BMW and Audi have been trading blows for decades and the two have come up with legendary sports cars over the years. Of course, that fight continues to this day and it only seems to intensify, even though the two Bavarian brands are no longer competing against each other in motorsport. But that doesn’t mean that cars like the Audi RS3 doesn’t step on the toes of the BMW M2 and vice versa.

To be fair, the two are close when comparing specs on paper but when it comes to body styles, things are a bit different. The Audi RS3 is available in two body styles: hatchback and sedan. While BMW does have a hatch model in its line-up, the top of the range M140i, it’s more suited to go up against the S3 and not the RS3. The BMW M2 is the only car in BMW’s lineup that can take on the RS3 but it’s a Coupe. So it should probably be taking on the TT RS, but that car shares its underpinnings with the RS3.

Leaving that behind though, the M2 can be a rival for the RS3 in terms of performance and driving thrills and that’s exactly what the guys from Cars are trying to prove here. There are some notable differences between them though, excluding the aforementioned body style factor. For example, while the RS3 is an AWD machine and can only be had in that guise, the BMW M2 comes with a RWD setup. Furthermore, the Bimmer can be had with an honest to god manual and that just makes it more fun.

Sure, the performance does suffer, but then again, the RS3 is more powerful than the M2 from the get go. The Audi has a 2.5-liter 5-cylinder turbocharged engine good for 400 HP while the BMW makes due with 370. On the torque front, the Bimmer does come with more twist thanks to its bigger engine but only when overboost is involved. So, which one is the better driver’s car?