Those among you with a heavy right foot and a family to look after might be familiar with the following scenario: before partner and children came into your life, the automotive world was your oyster and when it came to choosing a new vehicle, practicality usually had to play second or even third fiddle to desirability and speed. Then one day, the (joint) decision was made to buy a sensible car that has room for the entire family, can handle unimaginably huge grocery runs, and has enough luggage space for lengthy road trips. Goodbye sportiness, hello boring family car was often the sad result. Those times might soon be over, though, at least if BMW has anything to do with it. The Bavarian car maker just sent its fans into a frenzy with a single picture, as the dimly lit photograph confirmed something many people thought would never, ever happen. There will be a BMW M3 Touring.

Believe it or not, there has never been a factory-produced estate version of the M3. BMW made a prototype of one twenty years ago and various tuners tried their hand at creating tarmac-destroying iterations of the 3 Series Touring over the years, but none of them ever officially wore the M badge on a public road. The second- and fourth-generation M5 did come in wagon versions, but its little brother was always confined to being either a coupe, sedan, or convertible. Now, the Germans have officially confirmed that an M3 Touring test mule is currently being put through its paces and that it might be going on sale in around two years.

Details are still scarce, and the Bavarians seem to enjoy the fact that everyone is now wildly speculating about possible specs for the midsize cargo rocket. All they are happy to confirm for now is that the car will have the six-cylinder TwinPower turbo engine under its hood and a muscular appearance with wide wheel arches and the four exhaust pipes typically found on M cars. They did mention that the car is being tested on public roads around the BMW factory near Munich, so we can expect to see more images of it emerge soon and see what the rest of it looks like.