track-day there isn't a car enthusiast on the planet that either hasn't been to
one or who doesn't want to go to one and for good reason it's a heck of a lot of
fun and one of the best cars to take to a track day might just be this one this
is the 2018 BMW m4 this one even has the competition package it has everything
you could possibly need to go fast on the track and have a really good time
doing so it's got a 444 horsepower twin turbocharged inline 6-cylinder engine
you've got 19-inch michelin super sport tires you've got a 7-speed dual-clutch
automatic transmission rear-wheel drive adjustable everything the thing goes
zero to 60 in $87,000 and you thought to ourselves can you have as much fun in a
track day for a little bit less money well Ford answered our question they
think that's this this is the 2018 Mustang GT with the Performance Pack -
it has a lot of the same numbers as the BMW except for one it only costs 46,000
dollars now we've decided to have our own track day here at Gingerman Raceway
in Western Michigan to see how the two of these compare out there now despite
the price difference these two really aren't as different as you might think
they both weigh about the same they both have a super powerful engine in the case
of the Mustang it's a 460 horsepower naturally aspirated 5 liter v8 you've
got a six-speed manual transmission and the tires on this thing are michelin
sport cup 2 tires these are basically racing tires with a minimal groove you
don't really want to drive them in the wet but here at the dry track it should
be a lot of fun
the performance pack 2 really does change how the Mustang feels performance
pack 1 is still decent I mean you've got the thicker rear stabilizer bars you got
a different shock to you got a different tune to the mat your ID as well but the
performance pack to all of that gets amped up even more and it totally
transforms how the Mustang GT it is so much lighter than the last one
not in terms of an actual pounds but how the front end responds when you turn
into a corner it is so much more direct it is so much more linear there's a lot
of feedback as well it's progressive it's really quite good it reminds me a
lot of the Camaro SS one le package which honestly the performance back to
was designed to fight the grip from these tires is really quite fantastic
you're rolling on Michelin Pilot Sport cup 2 cup tubes are basically racing
tires they have a little bit of a groove to them but really accomplished so
there's slicks and when you get them hot the width of these things really helps
this Mustang stick to whatever track you've taken it on
and listen to this noise
that is pure American glory friends it doesn't sound any better than that want
to hear it again I want to hear it again
absolutely so plus this and the m4 have an electronic suspension the Mustang has
the Magna ride dampers as a cult and it's always adjusting things it's
reading the pavement it's reading your inputs it's reading where the wheels are
and it's always making changes so that it can optimize what the car is doing
out on the street it really provides an excellent balance in terms of handling
and ride quality and here on the track you put the thing in track mode it firms
it up nicely but it's never punishing even in the firmest mode it's really not
a penalty box at all it's still very supple it's still really well damped you
don't have to basically go to the bathroom every time you get out of the
thing because it's punched your kidneys for the last 10 miles it really is tuned
but eautifully one of the m4s biggest differences from
the Mustang is the amount of adjustability and customization you have
with all of the settings in here steering feel transmission shift points
suspension firmness all of it is variable in a number of different ways
there is no sport mode in the m4 you've got a bunch of different variables you
could program into your own custom sport mode there are a couple of buttons on
the steering wheel here m1 and m2 and you can set all of these things in
whatever combination you want and just turn them on with a push of a button
that's kind of neat if you're driving it to the track and you want it to be
comfortable and once you get to the track pop one button turns it from a
street cruiser in to attract you the problem I have with the m4 is that
there's I think too much electronic wizardry happening between you and the
machine itself it's certainly fast
spiritual connection that you get with the Mustang the kind of bond between
person and regime that I think is important when you're doing a kind of
track day event when you're out driving for fun is that a driver for
transportation yes it definitely goes fast but it goes
fast in a more clinical kind of way it's a very different approach to speed than
we see with the American Mustang this is really all about technical precision
less about the feel of it I think one of the strengths of the m4
definitely these brakes these are carbon ceramic brakes they're not cheap and
normally carbon ceramics aren't one you really want to drive on the street they
make a lot of noise when they're cold they don't stop really well when they're
cold I don't notice any of those issues with these I mean the other over $8,000
for the optional brakes but out here on the track around and around again and
again you stop on these finishes you get some heat on them they do not fade they
do not shutter the rotors are rock solid there's no warping feel at all it is
just going fast stopping hard again and again and again
we enlisted the help of pro driver Holly Heiser from CGI motorsports Gingerman
raceway is her home track she knows it maybe better than anybody
else on the planet here's what she thought about these cars for myself I
prefer the m4 over the yeah pp2 if the BMW to me like I really like that I love
the noise that it makes I felt like the turn ins were a little bit crisper on
the BMW for me the way I was steering in and the way that it was responding I
felt really really confident in that car seating position was good seats were
good seats were good in this one too I really liked the seats here but I think
I could get up a little bit better and just where I was I felt more confident
yeah the suspension I thought was great it felt super planted everywhere I told
it to go it went so I really liked that car a lot how much do you think the
difference in the width of these tires makes because the BMWs er they're wide
but the Mustang is crazy well yeah crazy wide and I mean just looking at the
tires themselves you know like we've got a huge difference what we were dealing
with here so you know that's another thing that probably gave me more
confidence going in because I didn't have as much slide in the BMW as I did
so I know tires are gonna give you a lot more grip but they've got to have the
grip on them to give us yeah so I mean it was a big difference between that
this with fresh tires on it would have made a big difference I think but yeah I
just I felt more comfortable in the BMW and I really thought that the
transmission was shifting and responding the acceleration was a lot like a lot
more it really was pulling out of those corners quick so so I mean that's the
question for you then is this $40,000 more fun than that is from the laps that
I took no no no a $40,000 more that's a big guy yeah that's a huge can I mean
I've got $40,000 I'd rather you know buy the Mustang and
put a little bit of money into it to even make it you know better for my
driving style so this comes into 46 grand yeah it is I think frankly I'm
screaming this thing it's a definite bargain neither one of these is like in
the power I mean you've got you got a 460 horsepower v8 versus the 444
horsepower straight-6 so coming out of corners I put your foot down if you're
in the right here there's there's no problem at all yeah it goes it
definitely goes and in the BMW - and you really get out it knows what gear to be
in and it goes really really well so I liked it both I prefer the exhaust note
on the m4 because I really like the way that it growls always I'm likened it to
a tiger cub instead of an actual tiger yeah so it's got a little bit more of a
tiger cub roar than an actual tiger but I like that it sounds fast and it is it
pulls out but you can't top the roar just bellows off the hills wouldn't
attract more there's so much noise coming out of this but it's kind of
appropriate for it I mean yeah it's early doesn't sound horrible
yeah what I think is a little bit higher pitch that's really that I object most
you about the m4 it's fast it's fun to drive but there's no there's no spirit
doing you know it's a it's a go faster machine it's a machine designed by the
Germans to actually do one thing that is go faster you can go very fast in it but
to me this goes fast and it has a lot of soul to it a lot of character to it as
well and the fact that you could buy almost two of them for the price of the
m4 this is I would I would give the nod to the Mustang in a sense yeah I think I
would too just based on price alone actually because it's still a great car
but that price difference is too big the Mustang was a full two seconds faster
than the m4 around Jin German raceway thanks to its tires aerodynamics and
retuned suspension but we wanted to see what its raw acceleration numbers were
at Great Lakes dragged away we got our answer discovering the 50 MW
transmission give it a slight advantage in the streamline streaking from Jewish
female prowl in just four point one five seconds versus five point three
we totaled up all our scores we consulted our hired pro driver and at
the end of the day we discovered that the Mustang actually came out on top in
this challenge which just kind of goes to show us that you really don't have to
spend a huge amount of money to get a super capable brand-new track car
although honestly it does help to spend a big amount of money if you'd like to
see how the two of these stacked up and more head-to-head challenges go visit us
at cars calm