You’ve probably heard it a million times: all-wheel drive isn’t needed in 90 percent of driving situations. Some people insist that during winter time, all-wheel drive will come in handy but the truth of the matter is, using winter tires on a rear-wheel drive car could make it just as usable in snow as long as you know how to drive. But what about racing? Well, the video below should offer some more insight into how the two different drivetrains compare against each other by using a BMW 430i xDrive.
The newly launched, facelifted 4 Series goes up against its predecessor which happens to have a different name. Since BMW decided to change the engine under the hood of the facelifted 4 Series model, they also changed its name, going from 428i to 430i. I know, it’s a bit confusing since it’s still a 4-cylinder but it does come with a bit more power, 7 more HP to be precise. So, the new version should just about win a drag race against a 428i, right?
Well, not quite. The two cars going at it below are both convertibles which means they are considerably heavier than their coupe alternatives due to their hardtops and the complex mechanisms behind them. However, only one of them has xDrive and it’s the camera car. The 430i Convertible weighs 1,810 kg (3,990 lbs) all by its own but when you add xDrive to it, the total goes up to 1,880 kg (4,144 lbs), an addition of 70 kg (154 lbs).
Since the power difference between it and the 428i Convertible is just 7 HP, the race is definitely going to be extremely close. On top of that, the 428i was also a tad bit lighter on its feet, according to BMW, tipping the scale at 1,780 kg (3,924 lbs) so things are definitely not looking good for the 430i xDrive, especially since the race was done from a rolling start. Let’s see what the end result is though.
