The One That Got Away: Up Close With The 2000 BMW M3 Touring

The M3 E30 pickup truck isn’t the only one-off car BMW has on display this weekend at the 2026 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. To properly mark 40 years of the M3 lineage, the company has also brought another unique gem: the M3 Touring. No, not the G81 that dealers have been selling for the past four years, but a different long-roof M3 that never made it to the showroom floor.

Yes, the M3 Touring E46. Built in 2000, the unique performance wagon was actually considered for production back in the day. Aside from serving as a feasibility study, the prototype also proved BMW could successfully adapt the standard M3 for Touring duties. The only real challenge engineers faced was adapting the rear doors to seamlessly match the beefier wheel arches resulting from the M3’s wider hips. They had to do it without using different tools, as that would have increased costs. Even a quarter of a century ago, every eurocent mattered.

Although BMW proved it could relatively easily integrate M3 Touring production on the same assembly line as the standard car, the sports wagon never progressed beyond the prototype stage. Consequently, only this fully functional car was ever built. Still, over the years, we’ve seen our fair share of aftermarket conversions inspired by BMW’s own unique creation.

The M3 Touring E46 Had Some Exclusive Details

The one and only E46 M3 Touring was largely a hodgepodge of sedan and convertible parts. However, the wagon conversion also came with an exclusive Chrome Shadow metallic exterior finish. Inside, a special seat cover dubbed F1 added a metallic-like look between the Alcantara-wrapped side bolsters.

As our exclusive shots clearly show, the car looked virtually ready for series production, yet it sadly never made it that far. BMW used chassis components from the two-door models, borrowing bits from the coupe and convertible to create a more practical wagon. We’ll never know whether it would have been a commercial success, and at the time, Munich wasn’t willing to take the gamble.

The only way M could have topped this version would have been to shoehorn in the V8 race-car engine from the one-of-three M3 GTR Strassenversion. Even with the inline-six from the regular E46 M3, it would have been a worthy rival to the first-generation Audi RS4 Avant.

Much like the unique pickup we mentioned earlier, the wagon remained hidden until 2016. For 16 years, it stayed a closely guarded secret deep within BMW’s garage. But while an M3 truck never made it to production and most likely never will, an M3 wagon finally saw the light of day in 2022 with the G81.

With BMW recently confirming plans for another 3 Series Touring, we can only hope the G51 receives the full M treatment. At the very least, an M Performance derivative to replace the M340i with an M350 would keep the inline-six alive in wagon form. An i3 Touring is also on the way, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see it spawn a high-performance version. After all, BMW has already confirmed the electric M3 for a 2027 launch.