THE BMW M240I, AMG A45, RS3 AND GOLF R RETURN TO THE DRAG STRIP AFTER SOME TUNING - PLACE YOUR BETS.
Just the other day we bright you that great hot hatch power comparison done by the chaps at Carwow. There’s often debate as to the true power figures that automakers claim new cars have, which is because it often happens that when the cars end up in the hands of independent testers, they measure on-road performance stats can show times and speed that seems to better than what the power figures suggest. The Carwow team assembled some of the most popular hot hatches available today, well three plus a small-boot BMW, and put them in a head-to-head dyno drag race, and so we got to see the stock power figures of the Volkswagen Mk8 R, a BMW M240i, the Audi RS3 and the Mercedes-AMG A45. We won’t spill the results in case you’re yet to see them, but this latest video is a sort of follow-up exercise with the same cars but in a proper on-tar drag race. Oh, and they’re not the exact same cars, just the same kinds - and they’re not stock. Each one has had a bit of tuning done, albeit at different levels, but we’re still interested in the results because out on the streets you don’t exactly have the time to check your “opponent’s” mods list, you race - I mean drive spiritedly - with what you’ve got.
The Golf R has a turbocharged 2.0-litre 4-pot with 320 hp sent through a 7-speed DSG transmission and all-wheel drive system, but for this test, the fiddling takes that to a very healthy 530 hp. The turbocharged 2.0-litre 4-pot in the A45 AMG is rated at 401 hp in OEM guise, and for this test, the tuning has bumped that to 503 hp. Oddly the Audfi RS3 rated at a stock power of 400 hp now has the same 503 hp figure from its turbocharged 2.5-litre 5-cylinder lump. The BMW has the biggest lump in the form of a turbocharged 3.0-litre 6-cylinder with a manufacturer-claimed 374 hp, and after a tune that power figure has risen to 460 hp. The tuning wasn’t the same for all the cars, some had more fiddling than others, the AMG having the least, but even if the mods were matched we’re pretty sure that the Volkswagen would still pull up more power because the recipe for the platform is tried and tested. So the Golf made more power, more torque and is a wee bit lighter than the rest, so that should tell you who our money was on for this tuned car drag race.
Take a look at the YouTube video that pits a bunch of the most popular modern hot hatches against each other in a drag race, after a bit of a tune, of course. Modern tuning is great and can extract really good power considering the amount of work involved in the upgrade, especially when you're talking about the VW and Audi platforms, but click through and see how that affects the outcomes: BMW M240i v AMG A45 v RS3 v Golf R: TUNED DRAG RACE | Carwow
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