BMW continues on its wagon offensive in Singapore. Its latest addition? A Touring variant of its hot-selling combustion 5 Series sedan, making it the second ICE station wagon model of its current generation introduced here, after the 3 Series Touring.

Which may come as a surprise to some, considering how wagons have historically been received here. Car buyers here prefer the higher driving position a crossover offers, whilst (erroneously) believing a higher-riding vehicle means additional safety.

Wagons, on the other hand, are essentially regular saloons, but with some additional metalwork added rear-wards of the C-Pillar. As such, they drive and ride like regular cars (i.e better than a crossover), but the reprofiled rooflines mean they have comparable boot capacities to their crossover cousins.

Using the X5 as a point of reference, both it and the 520i Touring will hold 1,700 litres of cargo with their rear benches folded. And we know which we’d rather have in our garage.

Touring vs Saloon – The Main Differences

B-pillar forwards, the two are identical. All of the components are shared across the two, which means you get the same tasteful (by modern BMW standards) front end, with its Iconic Glow feature being the icing on top of the 5 Series cake.

As part of its Wagon-ification process, the roofline has been reprofiled. As such, the rear door apertures are of a different shape to the saloon. This also means all-new rear door sheet metalwork, as well as new glass and a new tailgate.

BMW is no stranger to a good 5-er wagon, so it comes as no surprise that this body style is every bit as elegant and classy as its saloon stablemate.

More Room for Activities

One of the most obvious pros of a station wagon over a saloon is its increased interior space. The 5 Series Touring feels far more spacious on the inside, with a noticeable increase in headroom for rear seat occupants.

However, it can be a little difficult to SEE the additional room, especially on photos. That’s because the dark roof lining colour does mean any extra space is visually camouflaged by a lack of light. Where this additional space is obviously visible is in its boot.

The standard car has about 520 litres of storage space. The wagon bumps that figure up by about 10%, for a total of about 570 litres with the rear bench up. Fold the rear bench down, and you’d match the boot space of an X5 with its rear bench folded down – 1,700 litres (we touched on this above).

Otherwise, the cabin is identical to that of the saloon, with the same overall design and the same materials used throughout the interior.

Increased Athleticism?

Despite it weighing 50 kilograms more than the saloon, the 520i Touring actually feels more agile to drive. It has the same drivetrain – a 2.0 litre turbocharged mild hybrid inline-four, that outputs the same 188 bhp.

And yet there is a noticeable difference in the way the torque is delivered. In the saloon, the car does feel a touch strained in the mid-range, with power really only coming on strong in the higher regions of the rev range. In the Touring, there feels to be far more usable torque, making it more responsive for use in day-to-day scenarios.

This does not come at the detriment of its fuel consumption, as both cars have very similar real-world economy figures. Another difference between the two is in the way the steering feels. The standard saloon already feels more like a cruiser than a responsive, old-school BMW. But the Touring takes this up half a notch more.

The power steering assists the rack far more noticeably here, which leads to a lazier feeling overall steering, and far less feedback through the wheel. Still, these decisions feel like conscious steps taken by BMW to gear the wagon for being a long-distance, highly efficient and comfortable cruiser, so it actually works well with what they are trying to achieve with such a product.

All Pros, No Cons

What we really enjoyed about the 520i Touring is that there weren’t really any drawbacks over its saloon counterpart. It is barely any heavier, but has far more cargo space. Visibility is also improved over the saloon, and the additional tweaks to its motor and steering helps to make it an easier and more relaxing car to drive.

The quoted specs seem to suggest that it basically has all of the cons of the saloon, with none of its drawbacks. Focus on the phrase “seem to suggest” though, as whilst the 520i Touring is a fantastically packaged vehicle that drives very well and is very easy to live with, there is one elephant in the room that we need to address.

And that of course, is its price. At $410,000 (prices accurate at the time of publishing), it is almost $11,000 more expensive than its saloon sibling. That price premium alone may turn off some interested parties.

To justify the premium, you’d need to reframe your mind a little. For about $1,000 more a year over the course of its 10 year COE cycle, you get far greater amounts of practicality and style – so is the price excess really that hard to stomach when you factor that in?

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