A Tale of Two Technologies: turbocharged 5-cylinder with quattro all-wheel-drive versus supercharged V8 with rear-wheel-drive.
The Audi RS3 is a highly entertaining machine that has become a beloved entity among enthusiasts for those very same reasons. The small sedan looks fantastic and is highly capable of tearing up any given track on any given day, thanks to copious amounts of power combined with serious suspension wizardry. However, the Audi RS3 isn’t exactly a common sight at the local drag strip, even though it is quite capable in a straight-line, rocketing from 0-60 mph in around 3.3 seconds. In this recent drag race with a Dodge Challenger Hellcat, that fact was on clear display, too.
In this video from the YouTube channel Wheels, we get a front seat to this particular showdown between an Audi RS3 and a Dodge Challenger Hellcat, and it’s a thrilling race, to be certain. It’s an intriguing matchup on paper as well, since these are two very different types of machines. The RS3 gets down the track with a turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine that, in stock form, churns out 401 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox driving all four wheels and tipping the scales at 3,650 pounds. Although it’s unclear, outside of sticky tires, how much this particular RS3 has been modified.
In the other lane, we have the recently-discontinued Dodge Challenger Hellcat, which is essentially the RS3’s polar opposite. The American machine utilizes an old-fashioned supercharged 6.2-liter V8 making 717 horsepower and 656 pound-feet of torque, flowing to the rear wheels via a traditional torque converter 8-speed automatic gearbox. That massive power advantage is more than offset by the fact that the gigantic American coupe weighs a hefty 4,514 pounds, however.
Regardless, in this particular drag race, the Audi RS3 driver gets off to a rough start — which is surprising given its traction advantage — as the Challenger rockets ahead to an early lead, which seems insurmountable at first. However, the Audi quickly regains composure and moves past the Challenger, handily putting a gap on it before the two cross the finish line. The Audi RS3 winds up running a stellar quarter-mile time of 10.73 seconds at 142 mph versus the Challenger’s 11.52 at 120 mph, an impressive result given the stark differences between these two machines.
It is worth noting that automotive magazines have tested stock RS3s in the quarter mile at around 11.8 seconds; given this mean, green machine’s 10.73-second run, and traction issues at launch, we further suspect that it has a few under-the-hood modifications. Still, it’s a great race.
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