Audi RS 5 vs. BMW M3 Competition Proves Hybrid Power Has Its Advantages

[Source: Carwow / YouTube]

The new Audi RS 5 has a lot going for it. With more than 630 horsepower, quattro all-wheel drive, and an electric motor providing instant assistance, it’s considerably more powerful than the BMW M3 Competition. But one concern Audi enthusiasts have had about the new RS 5 is how much it weighs. Mat Watson and the carwow crew recently brought the two rivals together to find out whether the RS 5’s new hybrid powertrain could overcome its considerable weight disadvantage.

The Audi uses hybrid power to produce considerably more horsepower than the M3. The BMW sticks with a more conventional 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six producing 530 horsepower 479 lb-ft of torque. The Audi makes about 100 more horsepower and about 120 lb-ft more torque than its German rival. That is a significant advantage. Unfortunately, all that hybrid hardware adds mass. Carwow puts the RS 5 at around 2.4 metric tons, roughly 600 kilograms (1,323 pounds) heavier than the M3.

The Hybrid System Shows Its Strength

The RS 5 didn’t simply overpower the BMW, but the rolling race test demonstrated that Audi’s hybrid system provides some genuine performance benefits. One of the most interesting is the RS 5’s Boost function. Pressing the button provides full power even when the Audi is in a less aggressive drive mode. During a 50-mph rolling race, that immediate electric assistance helped the Audi respond quickly and get ahead of the M3. The BMW eventually fought back, but the RS 5 held on. Another rolling race produced a similar result. Carwow noted that the BMW didn’t pick up as quickly as the Audi, while the RS 5’s Boost function provided an immediate hit of acceleration. The Audi again came out ahead.

Later, the electric motor’s contribution became even more obvious. With the BMW caught at low revs, the RS 5’s electric assistance helped it leap ahead. Carwow specifically highlighted the 170 horsepower provided by the electric motor as making a significant difference. In other words, the hybrid system isn’t simply there to satisfy emissions regulations. There are situations where it makes the RS 5 noticeably quicker and more responsive.

But Weight Still Matters

Where the Audi struggled was when its additional mass became impossible to hide. During a 100-mph emergency braking test, the BMW stopped in a shorter distance. The drivers swapped cars to eliminate driver technique as a possible explanation, but the result remained essentially the same. Then came the final drag race. With both cars getting strong starts, the lighter BMW eventually pulled away. The official quarter-mile results gave the M3 the victory at 11.3 seconds, compared with 11.8 seconds for the RS 5.

If you look only at the quarter-mile times, the BMW won. But the entire test paints a more interesting picture for the new RS 5. Audi’s hybrid system couldn’t completely overcome a roughly 1,300-pound weight disadvantage in the standing quarter-mile, but it proved its worth elsewhere. The electric motor gave the RS 5 an immediate punch that helped it win the rolling races, and the Audi demonstrated just how effective electrification can be at filling the gaps in a combustion engine’s power delivery.

RS 5 Is Quick, Capable and Fun

Perhaps that’s the more important takeaway. The new RS 5 isn’t simply an old RS 5 carrying around a heavy battery. Audi has given the electric side of the powertrain a genuine performance role, and the instant punch provided by the electric motor proved its worth several times during carwow’s testing.

Yes, the M3 ultimately won the quarter-mile, but an 11.8-second RS 5 is hardly slow. In fact, it’s brutally quick by almost any real-world measure. And outside the controlled environment of a drag strip, the half-second separating these two cars is unlikely to matter much. Both are seriously fast, capable, and entertaining performance cars. The BMW may have won this particular battle, but the RS 5 proved that hybrid power brings more to the fight than just extra weight.