Even though there’s a considerable power output difference between these two tuned BMWs, this long distance drag race was actually closer than you’d expect.
If both these cars were stock, we would have been looking at a really tight race, obviously. In a short 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint, the M4 is usually a bit quicker on paper at 4.1 seconds, compared to the M5’s 4.3 seconds. And while the M5 has a power and torque advantage, the M3 has a massive weight advantage.
Don’t think for a second that weight doesn’t factor into this drag race as well. In fact, the M4 is about 330 kg (734 lbs) lighter than the M5 – and that’s going to cancel out other certain straight line advantages the bigger car might have.
Of course, raising the output of the M4 to 550 HP will clearly make it a force to be reckoned with, as previously proven in other drag races. This very same car was quick enough to edge out a 700 HP Audi RS7, flat out beat a 720 HP Corvette C6 ZR1 and keep up with a 700 HP C63 AMG.
The thing is, sometimes there’s no substitute for power and at 800 horses, this M5 is clearly the favorite here, regardless of how competent the 550 HP M4 can be.
Sure enough, the Evotech-tuned M5 wins both the 1/4 mile run as well as the 1 km run, but looking at the numbers, it was still surprisingly close between them.
The difference in the 1/4 mile run was less than 0.4 sec, while going the distance resulted in there being just half a second between them. And that’s pretty remarkable considering how big a difference there is on paper in terms of power.
And yes, the speedtrap numbers tell the same story.