M5 Competition Humiliates Dodge Demon On Circuit & Strip
At more than $110,000, it isn’t cheap, but this 617 horsepower, twin-turbo V8 Bimmer is worth every penny.
For most of us, the new M5 is a culmination of BMW’s engineering prowess. In Competition guise, it rocks 617 horsepower from a twin-turbo V8. Power is sent to all four wheels, but if you’re feeling lucky, you can transfer those 600-plus ponies to just the rear. And inside, there’s still room for five and it’s loaded with the latest BMW tech. At over $110,000, it isn’t cheap, but it’s worth every penny.
In short, it’s the anti-Dodge Challenger Demon. The aging American muscle car was built for straight-line shenanigans. It cranks out an insane 840 horsepower to the rear wheels. And at around $85,000, it’s something of a performance bargain. But in terms of refinement, build quality, and handling, it can’t hold a candle to the M5.
That said, we love seeing the two go head to head on the track.
The maniacs at Throttle House have just pitted the two against each other, on the drag strip and on the track. Get your popcorn ready, because this episode of One Track Mind is a lot of fun to watch. “The new M5 is already a monster,” host Thomas Holland says. “But this is the M5 Competition… Today we are going to see if it can bring the fight to one of the most ruthless road-legal cars ever made.”
Strip & Track
First up is the drag strip, where the BMW visits the Dodge on its home turf. Surprisingly, Both Holland and pro driver Colin Caissie predict that the M5 will beat the Demon. And it does! The BMW absolutely smokes the big coupe. “Wow,” Caissie says from behind the wheel of the Demon. “On street pressures, on a non-prepped surface, it is so hard to get this thing to hook up.” He declares: “Round one to the BMW.”
The same goes for round two, where Holland crosses the line at 105 miles per hour. “Street conditions,” he says, “the M5 Competition can beat the Demon off the line.” In a rolling race, the Demon gains the edge thanks to its raw power. But in the M5’s defense, it’s by less than a car length. From a standstill, the Bimmer leaves the Dodge far behind.
After an interlude of taking the Demon out on a road course, the cars go head to head on the M5’s turf. “We’re very interested to see how the car that was quite literally built to dominate the drag strip does on the road course,” Holland says.
No competition for the BMW M5
But it just can’t compete with the M5 here. ” It is enormously powerful,” Holland says. “And light? It feels light!” He’s amazed by how quiet and calm the car feels as he flogs it. It’s composed and flat in the corners, its brakes are excellent, and he marvels at how light and agile it feels despite its size. He even drifts it. “It doesn’t have that same immediate breakaway power that the Demon does,” he says. “But once you get in it… it just lights up.”
After a few more laps in both rear-wheel drive mode and all-wheel drive, Caissie puts the cars through their paces in some hot laps. No surprise here, the M5 owns the Dodge. The Demon squealed and whined its way around the track, with a time of 1.25.1, about the same as a Subaru WRX STI they recently tested. On the other hand, the BMW’s clocked a composed 1.19.7.
Is comparing these cars apples to oranges? Absolutely. But it’s still a lot of fun to watch these two battle it out on the track. In the end, Holland and Caissie both fall in love with the sheer ridiculousness of the Demon, though they both admit that the M5 Competition is the better car. We can’t disagree with that.
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