Audi RS5 v Ford Mustang: digital battles analogue | evo LEADERBOARD

Welcome to Evo Leaderboard. Today we have two very different cars, a battle between analogue and digital in the Ford Mustang Dark Horse and the Audi RS5 Avant. But which is fastest on track? Right, Sam, I'm going to be setting the lap times in these two. Let's find out. On the face of it, it looks like a bit of a weird comparison. So talk me through, why have we got these two here? They are very different cars, yeah. So this is hybrid, sort of the latest and greatest 630 horsepower and all-wheel drive, which is the complete opposite of this thing. This is naturally aspirated, manual, power to the rear only, much less power though. You say hybrid four-wheel drive, that probably means quite a lot of weight as well. How much does this thing weigh? A lot. 2.3, 2.4 tonnes. Damn, okay, right. And that, I know Mustang's about 1,700-ish kilos, which is weird because you look at it and you think, oh, that's a really big, heavy car. Yeah, it's a Mustang. But in today's context, it's lighter than an M3, which should be fun, but I don't know how quick it's going to be. Might as well see. Yeah, so I'm going to jump into that before the weather gets a bit funny. We'll do a few laps and then debrief. Right, this thing feels quite big and quite leery. But actually, on these first couple of laps, It's actually quite predictable and quite safe, it feels quite friendly in a way. The conditions are getting a bit worse now, it's a bit greasy. And I thought I'd have to be really careful on the throttle, being a rear-drive Mustang, but it can take a hell of a lot of commitment, this thing, and the braking's really good as well. It feels quite long-geared, so I'm not actually having to switch through the gears that much, but look, into here, braking hard, I've got the auto rev matching on. Which is helping me, turns in really well there, I'm being a little bit careful on the kerbs because it's all getting greasier and greasier. This isn't going to help this car actually compared to the RS5, which is a bit of a shame because the RS5's strict four wheel drive system is exactly what you need in these kind of conditions. But I think the Mustang is going to throw a bit of a surprise, it might not be quicker than the RS5, but just from how it feels at the moment, this has got a good lap time in it I think. How was that? The conditions are getting worse, and I was a bit nervous about this car, being rear-drive stuff, but there's loads of grip out there. Well, here, there was a lot of lean going on, I saw it there, you got a bit of movement. But it feels really good, like surprisingly good, like the turning's great, the braking's really good. The gear shift is a little bit, it's a lovely shift, but it's a bit obstructive to get in the best time. But it wants to be hustled this thing. It sounds bloody good as well. Yeah, yeah. It sounds amazing. It's just a shame that the conditions are getting quite bad. I think they'll play into the RS5's hands. Does not suit this car, but... Yeah, let's see how it does. I'm going to get the lid on now and set it tight. Let's do it. Here he is. First lap. RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR It doesn't exactly look slow, does it? It's got a good amount of grip and it sounds fantastic. Absolutely flat through there. Doesn't look like it's struggling too much, I mean you'd think rear wheel drive, all about power, it would be pretty leery, but it doesn't look awful. There is end of lap one. It's surprising how much grip it's generating in these conditions, it seems to be doing very well. Past this section of the track, a bit of a braking zone there, it looks so stable. Second lap, still looking strong, just to see how quick it is, it sounds and looks quick but whether it is, is another thing. That looked quick. Yeah, it felt pretty good. I think the track is getting a bit worse. Yeah, I thought it might be. It's really good, even when you hustle it, it feels a bit big and a bit heavy, but the brakes held up quite well. I think the only thing is that, if you start going for the last few tenths, the gearbox is the limitation, not having to just row your own gears, even with the rev matching on. Okay, interesting. It just gives you something else to think about, but it's fun. It's probably set a decently quick time. Yeah, well, we'll see. Oh my word, straight away, this thing feels actually, weirdly, a hell of a lot lighter than that Mustang. It's got lighter steering, it rotates into the corners freakishly well. Wow, this is going to be a hard task for the Mustang to match this because this thing feels hyper agile for its size and a lot stiffer and more controlled as well but I think it's undoing might be the fact that I haven't actually got much feel compared to the Mustang of where the grip is which is what you need when it's wet and greasy but man this thing is impressive, the braking is really impressive as well, I don't know how. They've made a car that weighs, what, 700 kilograms more than the Mustang handle like it's a lighter car. But everything is a bit synthesized about it. So if I turn in here, I can feel the systems trying to get it to rotate in a slightly unnatural way. But we've got a lot more modes to play with in this car as well. So I've currently just ramped everything up to dynamic on the systems. And I've left the ESC in kind of the halfway house sport setting, which gives me plenty of leeway to get the car moving and rotate it on the throttle, but not so much that you're wasting time sliding the car. And the other thing that this has that the Mustang doesn't is a boost mode. So you activate it on the wheel and you get a bit of an extra hit from the hybrid system. So I'm going to use that down the big back straight, I think. I fear for the Mustang actually driving this. The way this deploys its performance is so much more efficient. That looks completely different from this perspective. I don't know what it feels completely different. Well, it's pretty amazing how they've made such a heavy car. I feel actually a lot lighter than the Mustang to drive. It feels lighter. It feels way lighter. Because it does look heavier. It almost looks slower as well. I don't know. What does it feel like on the straight? I think it feels really quick on the straight. I think the thing is that the Mustang seems to make a meal of the corners a bit more. Like it leans more and it moves more. Whereas this, you just turn the wheel, especially into that bottom chicane. The way it rotates in the middle of there, it feels like it's going to leave the Mustang for dead. It's the clever four wheel drive with the torque vectoring in the back. It's got everything, hasn't it? Yeah, it feels more capable, but it's not as fun as the Mustang because it hasn't got the feedback and it feels a bit unnatural. There are times when you go through a corner and you can crank on the steering lock and you'll somehow find more turning. But it's not you. Yeah, it feels like the car's making it happen. It feels like it's going to do a number on the Mustang. But let's see. Let's see. Here we go then. First flying lap in the RS5, and it was twitching a bit on that first corner there. It does look quick now. Wow, it's moving around a fair bit, but whether that's going to be slower or not, I don't know. Yusuf reckons it's going to be a whitewash. I'm not so convinced from this perspective, but I'm not in the driver's seat, so let's see what happens. This almost looks more exciting now, which is kind of the opposite of what you'd expect to see the Mustang and this car on paper. More composed this time. It is still moving around a good amount. There is really the sense that it is a heavy car, even from standing outside watching it. Let's see if that has any impact on the lap time. See, it does look quick there, but here and through the corners, it's moving around a lot. That lap in the RS5 looks and sounds quick, but let's see if it actually is. That looked pretty leery. Yeah, it is quite leery. The track is falling away a bit, but the four wheel drive of this, I think it's keeping it in the game. I think when you push really hard, It starts doing that weird hopping thing, the RS3s do it as well and there was a point over one of the kerbs, it hopped so violently my visor flipped down, it was really hairy and the other thing is that the gearbox, I was saying that the manual in the Mustang is a bit obstructive, this is great for the most part but there are some times when it doesn't give you a downshift, so I'm pulling for a downshift into braking for the chicane. And does it feel any quicker on the straights? It does feel quicker and it gets off the corners a lot quicker because you've got that electric boost instantly. But yeah, I'm trying different lines because it's a bit more greasy and the normal racing lines are a bit more tricky. But I'm really intrigued actually, because I think the Mustang feels quite natural and the lap time comes soon. You know where you are. But with this, you have to use the tools like the boost button and the torque vectoring and the four wheel drive. And let it do its own thing. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Intriguing. Wow. So then you say. I have some times. Yep, okay. What do you think they did though? Um... It's tricky because they're not really comparable in terms of how they drive and how they do the lap time because that feels way more advanced. It's got the torque vectoring and stuff to really disguise the weight. Yeah, I mean it looks completely different from the outside. Yeah, and this actually feels lighter than the Mustang which is pretty amazing but also quite bizarre. Yeah, it's like witchcraft. Yeah, whereas the Mustang is more natural. But it didn't feel like it was rotating through the corners or getting out of them quite as well. I'm pretty convinced that's quicker, but again, we should mention that the conditions got a little bit worse when we did the RS5 lap, but they're on comparable tyres as well. So not the same tyres. We've got Bridgestone Potenza Sport on that and PZero, so they're not super extreme. And they both felt really good, actually, in general on the circuit when it was wet. But go on, give it to me. What did they do? The RS5 should be quicker on paper and It is quicker. It did a 1.34 dead. The Mustang did a 1.35 at 17 so not much in it at all really. That honestly when you drive them it feels like the RS5 should be a hell of a lot quicker. I know second is a lot but it feels like there should be a bigger distance. I think it is just the conditions getting slightly worse but it just shows in the same conditions this will be exactly still ahead. In worse conditions it's still pulled ahead so All of that extra tech is doing something. But in terms of the one I'd want to drive. Yeah, it is still this. It's still the Mustang. And it's still quick. Yeah, it is. It feels more natural, whereas this feels like it's doing weird things at times to make it go around quicker, but not necessarily in a more enjoyable way. So interesting. I quite like this thing. It's not a natural track car. Well done, Mustang. Yeah, yeah. Good job.