Did Cadillac fight fair in its drag race with Mercedes?

9/30/2011

Cadillac has posted a video online that show their highly-regarded Escalade smoking a Mercedes-Benz in a drag race. Pretty impressive, right? But hold on - according to AutoBlog, General Motors didn't exactly fight fair.

The Escalade in the video is equipped with a 6.2-liter V8 engine that produces 403 horsepower. Its opponent, the Mercedes-Benz C300, only sports a V6 engine capable of 228 horsepower. Now horsepower is not the sole determinant when it comes to performance - surely the bulkier Escalade is at a bit of a disadvantage. But still, beating a car because you have two extra cylinders isn't exactly the fairest of races.

It might be something worth considering if the two cars were close in price - but again, the Escalade is $20,000 more expensive than the C300.

At the end of the video, General Motors adds insult to injury by having the Escalade tow the C300 away on a trailer. It's an impressive video - but for those who know the tech underneath the hood, not as jaw-dropping.