In theory, it's hard to argue in favor of vehicles such as these three. Their setup makes very little sense, but since it's long since the automotive industry itself has made much at all, these sporty SUVs not only exist, but are also quite successful.
Obviously, they are not everyone's cup of preferred hot beverage, but that's mostly because they are expensive to buy and expensive to run. Other than that, how could you not take these over their more mellow versions? They look better, they sound better, and, most importantly, they go faster.
How fast exactly? Well, why stick to the boring specs sheet when you can bring three of them on an empty airstrip and have a series of drag races? The models chosen for this head-to-head are the BMW X4 M Competition, the Jaguar F-PACE SVR, and the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63S.
You can spot the outsider at first glance. Indeed, the F-PACE SVR has gotten itself mixed up in two-thirds of the classic German rivalry of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, somehow filling up for the Ingolstadt brand that could and should have sent in an RSQ5.
It didn't, so we have the Jag instead. From the off, we know it's going to come up last. Why? Because that's what Jaguars tend to do in this type of company. Despite having the biggest engine - 5.0-liter supercharged V8 compared to the 4.0-liter V8 in the AMG and the 3.0-liter straight-six in the X4 M - and the most power - 550 hp and "just" 510 hp for the German pair - and the same base eight-speed ZF transmission as the BMW, the Jaguar F-PACE SVR is the slowest of the bunch.
With one out of the picture, that leaves the BMW and the Mercedes-AMG. It's amazing what the Bavarians can squeeze out of their 3.0-liter engine, but just like we've seen in other races that involved a similar setup - the same engines in different cars - we know the AMG should edge it in relative comfort. Except this is the X4 M Competition model and, as it turns out, it's a much more consistent performer than the GLC 63S.
Since the organizers of this meet-up carried out more than one race, we feel they should have swapped the drivers and maybe even track positions as well, just to eliminate as many of the variables as possible. Hard to say if it would have made much of a difference, but it might since the Mercedes-AMG driver was always the last one off the line, and we all know how important a good start is in a race as close as this one turned out to be.
"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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