The Dodge Charger 392 Scat Pack and the Mercedes-AMG C 43 are two cars that find very different ways of achieving what is essentially the same end product. That being a sports sedan that's both capable and exhilarating to drive. But what happens when you take the worlds of muscle cars and European sports sedans together for a drag race?
Well, the answer is a bit more complex than you might think. For starters, the Scat Pack sports a 6.4-liter HEMI V8 engine and rear-wheel drive, while the Merc carries a three-liter turbocharged V6 engine mated to Mercedes-Benz's proprietary 4Matic all-wheel-drive system.
So then, two very different ways indeed of making big power in a four-door sedan. Sam CarLegion on YouTube took the opportunity to line the two up for a drag race as soon as they could get both cars in the same place at the same time.
The cars are tested in the quarter-mile, from a standstill and a rolling start. As you may or may not have guessed, the Merc absolutely gaps the Charger in the first half of the race. The Charger may have had a 100 or so horsepower advantage over the AMG C 43, as well as much, much wider rear tires.
In the end, it wasn't enough to keep up with the Mercs' 4Matic system working to perfection. That was at least until after the 1/8th mile mark. At which point, the Charger gallops into the lead in effortless fashion, passing the finish line barely half a car's length to take home first place.
Just to verify the results, the race was held again, only to have the very same result. Racing from a rolling start only proved that our concerns about a lack of off-the-line traction were all too accurate. In truth, these cars do not compete with each other in the normal sense. They cater to totally different groups of people. That doesn't mean watching them race wasn't entertaining to watch.
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