BMW and Mercedes-Benz have been at each other’s throats for decades now, with each brand’s respective sports cars trying to take the other down on both the road and the track. Alfa Romeo is sort of the outlier nowadays, as it’s new Giulia Quadrifoglio being the newest entry into a segment dominated by the BMW M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63 S. So what happens when you put the three cars together on both the road and track?

Australian publication Car Advice recently put these three together to find out and attempted to find out which of the three is the best overall car. So it had to be good on the track, comfortable on the road and capable of providing genuine driving fun on a spirited back road. So it had to be the car that wasn’t necessarily the absolute best at one thing, but something that was great in all areas.

 

On a bit of twisty back roads, all three cars were good to drive but all had very different characteristics. The BMW M3 Competition Package, in its bright purple Individual paint, was the most dynamic but also the biggest handful. The M3 never really knows how to turn off and be a comfortable tourer. The Mercedes-AMG C63 S, on the other hand, is very good at being a comfortable tourer. While it isn’t as sharp as the M3 on the road, it does know how to relax a bit. But the car that’s best at duality is the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, which is a superb sports car, capable of providing exciting dynamics while also being genuinely supple and comfortable.

On the inside of the three cars, it’s clear that the Germans are made of higher quality. The technology in both Germans is far superior to that of the Giulia, with BMW’s iDrive is a bit better than Mercedes’ COMAND. The interior comfort and quality is also better in the Germans, with the AMG being a bit softer and more comfortable. That doesn’t make the Giulia bad, it’s just not up to par with two brands who have been doing this sort of thing for ages.

On the track, though, things get interesting. The softer AMG turns in the slowest lap, as its over-aggressive traction control limits too much power and turning it off makes it too tail-happy. However, it is fun and exciting, thanks to its impressive power. The M3 runs the fastest lap of the three, with sharp dynamics and really impressive agility. However, it requires absolute concentration or it will bite. That leaves the Giulia Quadrifoglio to turn in a middling lap time but being the most fun car on the track. It’s exciting and fun but without being scary like the BMW or sloppy like the AMG.

So you’d think that the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio would win this test, as it’s the best at toeing the line between performance and comfort. Except that Car Advice named the Mercedes-AMG C63 S the winner. It’s comfortable in every day driving, has a great cabin, good technology and can be fun to drive when it counts. While the BMW M3 Competition Package is the best car to drive quickly and has the best tech, its cabin is a bit more spartan than the AMG and it never turns off the animal inside. The Giulia is a great overall car but its cabin lacks and its technology is disappointing. So it’s the AMG with the win, BMW in second and Alfa in third.

[Source: Car Advice]