Two very fast, small German performance cars. Audi RS3, BMW M2. Matt, which one do you think
is faster? From a standing start mate I think probably the one with four-wheel-drive.
Well we suspect this will be quicker away from the line so we’re also going to give them
a rolling race and see if the M2 can claim back some pride. Yeah, I fancy my chances
a bit with a rolling start. Okay well, let’s find out. So what’s the fastest sub £50,000
performance car? I reckon this Audi RS3 is in with a good shout, it’s got just under
400 horsepower from that lovely, warbling 5-cylinder turbo motor, that’s a load of
power in quite a small car. Daniele has an advantage because he’s got four-wheel-drive,
I only have rear-wheel-drive and the display on the dashboard says that it’s 2.5 degrees
outside. It’s properly cold out there today, that means we’re not going to be recording
quick times today so we’re not going to bother with the timing gear. Tyres are not
getting warm, the track is stone cold. That puts the initial start in his favour, as does
the fact he has a bit more poke, I think. But, you know, he’s got that whole thing
with a transverse engine at the front, predominantly front wheel drive sending power to the back
when it needs it whereas this has got the classically beautiful straight 6 driving through
a DCT transmission here to the rear wheels only, this is Das Ultimate Driving Machine!
Launch control on, gearbox in sport, traction control in sport mode as well, left foot on
the brake, floor the throttle with your right foot and then step off the brake and the thing
just pings off the line. Launch control, I’ve got to be in DSC off drive, or DSC sport drive.
I’ve got it off, it’s just off but then pull back on the lever to put me in that,
foot on the brake hard, everything's got to be up to temperature and launch control is
active so that’s fine. Here we go then, let’s find out which of these two cars is
quicker. So it holds 3,500rpm and away you go and not even a hint of wheelspin.
That thing gets away rather quickly. It’s just completely one sided isn’t it? Still getting
away rather quickly. Inevitably the RS3 got away from the line quicker, it just put all
its power down beautifully. It’s not getting away anymore. And, there we are. Now it was
inevitable that the RS3 would launch away from the line quicker than the rear-wheel-drive M2. It should
be faster, it’s four-wheel-drive, he’s got more power, it’s got a great engine
that car, to be fair. But, what I noticed in my rear view mirror was that the M2 was
a speck but you know what, it wasn’t getting smaller which makes me wonder, if we’re
to do this race again but from a rolling start rather than a standing start, what will the
outcome be? Okay, so after that disadvantage of the launch, launch, we’re going to do
a rolling start in second gear. Try and ease it up so that when we hit the line, then we’ll
be flat. And the Audi, it’s still got it, hasn’t it? It’s still just about got an
edge, but you know what? It’s a lot, lot closer. Quite a lot of it is just down to the fact that the Audi
is really fast, that Audi is really fast. That BMW, it’s not as tiny as it was when
we did the proper launch, so there we go. This was a tiny bit closer, not close enough,
fact is the RS3 is just faster. There is more to life though, there’s more to life than
drag racing. Well nobody’s surprised, are they, that the RS3 won the drag race? No,
I was a bit surprised about how far you got away, particularly a) the first sort of 10th
a second and then b) as you got further down you did keep pulling and keep pulling which
surprised me a bit considering how far down the road it was. The launch control system
on this car is very impressive, it’s effortless, it just pings the car off the line every time,
yeah it’s monstrously quick. Yeah, I mean I suspect when a corner arrives, I might be having
more fun but there’s no denying that that is quicker. And that’s a little bit closer
in the rolling race? Little bit but even as it went on it still just, it’s still slightly
frustrating as you watch, you’re still just eeking out, gap, gap, gap and you think, you
know, this is the purer sports car, how is it possible? So you tell yourself, look it
doesn’t really matter ultimately, does it? But then it does! Well there we go, so small German
under £50,000 performance cars, the RS3 is the quickest one.