Thanks to Automobile Magazine, let's vibrate with a return to the past. At the time when cars still smelled of gasoline…
The duel that we present today is of incalculable importance to automotive history. It was in the 80s when for the first time, Mercedes-Benz and BMW clashed with open rivals in the race for supremacy in the sports saloon segment. Only one could win, to be second would be to be the 'first of the last'. Only first place mattered.
Until then, there had already been several war trials — like when a country puts its troops on the enemy's border just to 'train' you know? But this time it wasn't training or threat, it was serious. It was this battle that Automobile Magazine's Jason Cammisa tried to recreate in the latest episode of Head-2-Head.
On one side of the barricade we had BMW, dying to 'make the sheet' like Mercedes, in full swing, both in sales and in the technological field. On the other side was the untouchable, unreachable, and all-powerful Mercedes-Benz, which didn't want to cede another inch of car territory to the increasingly uncomfortable BMW. War had been declared, the choice of weapons remained. And once again, just like in real wars, the weapons chosen say a lot about the strategy and the way to face the confrontation of each one of the interveners.
Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16
Mercedes opted for a typically… Mercedes approach. He took his Mercedes-Benz 190E (W201) and very discreetly inserted a 2300 cm3 16v engine, prepared by Cosworth, through the mouth, sorry… through the bonnet! In terms of dynamic behavior, Mercedes made a review to the suspensions and brakes, but no exaggeration(!) just enough to face the fire of the new engine. On an aesthetic level, apart from the designation on the trunk lid, there was nothing to suggest that this 190 was a little more “special” than the others. The equivalent of dressing Heidi Klum in a Burka and sending her to Paris fashion week. The potential is all there... but very disguised. Too much even!
BMW M3
BMW did just the opposite. Unlike its rival from Stuttgart, the Munich brand has equipped its Serie3 (E30) with every possible panacea, which is to say: it called the M crowd. Starting with the engine, passing through the chassis and ending with the final appearance. I'm suspicious that if it were BMW, the only colors available from the factory to order were yellow, red and hot pink! The first child of a “heavy-metal” lineage was then born: the first M3.
Who came out the winner? It's hard to say… it's a war that's not over yet. And that continues to this day, silently, whenever these 'clans' cross, whether on a mountain road or on a smoother highway. There were two different ways, and still are, of living and experiencing a sports car.
But enough of the conversation, watch the video and listen to the conclusions of the lucky Jason Cammisa: