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Do You Think An Audi S3 Can Hold A Candle Against The AMG A35 On A Drag Strip?
An AMG A35 goes up against an Audi S3 in a series of races for ego supremacy
by Sidd Dhimaan, on LISTEN 03:20Sam from ‘Sam CarLegion’ uploaded a video of an Audi S3 taking on a Mercedes-AMG A35 on his YouTube channel. Both the cars feature a four-pot turbo engine and an all-wheel-drive system, but the A35 is slightly more powerful on paper. Do you think this will play a role in the end result, or will the S3 be able to take down the A35?
How Much Power Do These German Cars Make?
The Audi S3 is powered by a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged engine that makes 288 horses and 280 pound-feet of torque.
It is mated to a seven-speed automatic gearbox and an all-wheel-drive system. The car had a Stage 1 kit, but the owner reversed it back to its stock spec.
The Mercedes-AMG A35 also comes with a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged mill under the hood, but it makes 302 ponies and 295 pound-feet of oomph.
A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox powers all four wheels.
The AMG A35 weighs 3,480 pounds, just 19 pounds more than the 3,461-pound Audi S3. However, the 14-horsepower lead nullifies this weight disadvantage as the AMG boasts of a power-to-weight ratio of .087 hp/lb, a tad bit more than the .083 hp/lb ratio of the S3.
What Happened In The Races?
The first round was the standing drag race with the cars locked in Sport mode and gearbox set in automatic mode. The AMG A35 was quicker to start and it kept on increasing the gap till the end. Despite the negligible power-to-weight ratio difference, the Audi S3 clearly struggled here.
They gave it a shot again in the same settings and modes, but with one key difference. The Traction Control was turned off in both cars. This made a huge impact as the S3 seemed to be a different beast. With the leash off, it was able to get well past the AMG A35 off the line. The latter did get quite close to its German counterpart, but couldn’t get past it.
The next round was a rolling race from 31 mph (50 kph) in the Sport mode with the traction control on. The Audi had a better kickdown, but the AMG was able to pip it comfortably within a few seconds and add another point to its tally.
The next rolling race was also from 31 mph (50 kph), but this time in the Sport settings and manual mode for the gearbox with the second gear locked in. The traction control was turned off as well. The AMG blew the Audi out of the water at kickdown and the latter just couldn’t make a comeback. This makes it a 3-1 win for the AMG A35. The dual-clutch automatic gearbox needs to be given credit here, too. It sure helped increase the chances of the AMG winning.
Watch the video below and let us know in the comments section what you think of the race.
