Can Tesla’s Model 3 Performance Smoke The BMW M3 CS?

Electricity can be a great leveller, allowing brands with little or no performance pedigree to lay waste to those with a hard-won reputation for making serious drivers’ cars. But the M3 CS is no ordinary high-performance sedan. Surely not even Tesla’s new Model 3 Performance can take it…can it?

Edmunds test team pitted the two fast four-doors against each other in one of its U-Drag video face-offs. What starts off as a simple drag race becomes more interesting four-tenths into the run when the drivers have to climb on the middle pedal and turn each car through 180 degrees before firing back to the start line. It’s the kind of complication that could cause problems for EVs, which are often hugely quick in a straight line, and not so hot when trying to stop or steer due to all their extra weight.

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That said, the Model 3 isn’t much heavier than the M3 CS, the Tesla coming in at 4,051 lbs (1,838 kg) and the BMW at 3,890 lbs (1,765 kg). The M3 does ram home the advantage by serving up more power (543 hp / 550 PS vs 510 hp /517 PS) and both are all-wheel drive, but the 546 lb-ft (740 Nm) Tesla fight back by out-torquing the BMW to the tune of 67 lb-ft (91 Nm).

Coming off the line it’s the M3 that digs in hardest. It’s helped by its sticky Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, but still, that’s a surprise because we’re so conditioned to seeing videos of EVs getting the jump on ICE cars, then ceding position further down the track.

In this case the Tesla holds its nerve, and though the BMW claws some time back under braking and cornering, the M3‘s torque deficit means the Model 3 pulls away again on the return leg and takes the win.

Edmunds acknowledges that this result looks a bit strange considering the CS had previously beaten a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, which itself beat a Model 3 Performance in a U-Drag test. The presenters put this down to the freakishly hot 101.2-degree (38.4 C) temperature on the day of the race, which they says could have affected the turbocharged M3 even more than it affected the batteries in the Model 3.

BMW fans can console themselves with the knowledge that this was a close race, but what aren’t remotely close are the prices of these two cars. The Model 3 Performance cost $58,380 as tested, making it even cheaper than a no-options $62,200 BMW M340i xDrive, never mind the $119,965 M3 CS flagship, which cost $132,695 in the spec Edmunds tested.