Hedonism or hotrod? It’s up to the driver
Each model represents the core value of two brands
It’s no secret that as a market matures, it also becomes more homogeneous.
Automobiles have, both technically and stylistically, become comparatively indistinguishable. Where just 15 years ago there were substantial differences between a BMW and an Audi competing in the same segment, it is shocking how similar a current BMW 328 xDrive and an Audi A4 2.0T feel and perform, their differences more apparent to the marketers writing corporate ad copy than to anyone behind the wheel.
And the same would be true if you casually compared BMW’s famed M3 with Audi’s starting-to-gain-a-following RS 5. Peruse the spec sheets and, save for the Audi’s inclusion of its trademark quattro all-wheel-drive system (and the attendant weight penalty), the two are strikingly similar. Their peak horsepower is but 36 ponies apart, their zero-to-100-km/h times are all but identical.
And, yet, unlike so many of their more mainstream models, these two hotrods are distinctly different, and among the last representatives of the once vastly divergent core values of the two brands.
The BMW, unsurprisingly, is the hardcore hotrod of the duo. Oh, some purists lament the weight the M3 has gained over the years, but it is still a hard-edged track bandit at heart.
The 4.0-litre V-8 could have been liberated from an open-wheel racer. It frumps at idle, screams at redline and, in between, responds to the throttle like a meth addict to a police siren; to call it merely jumpy is to underestimate the desire the BMW power plant has for high revs.
The Audi’s 4.2L V-8, though more powerful (450 hp versus the BMW’s 414) and equally high-revving, is relaxed by comparison.
There’s an even bigger difference in road manners. Here, the BMW plays to type. The steering is magic, responsive to the most delicate of inputs, yet it provides all the feedback sporting drivers revel in. The suspension is firm, the grip tenacious and the M3 feels, on smooth and dry roads, like it could make a racetrack hero out of the little old lady from Pasadena.
The RS 5 offers most, but not all, of the M3’s superlatives. It, too, is firmly suspended, possessed of multipiston brake calipers, and its front tires are even more humongous — 265/35R19s versus the BMW’s 245/45R18s (both cars run identically sized 265 wide tires out back, but the BMW’s are 40-profile, 18-inchers while the Audi’s are the same lowerprofile 19-inch 35s as the front). But its extra 140 kilograms (coupe compared with coupe), a distinctly more forward weight bias and the torque its all-wheel-drive system sends to the front tires make the steering a little more numb than the BMW’s.
Audi added fancy torque vectoring to the quattro system that helps disguise its nose-heavy handling, but weight is always a sports car’s worst enemy. Again, driven in isolation, the RS 5 feels plenty sporty; yet compared directly with the M3, it feels a bit like an athlete who’s partied a little too hard in the off-season.
But, again, before BMW fans go trumpeting that the M3 wins on all fronts, know this: At least half the people who drove both cars preferred the Audi, citing performance and handling sporty enough for their needs, while maintaining it was easier to drive. By easier, they mean that the RS 5’s transmission is smoother (BMW’s seven-speed dual clutch box can occasionally be cranky), the ride more coddling (despite the M3’s three-position adjustable damping) and the steering a little lighter.
As well, Audi’s quattro all-wheeldrive system instilled more confidence. It’s not as loud, the controls are not as intimidating, and its interior is a little more luxurious.
There’s no doubt the ($71,700 for the coupe, $82,300 for the convertible) M3 is the very best of BMW. It is everything a BMW is supposed to be: fleet of foot, expressive of engine and, yet, somehow eminently practical. But, as the ($77,500 for the coupe, $87,700 for the Cabrio) RS 5 proves, that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone.