Speed Isn’t Everything: Why the Audi RS 6 Avant Performance Still Beats the BMW M5 Touring

[Source: Edmunds Cars]

Edmunds recently pitted the Audi RS 6 Avant Performance against the BMW M5 Touring in their popular U-Drags race. The BMW set the quicker time, but the Audi is the car everyone wants, and it is not even close.

If you are not familiar with the Edmunds U-Drags race, it tests acceleration, braking, and cornering in one go. It starts with a quarter-mile drag race, then it’s hard on the brakes as the car must negotiate a hairpin turn, and then another quarter-mile blast to the finish line. Despite weighing nearly 600 pounds more, the BMW has several advantages here. For one, it is a much newer design. The C8 RS 6 has been with us since 2019, and the new M5 Touring just arrived in 2024. The BMW makes nearly 100 more horsepower than the Audi so you might think this wouldn’t be a fair fight. In a way you are right, but not in the way you might think.

The race is run twice. Each driver gets a chance to drive each car, and the cars also swap lanes after the first race to make things as even as possible. But the result of both races is nearly identical. The Audi jumps into the lead off the line. By the turn-round marker both cars are about even. Then the BMW uses its power advantage to pull away from the Audi on the return run and sets a time of 32.8 seconds compared to 33.6 seconds for the Audi. But speed isn’t everything.

First of all, it must be said that the Audi did manage to beat the BMW in a couple of performance metrics. It was quicker to 60 mph with a time of 3.3 seconds compared to 3.5 seconds for the BMW. Both ran the quarter mile in 11.5 seconds. The Audi won the maximum corning grip test with 1.19 G versus 1.14 G for the BMW. But the biggest difference came from the fact that the Audi is just so much more fun.

After the races both drivers praised the Audi for the way it felt, it looked and how it performed. It was the car that they would both prefer to own, and it wasn’t even close. Even though the Audi is significantly older, it still remains the benchmark in the performance wagon game.