http://www.fastestlaps.com/

Top of column 3.

ABC

 

Good find. It's a bit of a shame that the acceleration figures are only manufacturer's official times, but hey. The track lap times are interesting.

 

What about in the real world - I've only had my 5 Series since February and I've managed to surprise quite a few drivers of so called 'fast' cars with how quick my big old diesel estate is. This morning I had a MINI Cooper S driver try to get past me on the inside lane at a set of lights on a dual carriageway - still managed to leave him behind and I wasn't even in sports mode.

 

How would you measure that? Driving style in everyday driving is much more influential than the car.

At sensible speeds, there's very little - including supercars - that can stay in fornt of a modern turbodiesel, if nobody changes gears. But if you downshift...

 

I agree, driving style does have a lot to do with it - I always tend to accelerate quickly away from lights and I guess I've caught a number of people napping who've thought 'oh that's just a diesel estate so he won't be going very fast I'll easily get past him' I find the same thing on the motorway too - when the turbodiesel in front puts his foot down very few people think to immediately change down to keep in touch.