All-wheel drive. Well over 500 horsepower from a twin-turbocharged engine. Two-door coupe. On paper, the BMW M4 CS and M8 Competition sound like an ideal duo. And perfect for a nail-biter of a drag race, right? Apparently, the guys over at Carwow thought the same. Mat Watson puts the M4 CS head to head with the biggest and baddest M coupe you can buy to see which one will come out on top in a series of quarter-mile drag and roll races.
The Same, But Very Different
Carwow begins by discussing the raw specs of these two monsters. The M4 CS is a track-tuned version of the regular M4, touting a bit of additional power and a range of other small tweaks that emphasize lightness and agility. At 1760 kg (3888 pounds), it’s still hardly a lightweight. Moving all that mass is a twin-turbocharged S58 engine under the hood making 550 horsepower and 65 Nm (543 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque in the US market). The M8 Competition puts up even bigger numbers. Its 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 makes 625 horsepower and 725 Nm (617 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque for US cars). Curb weight, Carwow says, balloons to 1975 kg (4354 pounds), making it significantly heavier than the M4 CS. Understandably, of course. Both cars have all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic; the M8 has more power but more weight. It’s the perfect storm.
As it turns out, bigger isn’t always better. The M4 CS rockets away from the M8 Competition, right off the line. A second race sees the two competitors run an even tighter race at first, but ultimately the M8 is no match for the lightning-quick M4 CS. But can the M4 CS continue to remain dominant from a rolling start? One would think that the additional power might help more in this scenario, but you’ll have to watch to see exactly how the epic battle ends.
Is the M4 CS a Cheater?
Towards the end of the video, Mat Watson suggests that BMW may have severely underrated the M4 CS power figures. And while we don’t have any evidence — at least not past the literal hundreds of owners who have sent their car to dynamometers after purchasing only to find power levels at the tires match what BMW quotes for crank — but we think he might be on to something. Either way, both the M4 CS and M8 Competition perform exceptionally. Especially when you consider that their best quarter-mile times for the day were dead even at an absolutely ripping 10.8 seconds.