700-HP Rare Minivan Wants to Win Against Audi R8 V10 in Supercharged Drag Race

What you won't see is flops, and that's because you need to look under Mercedes-Benz's rugs to find any. The C-Class hatchback (CL203) from the early 2000s? Who even remembers that? However, the company's truly greatest failure - and one of the few that was acknowledged as such by the manufacturer - must be the awful R-Class, the luxury minivan that probably helped (albeit involuntarily) with the rise of SUV sales.

The R-Class was launched in 2005 as the first-ever premium minivan. It was built on the same platform as the ML- and GL-Class SUVs and shared most of their powertrains. Until 2006 - and 2006 and alone, as there was only one production year, making it a rather rare model - that excluded an AMG version, but come that fateful year, the decision to build a performance R-Class was made.

The R 63 AMG was born, conferring the R-Class another title nobody wanted to go with the "world's first premium minivan." However questionable its design might have been, there was definitely nothing wrong with the powertrain it borrowed from the ML 63 AMG.

We're talking about the M156 6.2-liter V8 engine, the first unit designed from the ground up by the AMG division, developing 510 hp and 465 lb-ft (630 Nm) of torque under the hood of the R 63 AMG. Since it shared its platform with the brand's SUVs, the go-fast R-Class also got the 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system. This meant its performance off-the-line was nothing to laugh at despite the weight, and the 4.6-second 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) sprint time reflected that.

What would happen, though, if you added a supercharger to the wonderful naturally aspirated V8? Well, you make a luxury minivan that can hold its own against an Audi R8 V10. And not just any R8 because just like the R 63 AMG, the once naturally aspirated engine the car came with from the factory has since received a supercharger. That means the 5.2-liter V10 is now doing 750 hp, which makes the Audi the clear favorite in this race.

It is lighter, more aerodynamic, it makes more power, and it too has an all-wheel-drive system. That's another way of saying everything's stacked in the R8's favor, which is what makes the first of the three races all the more surprising. We guess that even with Audi's clear superiority, there's still one thing that can mess things up: the driver. Even so, this contest is closer than it should be.