If you tend to believe everything you see, then well, at least in this case yes, it is quicker. The only question is why?
Let’s start by analyzing the 477PS (470hp) Lexus RC F. It also makes do with 530 Nm (390 lb-ft) of torque which help it get from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.5 seconds. So by no means is this a slow car. What it is however, is a heavy car at 1,765 kg (3,891 lbs) – and you’ll realize just how heavy it is once we get to the BMW.
Oftentimes, weight offsets power and when you’re also down on torque compared to your opponent, you’ll be digging your way out of that hole for the entire drag race. Of course, this is not the case here, which is why we’re a bit surprised by what we’re seeing in this video. But let’s see how the M4 stacks up before we get into who did what.
The BMW M4 is good for 431PS (425hp) and 550 Nm (405 lb-ft) of torque. It’ll get from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.3 seconds if you change gears yourself with the manual transmission, or 4.1 seconds if you’re driving the automatic. That’s nearly half a second faster than the RC F – and from what we can tell, the M4 in this video is the dual-clutch version because of how fast it’s changing gears.
Furthermore, the M4 tips the scales at around 1,572 kg (3,465 lbs) for the manual version and 1,612 kg (3,552 lbs) if we’re talking about the automatic. Even at its heaviest, we’re talking about the weight of two adults (let’s say male & female) influencing things – in favor of the BMW of course.
Then you take into account the speed of the automatic transmissions, and if you think Lexus has any advantage there, well, then maybe this isn’t the website for you.
So then why? Why does the RC F accelerate faster than the BMW M4? In this video, we get to see the M4 catch up to the Lexus as soon as the two cars reach around 200 km/h (124 mph), but it should have been a blow out victory for the M4 – it really should have.
But wait, could it be that we’ve missed something? Yes, the BMW loses traction twice while accelerating, but more important, it loses it just as it gets off the line at around 30 km/h (18 mph). You can clearly see the traction control indicator flash.
So we don’t know how these videos were shot and if they were shot in the same place with the same road conditions. Therefor, until somebody manages to convince us that a Lexus RC F is actually faster in a straight line than a BMW M4, we’ll call this “myth” busted.