You have to love Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, who summed up the performance wars between Audi and BMW by saying, “If you want to buy a small, fast coupe, you have to buy a BMW M3. Sure, you could buy a fast Mercedes or a fast Audi, but that’s like buying a war game that isn’t Call of Duty. The M3 is the best, and that’s the end of it.”
The heathens at BBC had the actual Top Gear segments we were going to show you removed from YouTube (I wager someone with sour grapes at Audi snitched them out), so you’ll have to take our word for it, or at least watch it on your highly impractical regular television. Don’t let the commercials frustrate you, record the show and watch it later. You can fast forward through all the marketing that way. You’re just going to have to take our word for it, until you can see it with your own eyes, but the BMW M3 trounced the Audi with a full half second of lap time, taking the same opportunity to humiliate a Lotus Evora, as well. The longer track in Spain made the outcome even worse for the Audi, with the M3 handily defeating the competition with a full 5 seconds to spare.
BMW showed them who is king, and who will remain king.
There’s a lot to like about the 2011 BMW M3, especially its duality. It will behave well as you drive around town, enveloping you in a cocoon of luxury and performance. Take that same car to the track, and you are still a heavy hitter. It is truly one of the most awesome cars you can drive, merging comfort and practicality with the most exhilarating and competitive capabilities available.
