Getting ready and psyched for tonight's Super Bowl doesn't mean we can't still enjoy a short and sweet 1/4-mile drag race, even though it's taking place further up north at the old Dunnville Autodrome drag strip from Ontario, Canada. But that's neither here nor there because what truly matters is seeing a BMW M550i crush a Maserati Levante Modena S and a Mercedes-AMG CLS 53.
Let's meet our contestants, starting with the BMW M550i xDrive. This luxury sedan reached its 5th generation in 2020, and as a fun fact for all of you Beemer-heads out there, the 5-Series saw the light of day for the first time in 1972.
Our kidney-grilled Bavarian speed monster has a 4.4-liter BMW M TwinPower Turbo V8 engine that can deliver 523 horsepower (530 ps) and 553 lb-ft (750 Nm) of torque. On a good day, this German-engineered baby can hit 60 mph (96.5 kph) in just 3.6 seconds. Not too shabby for the 8-speed $81,500 (MSRP) German-made car.
Next up is the Maserati Levante Modena S built on the M156 platform. This one is covered in a yellow color that I could only describe as being an "acquired taste" sort of thing. Moving on to what lies under the hood, it has a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 that can output 580 hp (588 ps) with 538 ft-lb. (729 Nm) of torque.
It boasts a ZF 8-speed transmission, an AWD system, and in 2023, a Modena S would cost you $127,600. The higher-performance Trofeo version starts from $167,000. Lately, there has been some commotion regarding the demise of the Levante due to the rise of an EV variant replacement, but it appears that all is well for the time being for the nameplate.
Lastly, we have another German car, the Mercedes-AMG CLS 53 4-door Coupe. This one starts at around $106,000 and comes packing a 3.0-liter inline-six turbo engine with EQ Boost and an electric auxiliary compressor. On the tarmac, it should produce 429 hp (435 ps) with 384 ft-lb (520 Nm). Apparently, this German rapscallion can go from 0-62 mph (0-100 kph) in 4.5 seconds.
Now that we got all those pesky specs and numbers out of the way, let's see how well they performed in the cool Canadian sunny Sunday afternoon.
During the first race, the Levante was first off the line, but just a split-second after, the BMW launched like a bat out of hell and left everyone else in the dust. The Maserati came in second, and the Mercedes in third by quite a margin.
On the second try, the yellow danger driven by Sam from the "Sam CarLegion" YouTube channel had a bit of lag during the launch and managed to stay behind for almost half of the race. But in a totally non-shocking twist of events, by the time they all crossed the finish line, the results were no different from the first time.
Then they switched to a couple of roll races. Initially, they floored it from 31 mph (50 kph), where surprise, surprise, the Bavarian monster destroyed the competition yet again. In the second roll race, they went at it from 50 mph (80 kph), where the story simply repeated itself.
The $81,500 BMW M550i was the cheapest out of the bunch by far and also the fastest, which makes it the absolute champion of the day.
Codrin just loves American classics, from the 1940s and ‘50s, all the way to the muscle cars of the '60s and '70s. In his perfect world, we'll still see Hudsons and Road Runners roaming the streets for years to come (even in EV form, if that's what it takes to keep the aesthetic alive). Full profile
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