in all key regards.
Want to know more about the 2026 BMW M3 CS Touring?
If there's anything about the new BMW M3 CS Touring we've not covered, or you'd like help in choosing between it and other cars, you can avail of our expert advice service via the Ask Us Anything page.
BMW M3 history
The current generation of 3 Series is the seventh in history, in a lineage stretching right the way back to 1975. However, there was never a high-performance in-house derivative of the first 3 Series (notwithstanding some truly exquisite Alpina beauties), so as a result there have only been six M3s, rather than seven.
The first was an icon of the motoring world: the E30 M3, which entered production in 1986. Wide of arch and originally built as a homologation special to allow BMW to go touring-car racing, it featured a high-revving 2.3-litre four-cylinder engine and a dogleg manual gearbox, and came in several varieties, ranging from 195- to 238hp - none more sought-after than the 2.5-litre Sport Evolution, of which only 600 examples were made.
From that point on, the M3 morphed from its race-car-for-the-road origins into something which focused its attentions in a more laser-like fashion on the public highway, but it hasn't become a legend in the automotive world by dint of getting soft and flabby in its later years.
The E30 original was followed by the six-cylinder E36 in 1992, which ultimately had 321hp in its Evo guise, but in the year 2000 that car was followed by what many consider the apogee of the M3 breed - the E46, the third M3, based on the fourth generation of the 3 Series.
This thing had a monster 343hp 3.2-litre straight-six called the S54 and sounded amazing, plus its bulging bodywork was an instant aesthetic hit. Its pinnacle was the 360hp limited-edition CSL, which is now an incredibly expensive used buy as its values have ballooned way beyond where they were when it was a new car.
The 'E9x' version of the M3 family which followed in 2007 had the signal honour of being the only main V8-powered model in history (with the exception of the ultra-ultra-rare E46 M3 GTR Strassenversion), but some felt this urbane, grown-up 420hp car had lost a bit of its dynamic edge after the E46.
For the F8x variants which followed, BMW reverted to a straight-six engine configuration, albeit now bolstered by twin-turbocharging - the first forced-induction M3 in the line.
This was a spiky car in its first, 431hp format, but over the product cycle it climbed all the way to 500hp for the GTS flagship and BMW better refined the chassis to cope with the turbocharged thump its 'S55' engine could generate.
This was followed, in 2020, by the current version, which uses a development of the S55 called the S58, delivering between 480-550hp - comfortably more than twice as potent as the 1980s original.
Over the decades, the M3 has variously been available in two-door coupe, four-door saloon and two-door convertible bodies from generation to generation, but it was not until 2022 that the first-ever M3 Touring (estate) came to light; belatedly, devoted fans of the car would say, given the clamour for a rapid, compact BMW wagon that grew over the years.