Car Olympics: Top performing cars ranked

In case you hadn’t heard, the XXXI Olympiad kicks off in Rio de Janeiro this weekend. In the spirit of that celebration of human physical achievement we thought we’d hold an automotive Olympics of our own, pitting production cars sold in Australia against each other across a number of disciplines.

Let the games begin!

0-100km/h SPRINT

Motoring’s blue-ribbon event features a very tight field including the Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce, the Nissan GT-R, Porsche’s 911 Turbo S, the Ferrari 488 GTS and an all-electric upstart called the Tesla Model S with a performance-enhancing boost from Tesla’s Ludicrous Mode upgrade.

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Once the starter’s pistol fires it’s just 2.8 seconds before the Aventador breaks the ribbon, a tenth of a second ahead of the Porsche and two tenths ahead of both the 488 and Model S.

1. GOLD: Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce - 2.8secs
2. SILVER: Porsche 911 Turbo S - 2.9secs
3. BRONZE: (tie) Ferrari 488 GTS and Tesla Model S - 3.0secs

0-400m RACE

The Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce is the Usain Bolt of the Motoring Olympics, backing up its 0-100km victory by winning the coveted quarter mile sprint just a bee’s appendage ahead of the McLaren 650S.

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1. GOLD: Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce - 10.4secs
2. SILVER: McLaren 650S – 10.5secs
3. BRONZE: (tie) Lamborghini Huracan and Audi R8 Plus – 10.6secs

POWER

Ferrari is king of the power stakes, but not surprisingly the Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce is up there, sandwiched between the V12-powered Ferrari F12 tdf and V8-propelled Ferrari 488 to win silver.

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1. GOLD: Ferrari F12 tdf - 574kw
2. SILVER: Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce - 552kw
3. BRONZE: Ferrari 488 – 492kw

TORQUE

Motoring’s tug of war saw the 6.8-litre V12 of the Bentley Mulsanne take the honours over the brutish V12 of the Mercedes AMG S65. The Tesla Model S again showed that electric motors are nothing to be sneezed at either, snaring third place.

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1. GOLD: Bentley Mulsanne - 1020Nm
2. SILVER: Mercedes AMG S65 - 1000Nm
3. BRONZE: Tesla Model S - 967Nm

FUEL ECONOMY

Petrol

The motoring marathon is a great chance for the little guys to shine, and in the petrol category it was the tiddly two-cylinder turbo Fiat 500 Lounge that took top spot with its impressively restrained fuel consumption figure.

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Downsized turbo engines appear to be a recipe for success in this category too, with the Audi’s frugal three-cylinder 1.0 litre coming in second and the Cactus’ 1.2-litre three pot following close behind.

1. GOLD: Fiat 500/500C Lounge - 3.9l/100km
2. SILVER: Audi A1 Sportback 1.0 TFSI - 4.2l/100km
3. BRONZE: Citroen C4 Cactus - 4.3//100km

Diesel

The Citroen C4 Cactus did incredibly well in the petrol category but it’s the diesel variant which will head the ticker tape parade after beating similarly efficeint competition.

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1. GOLD: Citroen C4 Cactus - 3.4L/100km
2. SILVER: Mini 5 Door Cooper D - 3.7L/100KM
3. BRONZE: BMW 118d - 3.8l/100km

Hybrid

BMW owns hybrid economy and with the i3 REX locking in the gold medal early the battle for silver was always going to be more interesting. The BMW i8 and 330e both sip the same but the latter takes the second step on the podium because of its heavier kerb weight.

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1. GOLD: BMW i3 - 0.6l/100km
2. SILVER: BMW 330e - 2.1l/100km
3. BRONZE: BMW i8 - 2.1l/100km

ELECTRIC RANGE MARATHON

In this new event there was always going to be significant amounts of daylight between the Tesla Model S and its electric and hybrid competitors. Expect the competition to heat up in coming years as battery technology improves.

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1. GOLD: Tesla Model S - 386km
2. SILVER: Nissan Leaf - 172km
3. BRONZE: BMW i3 130km