Whenever there’s a drag race involving a BMW, it’s usually a full-fat M car or an M Performance model at the very least. That’s not the case here as we’re dealing with an X3 in the lesser xDrive30i specification, battling the Porsche Macan T in a series of drag races. The comparison is fair since they’re both small luxury crossovers with all-wheel drive and turbocharged four-cylinder engines.
While the X3 is powered by a 2.0-liter unit delivering 248 hp and 350 Nm (258 lb-ft) of torque, the Macan T has a bit more power generated by a gas engine with the same displacement. With 261 hp and 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) on tap, the Porsche crossover is the more potent of the two, but it does weigh 50 kg (110 lbs) more than the BMW.
Although both have automatic transmissions, the X3 xDrive30i has a torque-converter unit whereas the Macan T boasts a dual-clutch setup. Another major difference is the BMW’s lack of a launch control system whereas the Porsche does all the hard work for the driver to guarantee the crossover is quick off the line. On paper, the sporty crossover from Stuttgart is a tenth of a second quicker to 62 mph (100 km/h) than its rival from Munich, at 6.2 seconds vs 6.3 seconds.
Despite having launch control, the Macan T was slower at the start of all four drag races. Even so, it still managed to win all of them.
In subsequent performance tests, the X3 xDrive30i did the sprint in 7.79 seconds in Comfort mode and in 6.49 seconds in Sport mode. As for the Macan T without launch control turned on, it needed 6.99 seconds in Normal mode and 6.63 seconds in Sport Plus mode. With the system activated, the sprint took just 5.86 seconds.
In the brake test, the BMW stopped from 62 mph (100 km/h) after 2.57 seconds during which it covered 35.54 meters while the Porsche needed 2.64 seconds and 36.97 meters to come to a halt.
Source: CarExpert / YouTube
