Top Gear magazine has track tested the Tesla Model 3 Performance head to head against fossil fans’ favorite sports saloon, the BMW M3.
The track times were conducted on the 2 mile Thunderhill Raceway Park West circuit, with the Tesla coming in a significant 2 seconds ahead of the (more expensive) BMW. Fossils must now accept all-round inferiority in the performance realm.
Top Gear Magazine’s head-to-head also found — unsurprisingly — that the Tesla beat the BMW on pure acceleration, as well as on their 0–100–0 mph acceleration-and-braking tests. It’s worth noting also that the price of the Tesla came in at more than a thousand dollars below that of the BMW M3.
Tesla Model3 (Image: Wikimedia/Carlquinn)
A lead of almost 2 seconds on a 2 mile track (with lap times around 85 seconds in total) is significant. Both vehicles were stock without modifications, and were lapped by the same driver.
On the feel of the two vehicles around the track, the testers found that for the BMW, compared to the Tesla:
“when you floor it, the throttle response is glacial by comparison, and the accompanying racket isn’t quite as glorious as you remember — more of a distraction from listening to what the tyres are doing and getting on with the business of going fast.”
They also noted the superiority of the Tesla’s ride for normal daily driving, away from the track:
“Where the BMW’s comfort and refinement is conceded quite a bit to unlock its track potential, the Tesla is utterly uncompromised…”
Read more: Clean Technica