► Living with an M3 estate
► Getting surprisingly good economy
► Read month 3
I’ve matched BMW’s official figure of 28mpg – impressive given this 1865kg estate car produces a thumping 503bhp.
The month’s 791 miles were mostly spent fully warmed up on steady motorway runs, but there were local trips and more spirited cross-country bits between, and plenty of miles were four-up and laden with luggage.
For context, the 1994 M3 I owned for almost two decades also had a 3.0-litre straight-six engine but made almost half as much power at 282bhp and weighed 400kg less – yet it routinely returned mid-20s mpg.
This latest S58 engine is smooth as velvet, pulls from nothing, has real fire in its belly and sounds pretty good to boot. It’s one of today’s great engines.
BMW M3 Touring (Month 4)
Price £86,570 (£107,080 as tested)
Performance 2993cc twin-turbocharged straight-six, 503bhp, 3.6sec 0-62mph, 180mph
Efficiency 27.2-28.0mpg (official), 28.0mpg (tested), 229-235g/km C02
Energy cost 23.1p per mile
Miles this month 791
Total miles 10,787