Just how fast was the fastest sedan in the world in 1992? The legendary Porschebuilt MercedesBenz 500E races the fastest wagons in the world: the E34 BMW M5 Touring and the Audi RS2 Avant, which was also built by Porsche!

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Veteran automotive journalist Jason Cammisa and SCCA halloffame racecar driver Randy Pobst line up and race the Mercedes 500E (known later as the E500) against the RS 2 and M5, and the results are surprising. Will the Mercedes' 4speed automatic kill its chances against the two other manuals — a fivespeed in the M5 and a sixspeed in the Audi?

And what's with the sixcylinder E320 dogleg manual wagon and its DOHC 24V 3.2liter straightsix?

The 3.8liter S38 is the biggest straightsix that BMW has ever made, and it produced 340 PS (335 hp) at an insane, independentthrottlebody screaming 6900 rpm. The Audi's muchsmaller 2.2liter, 20valve turbo fivecylinder made 315 PS (311 hp), and the 5.0liter quadcam, DOHC 32V Mercedes V8 made 326 PS (322 hp) but had variable valve timing so it creamed the others on torque.

The next question is: can any of these 1990s legends keep up with today's slowest sports car, the ND2 Mazda MX5 Miata? You'll be surprised by the outcome.

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Chapters:
0:00 Purple Manual Wagons — and a 500E
0:50 Hagerty Driver's Club Offer
1:11 E34 M5 Touring Specs and Info
2:06 Audi RS2 Avant Specs and Info
2:41 MercedesBenz S124 E320T 5speed Dogleg Specs and Info
3:11 MercedesBenz W124 500E/E500 Specs and Info
4:15 1/4mile: 500E vs RS2 vs M5
5:28 Walkback: How is the 500E so fast?
6:40 Launching and racing the E34 M5
7:40 AWD launch in the RS2 — plus turbo lag in the 1/4mile
9:06 Jason and Randy kiss their own Valentine 1 radar detectors
9:56 ND2 Miata vs Mercedes 500E 1/4mile drag race
11:16 Drag Race Results Leaderboard
11:25 Conclusion: powertoweight is wrong!