No Golfs involved but........AMG v's BMW

[Deako]

And you can get >10% discount easy on an M135i. I actually got a smudge under £5k off. Ok, I added pro media £1990, sport auto £1685 and Harmon Kardon £600. That totals £4275. Add on my inclusive service package for 5 years at £800.  Just over £5k in total.

That means that my discount basically paid for all my options on the M135i. Considering it's not even been out that long, that's impressive.

[Poverty]

A45 Quicker on Pilot Sport 3s than the M135i on Supersports!!!!  Have to say, i bet there would be a fairly large difference had they had the same tyres.

Why hasnt anyone pitted it against the RS3 yet though!!

Just like how the rs3 best the m135i which was on supersports then too.

Told you guys 4wd>rwd>fwd in a road car.

[Poverty]

Less than a second over Brunters, so not massively ahead.

1:18.05 v 1:17.18. Not a huge % margin. And despite claims, SSports on the Audi aren't buying it a great deal more time. Pushing it that last tenth on a track highlights issues with a chassis no tyres are going to fix. You'd not notice it on the road I'm sure.

Sport Auto had the RS3 faster around Hockenheim but slower around the Ring - so that 4WD really seems to buy it time out of slow bends, the BMW obviously dealing with faster bends better.

I expect you'd see similar here, as they did the AMG at Landow, which is very tight. Which means the RS3 certainly could/should keep it in reach.

I disagree.

The supersports make a massive difference, it considerably rids cars of understeer, read any review of the supersports on the VAG forums in regards to the haldex cars and they all use the word "transform". In the magazine tests the supersports around even short to mid length tracks allowed the TTRS car which the tyres where tested on to find over a second in laptime!

[Deako]

The fact is, the M-lite is still compared to the RS and AMG models, which it shouldn't. And still comes out extremely well.

[Kregiel]

The fact is, the M-lite is still compared to the RS and AMG models, which it shouldn't. And still comes out extremely well.

are we all sure there would be 1M?? 

Paul

[Janner_Sy]

Thats true.  Id wager the 1M if/when it comes out, which will no doubt be similar in price to the TRS3 and A45 will no doubt annihalte them, judging by how close the M135i is.

[Poverty]

I wouldn't be so certain.

In a 1/4 mile race the m135i is slower than the new 300hp Audi s3.

[Jussa]

I wouldn't be so certain.

In a 1/4 mile race the m135i is slower than the new 300hp Audi s3.

What times do they both do?

[Poverty]

I wouldn't be so certain.

In a 1/4 mile race the m135i is slower than the new 300hp Audi s3.

What times do they both do?

I'd have to look it up but it was low 13's and the s3 was 0.1 sec quicker. I think it did a 13.1.

[garrardrj]

Great review by Chris Harris as usual , but the performance of the AMG apart , it reminds me of a Hyundai too much . The performance of both is phenomenal . The car industry really does amaze me at times how they can keep improving everything . 4.2/4.5 secs to 60 and 10 second 0-100 in two little cars ! I was amazed when the RS Turbo Renault 5's and Escorts came out and said i would always have one , but never did . That was in the 80's . Cars like these two are just too expensive for the age group that they are aimed at I think , even though the BMW is a bargain 

[tony_danza]

Sticky tyres don't fix a duff chassis. They simply move the point at which understeer occurs.

I'll defend the RS3 here. They had an old chassis and they did what they could to make it work. Much like M division deciding it'd be better to underpin the 1M with the M3's running gear.

Technology and engineering moves on. I imagine the next car will be on par with the ones we're discussing now.

Look at the basic physics, the whole engine mass is at least 6" ahead of the axle.

[tony_danza]

Incidentally, BMW have announced today that they're going to start offering LSD's as a retrofit option.

And so the game moves on!

[MAT ED30]

Yeah Harris tweeted the other day he had a go at bmw for not fitting an LSD and they said they would give customers the option from now on. I also think the bmw is a bargain for what it is and what it does but it's still ugly 

[tony_danza]

Oh yeah, it'll never be loved as a classic. Funny how you learn to ignore it though, I don't even notice the dodgy arse on the previous Megane any more, at the time I thought it was awful. I'd still have an R26.R despite that.

[MAT ED30]

Yeah once you drive a meg you forget about it's funny arse