Most BMW fans hold the E46 BMW M3 in such high regard, its lack of modern performance means almost nothing to them. While its 3.2 liter naturally-aspirated inline-six was astonishing back in its day — and still is, an N/A engine making more than 100 horsepower per liter is still damn good — its 333 horsepower isn’t much by today’s standards. So this particular owner decided to turbocharge the hell out of it, getting it to an astonishing 850 horsepower. But even with all that power, can it beat a purpose-built supercar?
In this new video from Hoonigan, the tuned, monster 850 horsepower E46 BMW M3 takes on a 650 horsepower Lamborghini Huracan. While the E46 M3 is a little bit lighter and more powerful, the Huracan uses a far quicker seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, rather than the M3’s six-speed manual. Adding to that, the Huracan is all-wheel drive, which will allow it to put its 650 horsepower down better than the M3 can put its 850 horsepower down.
Off the line, during the first run, the E46 BMW M3 actually jumped ahead of the all-wheel drive Huracan, which seems at odds with the specs of both cars. However, soon after that, the Huracan quickly retook the lead and kept gaining on the Bimmer until the end of the race. You’d expect it to have been the opposite, with the all-wheel drive Lamborghini taking an early lead but the more powerful M3 winning the race in the long run. Shockingly, that didn’t happen.
I won’t spoil the rest of the video, as you should watch it, but it’s an unlikely matchup that pits two very different, tuned cars against each other. Both cars are incredibly cool, for very different reasons, and both cars are seriously fast, in very different ways. The only question that remains is which one is faster?
