The world’s quickest sedans battle it out on this episode of Head 2 Head presented by Tire Rack. The Audi RS7 and Tesla Model S have nearly identical silhouettes and are within 0.2 inch in length. They’re both all-wheel-drive
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MotorTranscript
00:00 If we don't stop polluting our planet, our planet will stop providing life for us.
00:05 It's time to do the right thing and slow down.
00:09 Or we could keep making cars faster.
00:12 Last year's Audi RS7 and Tesla P90D both hit 60 miles an hour in 3.2 seconds, making
00:18 them the quickest four-doors ever.
00:20 Now there are faster versions.
00:22 The RS7 Performance has 45 more horsepower.
00:25 And the P100D has ludicrous plus.
00:29 Sooner or later all this nonsense has to stop, but until then, it's time to see which of
00:33 the world's quickest four-doors is the best world's quickest sedan.
00:36 Now.
00:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:01 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:19 Johnny.
01:20 Hey, Jason.
01:21 If you had $135,000 in your pocket--
01:23 I would not be at work today.
01:25 And you had to buy a car--
01:26 G63.
01:27 Stop saying that.
01:28 Dodge Viper ACR.
01:29 And you had to fit crap and/or people in it.
01:32 Oh, I'd probably get one of these two.
01:34 They're pretty good.
01:35 Pretty good.
01:36 They're quicker and/or faster than the Viper.
01:37 Yeah, I mean, I think it's safe to say that these two are modern-day muscle cars.
01:42 No, they're not.
01:44 Oh, well, that sort of ruins our plan to take them drag racing.
01:47 I guess that'd be ludicrous.
01:48 Well, instead, why don't we go sit in traffic in downtown LA?
01:52 Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
01:53 Kill me.
01:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:04 Oh, man.
02:05 If it's one thing that Audi always gets right and never screws up, it's the interior.
02:11 Everything you look at feels expensive.
02:13 It smells expensive.
02:14 Everything is well put together.
02:16 It's well designed.
02:17 It's well laid out.
02:18 They just can't get an interior wrong.
02:20 Except that they don't have a time machine.
02:23 So the A6 came out, I don't know, 2011 or so.
02:26 So this is five or six years old.
02:28 By the way, there's a new A6 coming pretty soon.
02:30 The car's going to be replaced.
02:32 And they've came out with the A4, the Q7, and the R8, which feature all new interiors.
02:37 So if you sat in those, you get in this thing, you're like, whoa, this is a trip to the past.
02:42 You know?
02:43 You're right.
02:44 But I'm going to argue with you anyway, because that's what I do.
02:46 I happen to like this generation of Audis' infotainment better.
02:49 That virtual cockpit thing is just information overload to me.
02:53 It's a gimmick.
02:54 I like real gauges.
02:55 I like simple, clean design.
02:56 No, you're living in the past, man.
02:57 No, it's all about that.
02:58 Plus, most importantly, the frigging wheel no longer spins backwards.
03:03 Oh.
03:04 Oh.
03:05 For years, you want to change the radius, you turn to the right, and it actually goes the other way.
03:09 And you say to them, why?
03:11 They go, it's the correct way to do things.
03:13 This is more efficient, blah, blah, whatever.
03:15 And they finally change it.
03:17 Now, the map is still backwards on the brand new one.
03:19 Well, that's because Audi is the official automaker of the dyslexic.
03:22 Ah, we agree.
03:24 In fact, I would wager that at some point, they're going to come out with some new Audi dynamical steering that when you turn the wheel to the left, it turns the front wheels to the right.
03:33 Why?
03:34 Because that's better that way.
03:35 Sure, they've tested it.
03:36 Yeah, it might increase horsepower by 0.2 horsepower.
03:39 But I think we can agree, it's a very nice interior.
03:42 And it's really quiet.
03:43 It's very quiet.
03:45 Which is weird for a 605 horsepower anything.
03:47 Yes, it is.
03:48 And in normal driving, the first thing you notice is how quick the steering is.
03:51 This is 2.2 turns lock to lock.
03:54 And with that real actual torque vectoring diff that can help the car around corners, it actually drives a lot lighter than it is.
04:00 And that's an impressive achievement.
04:02 And speaking of impressive, this engine.
04:04 Oh, yeah.
04:05 Four liters, two turbos, 605 horsepower, 516 pound feet of torque.
04:09 And because it's German, there's an overboost mode where it makes 553 torques.
04:14 Yeah.
04:15 And Germans love overboost because it's so much fun to say in German.
04:18 How do you say it?
04:19 Overboost.
04:20 Anyways, it's a marvel of an engine.
04:25 It is a great engine.
04:26 And it's got cylinder deactivation, so it's actually reasonably efficient on the highway.
04:30 The transmission is typical of Audi, though.
04:32 It's a ZF 8-speed.
04:33 But the programming of these transmissions is kind of up to the car company to integrate their programming with the transmission's computer.
04:40 And Audi didn't nail it.
04:41 Like, it's smooth most of the time, and then every once in a while, it's knocking something out.
04:46 Something's becoming loose.
04:48 And it just does a great job.
04:50 I mean, this is one desirable automobile.
04:52 It is a spectacular, fast executive express.
04:55 And I love everything about it.
05:08 Look, when the Model S first came out, we were blown away by it.
05:12 How can an electric car be this high quality?
05:14 Because remember, before that, we had golf carts and Nissan Leafs.
05:17 That's redundant.
05:18 But, you know, so, like, how can it be this good?
05:20 And it was styled, and it went, and it worked, and it had a range.
05:24 And the interior was like, well, a new car is perfect.
05:27 And now, five years later, and this one now costs $150,000.
05:32 However, they have made a whole bunch of improvements.
05:35 So the seats are good.
05:36 It has a center console.
05:37 It does.
05:38 It's got completely new software on the digital displays.
05:42 Right.
05:43 The nav screen, and all these years later, no one has even come close to replicating that usability and functionality.
05:49 No, no.
05:50 This is the industry standard.
05:51 It's been the industry standard since the second I saw it.
05:54 Volvo is sort of the closest, and I think that system is actually in McLarens and Lamborghinis now.
05:59 But it's, like, 20% as awesome as this is.
06:03 This is, if I may indulge in some hyperbole.
06:06 Yes.
06:07 The only touchscreen installed in any car that is not feloniously, negligently distracting.
06:14 Yep.
06:15 Because it works every time.
06:16 Because it works.
06:17 And it's just so smart.
06:18 Like, OK, when you get there, you can just say, "End guidance," without having to dig through a menu.
06:23 Because there's nothing worse than, OK, here's the building I want to go to, but there's no parking right in front.
06:27 You have reached your destination.
06:29 Please make a U-turn in 200 feet.
06:30 Shut up!
06:32 Wife screaming at you, like, make it stop!
06:34 Make it stop!
06:35 I can't!
06:36 Like, it's just so good.
06:39 Also, God, this thing is fast.
06:41 So quick.
06:42 No, that's one of the things that's hard to explain to people that have never been on a Tesla.
06:45 Like, for instance, it's so quick, you're going to hate it because it's violent.
06:49 But the other thing is, because all the weight of the car is under your feet, the center of gravity is -- it's got to be one of the lowest of any cars in the world.
06:57 It is.
06:58 And it just -- it's inherently sporty.
07:00 Now, they've made the steering as numb as humanly possible.
07:03 It's also, like, 742 turns lock to lock.
07:06 Yeah, it is a lot slower than that R7.
07:08 Boy, it's kind of a fun car to drive.
07:11 It's one of those things that shouldn't be fun by virtue of it being quiet and being heavy, and yet it's a different kind of sporty.
07:19 I love driving these cars.
07:21 People are going to be, like, breaking their knuckles trying to type on the Internet, like, oh, no, no, no, it's not actually the quickest, you guys cheated, there's something wrong, we're anticipating you.
07:29 But in reality, if you drive this car around, not even in ludicrous mode, just in, like, good old sport mode, there ain't nothing actually quicker.
07:37 It's always there.
07:39 You don't have to be in the right gear.
07:40 You don't have to worry about anything.
07:41 Just go.
07:42 There is nothing even close to as quick.
07:44 This is the fastest car in the world.
07:46 A Veyron has no chance.
07:48 A 918 has no chance.
07:50 A LaFerrari has no chance.
07:51 Because in a gas-powered car, when you press that accelerator pedal, the throttles have to open, the fuel has to be delivered, the turbos have to spool up, the transmission has to downshift, the revs have to go up, there's so many things that have to happen.
08:02 You have to get a bunch of conditions right.
08:03 This one, boom.
08:04 There.
08:05 Within milliseconds, you're at levels of acceleration that only the fastest hypercars in the world can do, but you never have to wait for it.
08:12 Right.
08:13 No, it's mind-blowing.
08:14 Which is crazy, because, like, again, if you think about Tesla's intended purpose, right, it's supposed to be this planet-saving electric car.
08:20 90 something.
08:21 Which just happens to be that.
08:22 You know what I mean?
08:23 And here's the thing.
08:26 In a straight line, you're talking the same performance as a P1, a LaFerrari, a 918, a whatever, but it's a hatchback.
08:33 I mean, imagine how much crap you could put back there.
08:36 Yeah, it's just like the RS7.
08:38 Look at these two cars.
08:42 They're within two-tenths of an inch in length, and everything about them is similar.
08:46 The roofline, the daylight opening, the overall profile, and the only real difference is details like door handles and taillights.
08:53 Yeah, I mean, they're close to identical, but not quite, although you can tell that this guy copied off of this guy's homework or vice versa.
09:00 Right, and this guy's homework sucked.
09:02 He had to cantilever a 600-horsepower V8 in front of the front wheels and package an all-wheel drive system and still fit four people in this car.
09:10 A tough job.
09:11 And that's why, even though they are the same length, this car has a two-inch shorter wheelbase because of all those packaging challenges, which this car didn't have.
09:18 If you have any critique of the Tesla, it's that since it's not a normal car, it could have looked like anything, and it looks like this.
09:24 A normal car, right.
09:25 However, as the Model X has shown us, maybe you want to learn the rules before you start breaking them.
09:31 Keep it simple.
09:32 At least this thing looks nice.
09:33 But what I think both of these point to is the death of the sedan.
09:37 Right.
09:38 People are buying less and less of those, looking at your normal three-box car, and more and more of anything that has a big opening in the back.
09:44 Right, because if it's got a hatchback, you can fit a whole lot more crap in it.
09:47 Why do you keep saying "crap" over and over again?
09:50 Why do you think?
09:52 You don't want to know why I think.
09:54 All right, let me ask you a question.
09:55 What's the one thing you hate the most about me?
09:59 That you exist?
10:00 Second most.
10:01 Oh, is this one of your stupid challenges?
10:04 Come on!
10:05 Yup!
10:06 Oh, geez, what now?
10:10 Manure!
10:11 Yup, crap!
10:12 You want to put bags of manure into $140,000 luxury cars?
10:16 Yes, to see which of them holds more bags of crap.
10:19 We don't need to see!
10:20 The Tesla has two trunks, the Audi has one!
10:22 But the Tesla has an electric motor in the rear where the Audi's trunk is!
10:26 Maybe it holds less!
10:28 Okay, if we do this, and the Tesla holds more, you have to agree to drive the Audi to the drag strip.
10:37 Fine!
10:38 Then it's settled.
10:40 I'm way too old for this.
10:46 Wow, the trunk is pretty small.
10:51 Yeah, there's a motor up there.
10:52 This is not like the rear-drive Model S.
10:54 The Tesla can still hold more!
10:57 [car engine starts]
10:59 You do it, you think it's so funny!
11:03 Here, here, you take it!
11:05 So, how many bags of manure did the Audi hold?
11:08 Fifteen rather impressive bags of manure.
11:11 Okay, so the Tesla held 17 in the back plus four up front for a total of 21, meaning I was right!
11:17 We didn't have to do this!
11:18 Obviously the car with two trunks holds more!
11:20 We didn't have to play with horse poop or cow poop or whatever it is.
11:23 Nothing pleased me more than watching you get to handle 15 bags of manure.
11:27 You did really seem to enjoy playing with this stuff.
11:29 So, anyways, enjoy driving the Audi out to the desert tomorrow.
11:32 Ooh, what a hardship!
11:34 See you there!
11:44 See you there!
11:46 [car door closes]
11:48 Why is there 1,500 pounds of crap in this car?
11:57 Uh, man, all I know is you promised me you would drive the Audi right to the drag strip.
12:01 How did I know this challenge was going to bite me?
12:04 [grunts]
12:14 It really gets my knickers in a twist when people talk about Audis as sporty cars.
12:19 They ain't.
12:20 That's by design.
12:21 The engine is in completely the wrong spot for handling,
12:24 and they're always missing that last couple percent of chassis tuning that gives you really good steering or really good handling.
12:30 That's not what they're about.
12:32 What Audis do well, other than being gorgeous and desirable and wonderful to be in every day, is this.
12:38 The wide-open, big road road trip.
12:41 And that's something quintessentially American, which is ironic.
12:44 What this Audi does best is insanely high-speed autobahn cruising.
12:49 And that's a double-edged sword, because at American highway speeds, it's asleep.
12:54 I'm doing 70 miles an hour, the engine's at 1,700 RPM, it's running on four cylinders, and it's bored.
13:01 And so am I!
13:02 I knew how much faster this car could go, but I can't do it.
13:06 And the other thing is, it gets 25 miles per gallon on the highway, which means it can go 500 miles on a fill-up.
13:12 Problem is, I can't.
13:14 That's seven hours, and frankly, I don't want to go seven hours without going for a walk or going for a pee.
13:19 It seems like the Audi is more about what this car could do, when the Tesla is more about what Americans do do.
13:27 Do do.
13:31 You know, Jason was talking about how the R7, that's like a German car, and this is an American car.
13:36 I kind of disagree, because in Germany, they express their freedom with the automobile by not having speed limits.
13:42 They can go as fast as they want, 190 miles an hour, all day on the autobahn.
13:46 In America, we have lower speed limits.
13:49 But we have this massive country with this great, you know, interstate system, and we drive as far as we want.
13:55 We love just jumping in the car and taking road trips.
13:58 With the Tesla, you're going to have to plan it more, because you have to drive from supercharger to supercharger.
14:03 While it's cool that, you know, it charges in about an hour, it's about an hour every 300 miles or so.
14:09 You know, so the innovation's there.
14:11 This is a very innovative product, but it's like, you know, on the road with Kerouac sense of freedom.
14:17 R7.
14:19 Oh, yeah, there's something I forgot to do today.
14:27 What the hell was that for?
14:28 That car doesn't have autopilot.
14:33 I will get you back.
14:38 Actually, Johnny, no, I don't.
14:43 Because I have the Tesla app, which is basically like a voodoo doll to that car.
14:48 Do I have any criticisms of the car?
14:52 I mean, it just goes back to what I thought from day one in that for over $100,000, this is your interior?
14:58 This?
14:59 It's just not that great.
15:01 That car just honked at me.
15:03 This car keeps honking.
15:09 What the?
15:10 I'll just turn the climate control as high as it goes.
15:14 Jesus, why is the temperature up?
15:20 Look at the user profile right here.
15:21 You can see it's Elon.
15:23 That's the only user profile stored in the car.
15:25 So he's probably listening.
15:27 He's probably like, oh, he said something negative.
15:29 Have Motor Trend killed.
15:30 About time you showed up, man.
15:41 We're losing daylight.
15:42 Yeah, it was all fun and games until you brake checked me.
15:44 You said you drive the Audi.
15:46 And I did.
15:47 And, uh...
15:48 You need help?
15:49 I'm kind of done playing with your crap, but like, how long is this going to take?
15:52 Probably about as long as it takes you to precondition your battery into max power mode.
15:56 That's a very good point.
15:57 Let me get on that.
15:58 Stop throwing manure at me.
16:01 He is doomed.
16:05 Those Teslas are pretty much unbeatable off the line, but they slow down at high speeds.
16:10 So the only chance I really have of beating him is catching him before the end of the quarter mile.
16:15 Look, the Tesla P90D Ludicrous is already one of the quickest accelerating cars in the world.
16:20 And this is the Plude Ludicrous.
16:23 Plus, it is going to murder him.
16:26 Okay, let's drag race these two.
16:29 Did you remember to buy the generator to power the Christmas tree?
16:32 Um, no.
16:34 Did you spend the generator money on crap?
16:37 He he.
16:39 This show needs a bigger budget.
16:41 Okay, we're going to do it the fashion way.
16:43 We're going to count down from three and go on go.
16:46 Are you ready?
16:47 I am ready.
16:48 Okay.
16:49 Three, two, one, go.
16:53 Wow.
17:02 Not catching him. Not catching him.
17:06 Come on, I'm starting to catch him at 120.
17:11 Oh no.
17:13 Okay, that's the quarter mile.
17:16 That was it.
17:18 Holy actual crap, that Tesla is quick.
17:28 It accelerates violently.
17:30 It's like getting thrown out of an airplane.
17:32 Well, actually, if you got thrown out of an airplane, it would be less violent.
17:35 Because then you'd accelerate at 1G.
17:37 This thing kicks out at 1.4.
17:39 So it's like falling out of an airplane with someone kicking you on the way down.
17:42 And just to give some context, I mean, like the next most accelerated car we've ever tested is like a LaFerrari or a P1 or something.
17:48 It's like 1.2 Gs.
17:50 This is more.
17:51 Way more.
17:52 Almost everyone we've taken for a launch control in that Tesla gets sick.
17:55 I don't have motion sickness problem, but it is concussive.
17:58 Like it doesn't feel good.
18:00 In other words, you know when you do a panic stop, full ABS, it doesn't feel good.
18:04 It hurts.
18:05 This is what that launch is like.
18:06 It's just not nice.
18:07 Well, actually, it's exactly what it launches like.
18:09 Because if we look at the amount of time it takes the Tesla to accelerate from 0 to 60, and the amount of time it takes it to stop from 60 to 0, they're identical.
18:18 They're within a twentieth of a second of each other.
18:20 Right.
18:21 So it is actually scrambling for traction the entire way to 60 miles an hour.
18:25 And is, for the very first time in the history of the automobile, a car that accelerates as hard from 0 to 60 as it can stop from 60.
18:32 Which is crazy.
18:33 Nuts.
18:34 But that's just half the story.
18:36 Remember that the Audi comes from Germany, a country with a network of highways without speed limits.
18:42 Remember your morning commute this morning?
18:44 What were you doing? 75 miles an hour?
18:46 Now imagine going more than twice that fast like you do on the Autobahn.
18:49 155 miles an hour is what most German cars are limited to.
18:53 And everything is just flying past you.
18:55 Remember, at 60 miles an hour, you're moving at one mile a minute.
18:59 At 155, it's more than two and a half times that quick.
19:03 And every once in a while, something blows by you on the left.
19:07 Sure, the Tesla can do 155 miles an hour.
19:10 But the RS7 does 190.
19:13 There's a reason why everyone in Germany limited their cars to 155 miles an hour.
19:17 It's insanely fast.
19:19 But this is a completely different league.
19:22 And this car can do this all day.
19:25 What if there was a car that was both quick and fast?
19:28 Something that could decimate city traffic and beat up everything on the Autobahn?
19:32 Well, there is.
19:34 The 580-horsepower Porsche 911 Turbo S.
19:37 It'll hit 60 miles an hour in just 2.5 seconds,
19:40 making it the quickest accelerating gas-powered car you can buy right now.
19:44 And it doesn't stop until 205 miles an hour.
19:47 Alright, uh, ready? Here we go.
19:52 In three, two, one.
19:55 Go!
19:57 [♪♪]
20:00 This launch is insane!
20:10 I mean, it's-- [laughs]
20:13 Catching him, reeling him in.
20:18 105, 110, 115, 120.
20:21 I'm gonna catch him right at the end.
20:23 Yeah!
20:25 Right at the quarter! That's just crazy!
20:27 He just passed me, like, right at the quarter.
20:30 To recap, the four-door Tesla ties the Porsche in the quarter mile,
20:33 both coming through in 10.5 seconds.
20:36 Along the way, the electric sedan hits 60 miles an hour in just 2.3 seconds,
20:41 making it the quickest car we've ever tested at Motor Trend.
20:44 Ever.
20:46 But the Model S isn't a one-trick pony.
20:48 It does many things better than even the Audi.
20:50 And the Audi isn't just a good car.
20:52 It's the distillation of more than a century of automotive engineering and excellence.
20:56 In a vacuum, that Audi RS7 could be the most incredible car ever made.
21:01 Then again, in a vacuum, the Audi wouldn't run.
21:04 It needs to burn oxygen to move, and the Tesla doesn't.
21:07 As long as we can find a way to make our electricity without burning old dinosaurs,
21:11 we can stop doing harm to the planet,
21:13 even while we're slaying supercars down the drag strip,
21:16 with a quarter ton of manure in the trunk.
21:19 The Tesla Model S P100D is, therefore, the winner of this head-to-head.
21:24 So, what I think is kind of coolest about the Tesla supercharger stations is this.
21:32 You get a bunch of people that just spent, like, a lot of money on cars,
21:36 and they get to sit around and talk to each other.
21:38 You know, like, "Hey, Carol, how you liking your $100,000 electric car?"
21:43 "Oh, Jim, it's the greatest, man. Do you love yours?"
21:45 "Oh, yeah, Carol. We're so smart. We're so smart for buying these."
21:49 It's, like, group thinking, and it's helped to create the cult of Tesla in a big way,
21:54 and I really think it helped the brand out in the early years.
21:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]