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VW Golf GTD Drag Races Skoda Octavia vRS and BMW 120d for the Diesel Crown

The only rational reason to buy a diesel passenger car is if you know you're going to cover many miles over its life course, so you know you'll offset the higher initial purchase price through fuel cost savings.
Volkswagen Golf GTD Vs Skoda Octavia vRS Vs BMW 120d drag race 9 photos
Photo: carwow / YouTube thumbnail
Volkswagen Golf GTD Vs Skoda Octavia vRS Vs BMW 120d drag raceVolkswagen Golf GTD Vs Skoda Octavia vRS Vs BMW 120d drag raceVolkswagen Golf GTD Vs Skoda Octavia vRS Vs BMW 120d drag raceVolkswagen Golf GTD Vs Skoda Octavia vRS Vs BMW 120d drag raceVolkswagen Golf GTD Vs Skoda Octavia vRS Vs BMW 120d drag raceVolkswagen Golf GTD Vs Skoda Octavia vRS Vs BMW 120d drag raceVolkswagen Golf GTD Vs Skoda Octavia vRS Vs BMW 120d drag raceVolkswagen Golf GTD Vs Skoda Octavia vRS Vs BMW 120d drag race
Some diesel fanatics will invoke the engine's bigger torque values and the fact it's usually available from very low rpms. Still, if you're using your car for driving alone and you're not doing any heavy towing or field plowing, that's pretty much irrelevant. A large gasoline engine or a turbocharged smaller one can take care of everyday chores without ever feeling the need for more torque. In fact, you might even spend your whole life without knowing what torque is.

With diesel becoming more and more popular, carmakers decided it was a good idea also to make performance-oriented models, with the Volkswagen Group the most active in this sense (though BMW's M 50d range is also high up there). That probably explains why two of the cars in this drag race are part of VW Group, while the third is a Bimmer, though not necessarily of the performance kind.

Indeed, the BMW 120d is your run-of-the-mill diesel-powered 1 Series, but despite that, it's only 10 hp short of its competition for the day (190 compared to 200) and shares the same maximum torque value of 295 lb-ft (400 Nm). With weight hardly playing a role here (all three are within 155 lbs/70 kg of each other), that means it should be a close race.

The only clear disadvantage the 1 Series has over the Volkswagen Golf GTD and the Skoda Octavia vRS is the fact it uses a regular automatic transmission. In contrast, the VW Group pair gets the company's DSG dual-clutch gearbox. Other than that, thanks to BMW's corporate decisions, all three are front-wheel-drive, so it's all down to the tires, the transmission, the 10 horsepower, and the fact the BMW has no launch control.

Funnily enough, the one race where the 120d does the best is the one where its classic gearbox should have been the biggest liability: the rolling race in comfort mode. However, since the dual-clutch ones were probably expecting the gradual acceleration to continue, they must have had a superior gear lined up for the next change, so the need for a kick-down took them by surprise. BMW reacted the quickest, but it still came last in the end.

If that was BMW's best result, it means the actual fight was between the GTD and the vRS. And since they share the same powertrain, but one is larger and heavier (and its brand name isn't the same as the group's it's part of), it leaves us with only one possible winner. However, since this is a diesel performance car comparison, it's actually the fuel economy each got over the course of the challenges that matters. Love us or hate us for it, we're not going to spoil that one for you.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"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)
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