BMW took a rather interesting decision earlier this year, when unveiling the new M3 and M4 models. While the company announced that the Competition versions will come with all-wheel drive, and everyone was expecting them to send power to all four corners of the car from the get go, BMW decided to keep us on our toes. How come? Well, they decided to start the production of the AWD models in June. Until then, RWD versions were available.
As a matter of fact, the vast majority of clips we’ve seen online of the new BMW M3 and M4 models featured the rear-wheel drive models. That said, people were still pretty satisfied with the way they behaved, the new M cars putting the power down quite efficiently even with it going to the rear axle alone. The trick differential at the back and the updated DSC system made launching the M3 Competition quite an experience.
Now, however, the time has come to see what the all-wheel drive system is capable of. And Mat from CarWow already put together a drag race between the two different M3 Competition models. What you’re about to see shows exactly how much of a difference the AWD system does. There are no surprises here though. Sure, the second race seems like a closer combat but that’s because Mat jumped the gun.
What’s more interesting though is the fact that in a rolling race, the rear-wheel drive model is faster. How come? Well, first of all, it’s lighter by some 50 kilos. That could play a part but another detail we need to keep in mind is that the RWD M3 has less drivetrain loss so more of the 510 HP reaches the wheels compared to the all-wheel drive version. Quite interesting nonetheless. It would’ve been even more interesting to see how the AWD model compares when using the 2WD mode available in the iDrive system.
