Michael Chuang races a rare M6 Competition, the 617-hp M8 Competition convertible, and a 650-hp modified M240i against a Porsche Taycan Turbo S in half-mile drag runs. The M8 hit 5.63 seconds to 100 feet, but the lighter M240i often won the roll launches despite worse traction and weather.
617 horsepower; about 400 pounds heavier due to AWD system and convertible architecture.
Equivalent of ~750 horsepower and 774 lb-ft instantaneous torque.
0-40100 (as stated) in 5.63 seconds; 60-130 (half-mile-style) in 8.88 seconds.
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BMW is a relatively simple company. They build fun, luxurious sports cars that have great handling at a somewhat reasonable price point. And they've been killing it for a few generations on that, especially with all the M3s and M4s they sell. But here's the kicker. They don't build supercars, at least not technically. What they like to build instead are flagship grand touring coupes that cost as much as a supercar. And in some cases they aren't the most attractive specimens. But the redeeming quality about these machines is that they are really damn fast and today we get to experience two generations of them. So I want to see what the difference between an eight series and a six series really means when it comes to BMW flagship. Lets take a look.
To understand these vehicles we have to first understand the M6 competition. It's a much rarer car than you think. BMW only built 250 of these special editions and sent 100 to the US but it was their former king of the hill. Not much is different between this and a normal M6 except for the Austin yellow paint job, yellow stitching and the ridiculous 170 grand MSRP. Of course they never sell for that anyway. It's a 600 horsepower 7 speed DCT rear wheel drive 4100 pound road shark that had very few predators a until now because here's its replacement, the M8 competition. Unfortunately we couldn't get our hands on a coupe so we'll make do with the drop top. It's got a little bit more punch at 617 horses, but weighs 400 pounds more. Because of the added all wheel drive system and convertible architecture, they've gone backwards to a high performance ZF8 speed. But I assure you it's almost every bit as good, if not better in some cases. Cosmetically it's a lovely upgrade too. And it's probably the last M to have reasonably sized kidney grills. But performance is ultimately what we care about. So let's see if Neewer is faster. And we should listen to the M6 too.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that this car has downpipes and a full titanium M exhaust.
So we're going to do all these runs with our usual which is two rolls in a dig.
It's.
Okay. So that was pretty much the result we're all kind of expecting. A newer sports car is almost always going to be faster than its outgoing model. But what about if we give it something a little bit more challenging? I wanted to follow up on that BMW versus Porsche showdown.
We did A few weeks ago.
So what do we have that's a little bit more contemporary, maybe more electrifying?
Ah, the Porsche Taycan Turbo S. Most most likely a bit overkill, but we know this is a mid to high eight second six, 130 car from our tests. And based on my research, the M8 is as well. And while it has its disadvantages, like being 600 pounds heavier with six less ratios, the electric powertrain produces the equivalent of 750 horsepower and 774 pounds of instantaneous torque. And that's the key here. Despite being similar on paper, the instant peak torque will put the Porsche ahead in the beginning of the race, forcing the BMW to play catch up. And like the M8, the Taycan is all wheel drive, so traction shouldn't be a problem at all. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound nearly as menacing, but I'm sure it'll be a good race nonetheless. Let's see what this thing's got.
It. It's.
I think that was a pretty good setup, but I feel like the Taycan probably would have done a little bit better if it had closer to a full charge. Because regardless of what Porsche says about peak performance not being affected by battery range or battery life, a lot of evidence seems to suggest otherwise. Anyway, that got me thinking though. What if we put the M8 up against another BMW, but this time around, something much, much cheaper. Something like my buddy Santiago's Big Turbo M240i.
We've seen this car on the Channel before. It's a hell of a machine. And if you don't remember, this M240 I kicked a lot of ass last summer when we had it on one of our 3x3 showdowns. But back then it was only FBO and E30, making a map. Modest 550 crank horsepower. And even though it only weighs 3,400 pounds, we pegged it as a mid 9 second six at a 130 car. So why are we putting it up against the M8? Well, because this little guy now has a bigger Vargas GC turbo setup as well as catless downpipes and E30. So we're looking at almost 650 to the crank. But it's got one major disadvantage for modern drag racing. A manual gearbox. And though I'm confident in Santiago's abilities, I really hope his archer blade Rs can hook in this cold weather. I gotta say, if it's one thing that BMW does well, it's that they get their shades of blue down right. It's hard for me to imagine buying one in any other color, which is why our X6 M50 is also blue. Anyway, let's get started.
It's it's.
Well, that little M240 I just keeps on surprising us. It obviously had no chance from a dig because it's only got rear wheel drive and it was 40 degrees out, but otherwise it reliably pulled away from the M8 every time in the rolls. At the same time, I also know we didn't have the best example of the M8 comp for this comparison because, well, the convertible version makes everything worse and heavier. But if it were the coupe version, I'd imagine it'd be faster overall by maybe a car length in every single race. Just out of curiosity though, I do want to take a look at some of the numbers from the runs. The 2020 BMW M8 Competition convertible did our 40100 in 5.63 seconds, which puts it right up there next to the deceivingly quick 992 Carrera S. It's only 2/10 faster than the M850i, but then again the drop top is an easy 3 to 400 pounds heavier than the euro spec coupe that we first drove. It's not terribly quick, but in this speed range things are just getting started. 60, 130 is more of what we.
Like to see in cars of this.
Power level, and in that regard it put down a relatively respectable 8.88 seconds, which is just at the starting point of modern supercar territory. So that's not too bad for a luxury boulevard cruiser. I do expect the coupe version to put down close to the mid 8 second times though. Keep in mind that racing runs don't normally produce hero runs, so the car is definitely faster in ideal conditions. So if you want to see more times, check out the fast list through the link in the description below. Me personally, I actually really really like.
The design of the MA comp in either coupe or gran coupe.
It checks off all the boxes for a GT car. The price is a bit steep, but BMWs tend to lease out extraordinarily well, so that's not really an issue if you have the monthly cash flow for it. However, my problem with the thing is that we're starting to see a lot of them pop up locally. It's not like I live in a fancy neighborhood or anything like that, so it's kind of just like a turn off when I pay a relatively high price for something and then I just see them around everywhere kind of takes the specialist out of the car for me. But what do you guys think about the M8? If you were in the market for a fast 2.2gt coupe, would this be the one? Or is there something else that tickles your fancy? Let me know in the comments below. Well, that's it for this episode and I'll catch you guys in the next one.
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