Chris Harris Swaps His BMW E61 M5 Touring’s Leather For Bold Red Corduroy

You might remember that former Top Gear host Chris Harris has been quite enjoying his BMW E61 M5 since purchasing it in January 2024. The V10-powered Touring model, which never came to the US market, has been quite the labor of love for the enthusiast and journalist. After installing headers and an intake, the next project was customizing the interior. In place of the car’s former leather interior, Harris has – with the help of a shop – installed “unique” red corduroy upholstery.

“Gone is that nasty, fake-feeling, non-gripping, always the wrong temperature fake leather. In place is soft, grippy, supple corduroy,” Harris says on his Instagram post revealing the changes. In a shade the installing shop dubs “rust,” the corduroy covers all five seats and the door panels – pretty much anywhere the old leather would’ve been. Say what you will about Harris’ red-on-red look – sounds like he won’t care much. In his post, he says “isn’t it more fun renewing and personalizing a car you love to bits, rather than buying something very new and expensive that you don’t really like?” We have to agree. The new upholstery adds a lot of character to the car, especially compared to the former drab and gray interior.

Harris’ Indianapolis Red E61 M5 Touring is powered by the aural wunderkind known as the S85 5.0-liter V10 engine. Produced from 2005 until 2010, it’s BMW’s only production V10 engine and makes 507 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque. Despite never coming to the US, we got our own desirable variant of the E60 M5 – a manual-equipped version. All other versions, including Harris’ Touring model, got stuck with the infamous SMG semi-automatic gearbox. Approximately 1,009 examples of the M5 Touring were produced, representing around five percent of global production for the 2005-2010 M5.

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