THE Mercedes-AMG A 45S , The BMW M2 Competition it's the Audi RS 3 they are three of the most powerful (and desired) compact sports cars today. Now, bearing this in mind, it's not surprising that our colleagues at Motor1 Italia decided it was a good idea to put them face to face in a drag race… and even take them to a power bank.
With all-wheel drive, eight-speed automatic transmission and 421 hp and 500 Nm extracted from the world's most powerful production four cylinders), the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S presents itself as the “target to shoot down”.
To these numbers, the BMW M2 Competition responds with an in-line six-cylinder, with a 3.0 l capacity that delivers 410 hp and 550 Nm of torque which are sent only and only to the rear wheels, in this case via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox (optional there is also a manual gearbox).
Finally, the oldest of the competitors, the Audi RS 3 presents itself with the unusual five cylinders with 2.5 l capacity, 400 hp and 480 Nm which are sent to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
the drag race
From the moment it started, the Mercedes-AMG A 45 S proved why it was the “target to shoot down” of this drag race. Making use of all-wheel drive and power, the A 45 S immediately takes the lead, not letting go until the end of the race and proving that the 3.9s from 0 to 100 km/h that the brand announces are real — it made 3 .95s.
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In second place was the M2 Competition, which managed to compensate for the fact that it only had rear-wheel drive. Interestingly, it took 4.61s to reach 100 km/h, a value higher than the announced 4.2s — traction difficulties?
In last place comes the RS 3. Despite having all-wheel drive and being only 20 hp behind its rivals, the Audi model couldn't keep up with them — it had already been noticed in other tests similar to the RS 3 since it was updated with a particle filter, lost some “lung”. Even so, it reached 100 km/h in 4.28s, just 0.1s above the announced 4.1s.
the power bank
As well as being put to the test in a drag race, the three German sports compacts also paid a visit to the power bank, a place where there were some surprises.
Is that despite announcing 400 hp and 480 Nm, the Audi RS 3 only debited 374 hp and 470 Nm on the power bank — Motor1 Italia says that it was using 95 gasoline, which may have been a factor for this result.
The A 45 S also delivered a little less power than announced, reaching 411 hp. As for the torque, it reached the announced 500 Nm. Speaking of which, its delivery proved to be more similar to an atmospheric one, reached at a higher rpm, as a result of the specific mapping of the engine, a bit like Ferrari does in its turbo V8s.
Finally, the BMW did precisely the opposite and presented power and torque values higher than those advertised, 420 hp and 588 Nm, respectively. In fact, at 2700 rpm, the torque debited was already 500 Nm.