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CLINT SIMONE: Welcome to Edmunds U-Drags. Today, we have a high horsepower Family Feud on our hands. What happens when you pit brother against brother from the Munich mother? Let's find out.
That's right. We've got the BMW M3 Competition anniversary edition. It's a mean-looking car with a wild side. And this is the BMW M8 Competition, which leans toward luxury but has some serious power to back it up. Let's get it.
Now, what is U-Drags? I'm so glad you asked. It's a race to there and back. See, at Edmunds we love to test cars. And we came up with this not-so-scientific way of doing so that we call U-Drags. We're going to take these two bright, crazy-looking BMWs, send them all the way down the track, where they're going to get hard on the brakes, turn around, and come back. That means we're getting a 1/4 mile hard braking, handling, and a rolling start, all in one race.
And after the first race, we're going to swap drivers and lanes to make sure everybody gets a fair shot. And if you want to see more M-powered madness on the track, do us a favor. Like and subscribe. And if you want to sell your car, head over to edmunds.com/sellmycar.
First, let's talk M3. The M3 Competition 50 Jahre celebrates 50 years of BMW Motorsport. It gets special colors, including this crazy orange. There's only 500 of them. But what really matters is 503 horsepower and 479 pound feet of torque. It also has an M Sport differential to put the power down. Nice.
[ENGINE ROARS]
But the M8 Competition has all that and more. How about a twin turbo V8 with 617 horses and 553 pound feet? How about them apples?
[ENGINE ROARS]
And since both of these are all-wheel drive, the biggest difference here is the weight. The M8 is a real porker. Will that make a difference and hand the M3 a victory? Or is all that power in the M8 about to put an end to its little brother's dreams? To figure out which is fastest, we have our very own Edmunds hot shoes Kurt and Reese.
REESE COUNTS: I'm here in the BMW M3 Competition, the fastest, the most powerful version of the M3 yet. We're going to go through the launch sequence. So I'm going to tap the M button till I get in my most aggressive setting. Now that's DSC, traction stability control all disabled. But I do keep four-wheel drive on. I'll put it in Sport transmission, press the brake, and then press the gas. And I'll get a little notification.
And there we go.
KURT NIEBUHR: Ooh, heavy hitter, BMW M8 Competition. Got to use Launch Control in this. It's fairly straightforward. You've got to make sure that you're in the right mode. And then in order to activate it, you have to press and DSC till it is off, put it in Drive. Make sure you're in the hardest shifting mode, which are three bars on the IP that light up, and that you're in first gear.
And you press your foot and the brake, press your foot on the gas, and let it rip. And this car is going to rip off the line. We did test one of these, I think, last year, and the front wheel spun even though it's four wheel drive. It still struggles for traction because it's so powerful.
Air temperatures are slightly cool. Track temperature slightly cool. It's concrete, it's not asphalt. So this could be the closest race we've had in a long time.
COUNTDOWN: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
REESE COUNTS: Oh, man.
KURT NIEBUHR: Launch Control didn't activate, but I don't need it-- oh, except on that shift.
REESE COUNTS: Wow, that car is fast.
KURT NIEBUHR: Can't beat 600 and something horsepower, V8, all-wheel drive. Good lord.
REESE COUNTS: Wow, that car is fast.
KURT NIEBUHR: That was fast, and I didn't even get Launch Control to activate.
REESE COUNTS: Well, either way you got a damn good start.
KURT NIEBUHR: It's hard to believe that Launch Control would really help that much, just because it's got all-wheel drive and so much traction. But this car is so fast.
REESE COUNTS: I think I was able to brake a little later than you, but you've just got so much power that I just, even at the top where this thing pulls, I can't reel you back in.
KURT NIEBUHR: I was kind of worried that I'd come out of the hairpin and look over and see you equal or slightly ahead, but it didn't even matter because this thing would have pulled away anyway. And that car is not slow by any means.
REESE COUNTS: You want to swap cars now?
KURT NIEBUHR: Absolutely. [EXHALES]
You know, I don't know how I feel going up against that, because I just drove that thing, and that thing is a weapon. This car is still really fast, but all I can hope is that I can get a really good exit out of that turn to try and keep it close. But I don't think this is going to win.
I mean, it's kind of the way it should work in the hierarchy of these cars. The M8 should be faster than the M3, but the M3 is already so fast.
REESE COUNTS: So I am going to try to use Launch Control. They tend to be a little finicky with BMWs. Kurt didn't seem to get it to launch with Launch Control in that last race. But he still won, so that says a lot about just the performance of the car.
KURT NIEBUHR: Let's do this.
COUNTDOWN: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
KURT NIEBUHR: Oh, boy.
REESE COUNTS: Yeah.
KURT NIEBUHR: Fast, fast-- look how fast that thing is. Try and out brake him, but--
REESE COUNTS: Come on.
KURT NIEBUHR: Oh, here he comes.
REESE COUNTS: Bye.
KURT NIEBUHR: He's bobbing. Look at that thing go. V8 power, man. That's just got some easy thrust out of it, right?
REESE COUNTS: That's a word for it. When the power picks off in this V8, you just can't keep up.
KURT NIEBUHR: It's always great to put two cars in context because this car on its own and against a lot of other cars is a rocket ship. It's real Fast and it pulls so hard up top. I love this engine, I love it.
But when you put it up against that car, you kind of get a slight reality check where it's like, yeah, this car is fast. That car is fast.
CLINT SIMONE: We thought these races would be close. And man, we were right. In race 1, the M8 had a better launch, blitzing the 60 in 3.2 seconds. But look, the M3 was just a hair behind at 3.3. Things stayed neck and neck in the quarter mile with the M8 at 11.3 seconds versus the M3's 11.4. However, the M8 was over 5 miles per hour quicker, hitting 127.6.
Even the cornering forces were close. The M8 pulled 1.03 G's, and the M3 0.99. The finish was epic. The M8 completed the race in 33 seconds dead at 139 miles per hour. And the M3 did so in 33.8 seconds at 134.6 miles per hour.
With the cars and the track properly warmed up, race 2 made things even quicker. The M8 ripped to 60 in 3 seconds flat, while the M3 duplicated its 3.3-second run. Both 1/4 mile times improved as well, with the M8 hitting 11.1 seconds and the M3 11.3 seconds.
Both cars also cornered harder with big red pulling 1.11 G's, and the great pumpkin right behind it at 1.02 G. We retreated to another photo finish with the M8 32.7-second run at 137.5 miles per hour, outpacing the M3, which finished just behind in 32.9 seconds at just shy of 135.
And now let's see our updated U-Drags leaderboard. Remember, our races from last year are not on here, because we had to lengthen the course due to the number of powerful EVs and their not-always-powerful brakes. Each car's quickest run goes on the leaderboard regardless of race pairing, which is probably a good time to let you know that we're not done with the M8 just yet.
Now let's see the in-car camera and the data.
REESE COUNTS: Oh, man. Wow, that car is fast.
KURT NIEBUHR: Launch Control didn't activate, but I don't need it-- oh, except on that shift. Fast.
CLINT SIMONE: Somewhere in Germany, there is a group of BMW executives just all just went, ahh, at the same time, right? But that was way closer than I thought it was going to be.
REESE COUNTS: Yeah, me, too. Honestly, I did not know how this woman was going to go. Both of the cars performed pretty similar at our test track. So it's kind of interesting to see how it all performed out.
KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I mean, this is about 100 horsepowers shy, but it weighs less. It has a sportier tune to the all-wheel drive system. It feels a little sharper. But you can't beat a 600-plus horsepower twin turbo V8.
CLINT SIMONE: No. In that second race, though, did you slip this thing into drift mode for a second? Because we saw you coming out of that corner with a little bit of opposite line.
KURT NIEBUHR: I'm glad, because I always want to look good when I drive.
CLINT SIMONE: Is that just style points or--
KURT NIEBUHR: It's all style points. It probably-- I mean, it didn't seem like a whole lot, because the car is so composed. But the all-wheel drive system is tuned really well in this car. So it allows you to get that slip angle without being completely out of control.
CLINT SIMONE: That was so fun to watch. We've got plenty more where that came from. Be sure to check all these U-Drags races out on the Edmunds YouTube channel. And thanks for watching.
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