In what may seem like the oddest drag race ever assembled, the guys from Carwow decided to pit a BMW X4 M40d against a Honda Civic Type-R and an Audi e-tron 55. Why? Probably because those were the three cars they had at their disposal on that day but also because, as Mat puts it, this is a comparison between petrol, diesel, and electric-powered models. Sure, the comparison could have been a bit more apples-to-apples, in terms of actual car type, but it’s not always easy to gather three different performance cars of the same type, especially with different types of powertrains.
Getting back to the matter at hand, while the X4 is close in terms of size to the e-tron, the Honda is way off here. Therefore, we have a manual hot hatch taking on a Coupe SUV and an electric Audi in what seems like a mash-up of specs and body styles. The performance figures are pretty close though, even if the Honda has a huge disadvantage being the only front-wheel drive car here and the only one with a manual gearbox.
That shows in the drag race too. The Honda has a 2.0 liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine making 320 horsepower which is more than enough to keep up with the two other cars, especially since it is considerably lighter too. However, despite the engineers’ best efforts, putting all that power down through the front two wheels proves problematic from a dig. On the other two cars, that’s not a problem.
The BMW has xDrive and 340 horsepower to rely on from its 3.0 liter straight-six twin-turbo diesel, while the Audi is electric and has instant torque from the get go. The e-tron is the most powerful car here, with 408 horsepower and it does come with all-wheel drive. All things considered, it should win the drag race, at least up to 50 mph, right? Not really, as you’re about to see…
