Randy Pobst is probably one of the most sincere professional drivers out there. His take on various cars, filtered through his own experience as a race car driver often surprised people and infuriated some. Even so, he’s always straightforward, not to mention appreciated, by everyone in the field.
Therefore, the guys from MotorTrend invited him to take a couple of cars for a hot lap around the Laguna Seca or Mazda Raceway as it is called today. Of course, this whole thing had a scientific purpose behind it, that of finding out the best driver’s car of the year.
In the past, Randy was quoted criticizing BMW’s cars, especially the big, heavy ones like the M6 Coupe. He also expressed sheer excitement after driving the M235i that, even though it’s not a true M car, performs better than most.
Now, he’s driving the brand new BMW M4 around the Laguna Seca and even though he doesn’t say much, we’re really excited by the time he posted: 1:39.69. Admittedly, it’s 4 seconds slower than the Porsche 911 Turbo S but you can hardly compare the two. Just for the fun of it, we will.
The Porsche has 560 HP and 516 lb-ft (700 Nm) at its disposal, coming from a 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged engine mated to a 7-speed automatic PDK gearbox and it’s all-wheel drive. With such numbers, it reaches 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.1 seconds and can go as high as 320 km/h (200 mph). That’s basically a supercar.
On the other hand, you can’t use the rear seats and you’ll have to pay at least $182,000 for one. At least. That’s nearly three times as much as the M4.
The BMW on the other hand is slower by 4 seconds on Laguna Seca, slower by 1 full second to 100 km/h (62 mph) when fitted with a 7-speed DCT gearbox and has a lot less power, having to deal with just 431 HP and 550 Nm (406 lb-ft). Not to mention that it’s only rear-wheel drive.
Sure, the two don’t really stack up against each other though. How could a $64,000 car be compared to one that costs in excess of $180,000? And yet, it’s still an interesting match-up. Check out Randy’s take in both of them in the videos below.
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