Mercedes and BMW have been fighting it out both on the track and the street for what feels like generations. The cross-town German rivals aren't afraid to directly compete with one another, especially when it comes to their consumer performance models. It's an almost tit-for-tat battle between the two. The current Mercedes-AMG E63 was unveiled in late 2016. Less than a year later and we had an all-new BMW M5. Coincidence? I think not. You couldn't find two cars explicitly designed at being better than its rival. So, when someone pits the E63 S against the new M5, we take notice.
It wasn't too long ago when the more-powerful E63 S won a series of drag races against the M5. It's not exactly an equal comparison. The S gives the E63 a tad bit more power than the standard M5 – 603 hp for the AMG compared to the M5's 600 – along with several other performance upgrades. However, a new race between the two is proving that maybe the M5 doesn't really need that Competition Package to keep up with the Mercedes.
Also, BMW could be fudging its performance numbers a bit. A recent dyno run showed the M5 putting 625 horsepower to the wheels, which is quite a bit more than BMW says the performance sedan should produce. When the M5 Competition Package is available, it will be interesting to see how it compares to the E63 S. It'll be a far fairer fight.
A new video from TheMotoristSA essentially recreates the drag race we've previously seen – AMG E63 S battling against the new BMW M5. However, the results are entirely different. Instead of the M5 trailing the AMG, the outcome is reversed, with the M5 winning races by more than a car-length. Granted, the race is on a different continent with a different driver behind the wheel. Also, we don't know what settings the BMW had turned on or off. In the other video, the driver tried several different drive modes to try to beat the Mercedes. Those trials failed.
It looks like these two cars are close in performance both on paper and the drag strip. Find the right driver, and it seems like both cars could walk away as a winner. It all comes down to skill.
