In today’s day and age, we’ve come to the point where a performance hatchback can match a sports car in power. But how does that translate to actual speed in something like a drag race? That’s the question Carwow’s latest video attempts to answer as it races hot hatches like the Mercedes-AMG A45 S, Audi RS3, and VW Golf R against bona-fide sports cars like the BMW M2 Competition and Porsche Cayman GTS.
It’s worth noting that all three hatchbacks in the video are equipped with all-wheel drive, while both sports cars are rear-wheel drive only. This should in theory give the hatchbacks an advantage, seeing as all five cars sit around the 400 hp mark, but weight also plays an important role. The lightest sports car of the bunch, the Porsche Cayman, weighs nearly 200 lb (91 kg) less than the lightest of the hot hatches, the Golf R.
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Moving on to the actual drag race, it unsurprisingly sees all three hatchbacks get away very nicely with the Audi at the front of the pack, followed by the Mercedes and the Golf. As the race nears the end, though, the M2 and Cayman begin to catch up, and the BMW snags third place. Next up was the rolling race, and once the launch aspect was removed, the playing field became a lot more level. The lighter BMW and Porsche took off, leaving the hatchbacks behind in their dust, and the finishing order was Porsche, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, and VW.
Given the fact that the Golf R was down about 100 hp from the most powerful car in the group, it did surprisingly well, and to watch it take on the other cars for yourself, you can check out the video below.