Which V8 super SUV is quickest? We find out

Welcome to a true heavyweight battle, as we pit a pair of plus-sized super SUVs in another MOTOR drag battle.

Our combatants for this stoush both herald from Germany, and are the Audi RS Q8 and Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S Coupe.

Despite the SUV bodystyles, these are no longer cars that enthusiasts can look down their nose upon. The RS Q8 is quicker than the original Audi R8 V10 Plus around the Nurburgring by a full two seconds. Supercar killer: confirmed.

Neither have any options fitted, with the Audi being the cheaper of the pair at $208,500 against the AMG’s $225,500 pricetag.

For that price, each receive a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, with the Audi’s having 441kW/800Nm outputs, and the AMG 450kW/850Nm.

They need all that power too, weighing in at over two tonnes each.

The RS Q8 is quickest off the line, and never relinquishes its lead. Against a claimed 0-100km/h sprint the big Audi is bang on, clicking into triple digits 3.8 seconds after launch. While the AMG shares the same claimed 0-100km/h time, in the real world it was only able to manage a best of 4.2 seconds.

This is in part due to the fact that despite all the performance on tap from the 4.0-litre V8, the GLE 63 S lines up sans launch control.

At 160km/h (or 100mph in old money) the gap remains at four tenths of a second, with the RS Q8 achieving a 8.6 second sprint to the GLE 63 S’s 9.0 neat.

Over the traditional quarter mile the RS Q8 holds onto its advantage, with a rather rapid 11.9 second elapsed time, while the AMG stops the clock with 12.2 second pass.

Interestingly though, both cars fly through the speed trap at the end of the quarter mile at 187km/h exactly.

By time 200km/h appears on the speedometer, the AMG’s power advantage is only just starting to show, clawing back a tenth of a second with a 14.5 second run compared to the Audi’s 14.2.

To watch the full runs, along with a ‘street start’ and roll race, watch the video above.

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