BMW M4 Drag Race With RS6 Avant, Stelvio QV Is Shockingly Close

Performance cars today come in a variety of shapes and sizes. It’s easier than ever to get a vehicle that suits your lifestyle that has a massive amount of horsepower under the hood too. The performance gap between two-door sports cars and high-powered crossovers has narrowed, and that’s illustrated in a new Carwow video that pits the BMW M4 Competition against the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and the Audi RS6 Avant in a series of drag races.

While the three are vastly different types of vehicles – a coupe, crossover, and wagon, respectively – they are similar on paper. The M4 uses a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-six that produced 510 horsepower (380 kilowatts) and 479 pound-feet (650 Newton-meters) of torque. The 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 produces the same horsepower but not as much torque – 442 lb-ft (600 Nm). The RS6’s twin-turbo V8 is the most potent, making 600 hp (447 kW) and 590 lb-ft (800 Nm), but it’s also the heaviest at 4,574 pounds (2,075 kilograms).

The first drag race is shockingly close. The Alfa gets a remarkable start of the line, launching well ahead of the others, though the more powerful Audi claws ahead just as the three cross the finish line at the same time. The Audi eked out a win, running the quarter-mile in 11.7 seconds. The Alfa was right behind it with an 11.8-second time, while the BMW completed the race in 11.9 seconds.

The two rolling races did change the dynamics. In the cars’ comfort modes, the first had the Audi and BMW leaving the Alfa in the dust, with the BMW eventually taking the victory. The second rolling race was closer, but the results were the same. The brake test also showed the three stopping within feet of each other, though the lighter BMW won that test. Getting four doors and cargo space isn’t the performance sacrifice it used to be.