Do you know how people use "car lengths" as a measuring unit when talking about the result of a drag race? Well, you'll have to get your kid's toy cars if you want to do that here because these two are incredibly evenly matched.
Don't worry, we won't be relying solely on eye measurements to figure out who the winner is; technology shows that's actually a good thing because if we did, we'd probably be getting the wrong idea. But let's keep that part for later on and go over our two contenders first.
In pure stock form, the F30 340i is a decently fast car, but it would be no match for a fully-fledged M5 that also happens to be of a more recent generation. The 326 PS (321 hp) of the straight-six engine is barely over half the 625 PS (616 hp) produced by the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 lurking under the long hood of the M5 Competition.
It's a good thing the 340i isn't stock, then. We don't know whether the owner wanted to build a sleeper or is simply a very discreet person, but the German sedan's exterior is basically unchanged. It's in the engine bay where the magic happens, and it sings to the tune of 580 wheel horsepower (claimed).
Using an online "guestimator," we got a crankshaft horsepower value of anything between 650 and 700 hp, which instantly makes the tuned 340i the favorite here. After all, it's lighter (only slightly) and has more power, so what could stand in its way?
The only other factor that's worth considering is the tire selection. The M5 Competition is driven daily by its owner, which means it has winter tires on, whereas the 340i is a project car only used on special occasions, so it kept its summer tires. Considering it was 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit), it's hard to determine which of the two cars holds an advantage. A few degrees colder, and it would have clearly been the M5, but a few degrees warmer, and the scale would have tilted the other way.
Whatever the case, we're glad everything went as it did because what we got was a set of very, very close four races. The two drivers don't always react great to the start, but the Racebox and Dragy times at the end of the video confirm what we were able to see with our own eyes: these two BMWs are very evenly matched. They're also extremely consistent in their performance, with the F30 3 Series, in particular, pulling two virtually identical runs (10.90 seconds at 209 point something mph). But don't just read about it, watch it for yourself.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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