Just the other day, we checked out how a BMW M550i xDrive compared against a car like the Audi RS6 Avant. Predictably, the less powerful car lost but it wasn’t all that far behind the majestic RS6. Today we’re going to check out how the same Audi compares to the bigger brother of the M550i, the M5 Competition. This time, things go down in a different way, and the difference is striking.
Looking at the spec sheets, you wouldn’t expect these two to be so far apart by the time they cross the 1/4 mile mark. And yet, as you’re about to see, things are not exactly close. The Audi RS6 Avant has a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 under the hood, making 600 horsepower and 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) of torque. That power is sent to all four corners of the car via an eight-speed automatic gearbox and the quattro all-wheel drive system. The Audi is also a bit heavier than the M5 Competition.
On the other side of the strip we have the BMW M5 Competition, with its trademark 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, making 625 horsepower and 750 Nm (553 lb-ft) of torque. So, the BMW is a bit down on torque, but has an extra 25 horsepower. All of that is also sent to all four wheels with an all-wheel drive system and an eight-speed automatic gearbox. As a matter of fact, both cars use the same torque-convertor ZF unit, but configured differently.
The M xDrive system also works different compared to the Audi setup and we’ve seen how the two compare on different occasions. This time, the road was bone dry and the BMW was able to put the power down brilliantly. However, in other instances, we’ve seen the Audi set off faster, but on wet tarmac. That’s where that quattro system comes in handy. Today, that wasn’t the case though.
