Chris Harris Drives... His Own BMW M5 Touring

The E60 M5 was arguably the car that ignited the ‘arms race’ of contemporary super saloons. It was the first such vehicle to use a V10 petrol engine, and the headline figure of 500bhp was extraordinary at the time. Enthusiasts had scarcely had time to lift their jaws from the floor when the E61 Touring version arrived in 2007.

While Chris Harris famously once owned a ‘DIY’ M5 Touring based upon the E34-generation model, until now he’d never had an E61. That changed at the start of 2024, with Chris snapping up a 128,000-mile car in Indianapolis Red. If it felt slightly familiar, all was revealed soon after with a call from BMW to confirm that it started life as a press car.

As you’d expect, Chris took the car straight to the Llandow Circuit to put it through its paces. Some 125,000 miles after he last drove it, how would this E61 M5 Touring stack up? Would worrying warning lights or “expensive grumbles” ruin the potential honeymoon period with this new addition to the garage? Watch the video to find out what he discovered.