The 2004 BMW 5 Series station-wagon, or Touring as it was named by the car manufacturer, was the third generation for that body type.
The first two generations of the 5-Series had only the four-door sedan version.

It was designed during the Chris Bangle era, even though he wasn’t the actual designer of the vehicle. He was just in charge of the final look. It was a large car with big engines. It even had an M5 model, with the mighty V10 unit that offered 500 hp.

The look was in the “flame surfacing” theme imagined by Chris Bangle. But it had a controversial design, especially on the headlights, which were completely unusual for a BMW, with extended wing-like corners on the front fenders. Some called them “Dragon-style”, while others just said that those were “Angel wings”. In the rear, there was sloped tailgate. That had an interesting feature: the rear window could have been open without the entire tailgate.

Inside the vehicle, there was enough room for up to five adults and 500 liters (17.7 cu-ft) of trunk space that could have been increased up to 1650 liters (58.3 cu-ft), with the rear seats folded.

For the engine and transmission versions, there was something for everyone. Apart from the special M5 Touring version, it offered a power range between 160 hp and 361 hp, both gasoline and diesel. The standard transmission was a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic, depending on the engine.