Watch The BMW M140i Show An Audi RS3 That Five Cylinders Might Not Be Enough

Inline-six, all-wheel drive, just how the driving gods intended it to be.

While everyone is raving about the new five-cylinder turbocharged Audi RS3, the rest of the human population (actually, only Europeans) seems to have forgotten about BMW’s alternative, the M140i. Given the fact it’s not a full blown M model, it may get overlooked by badge snobs who know that Audi means nothing but business when it prefixes its model numbers with the letters “RS.” However, the specs sheet tells another story that’s not exactly indicative of the badge.

Even though the M140i is a hot hatch with a kiss from the good old M Division, it gets BMW’s built-in driver-oriented DNA that makes it a natural athlete. With a turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six kicking 335 horsepower to the rear wheels, the M140i is more than enough of a playful heathen to put a smile on its driver's face.

On the other hand, the RS3 is no laughing matter. Audi’s quattro all-wheel drive system and a stonking 394 horsepower output means it’s sure to be the winner in a straight line, but as we’ve learned many times, straight line performance doesn't always make a car the most fun in its group. As the tail-happy car of the two, of course the BMW is the one that the mischievous among us really want to drive. However sometimes being the adult in the group is a virtue. Of course, that’s assuming you have a stitch of maturity inside.

Despite Looking Pretty, LED Headlights Aren't Strong Enough

Time we start missing good old fashioned halogen lights?

Take a close look at most any new car, especially luxury ones, and you’ll notice the LED headlights are damn near works of art. Screwing in a couple of halogen light bulbs doesn’t cut it anymore. But these new-age lights aren’t necessarily any safer despite shining brighter and farther than ever. Automotive News has an interesting report claiming the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has released four studies that all come to the same conclusion: most headlights on new vehicles tested are not very good.

This is not limited to foreign or domestic brands, or even luxury or non-luxury vehicles. Furthermore, the IIHS say headlights oftentimes roll off the factory floor poorly aimed, which can cause glare and makes the switch to LEDs pretty much pointless. Out of the 100 vehicles the IIHS tested for headlight strength, only four received a “good” score. Forty vehicles got slapped with a “poor” rating. Testing is conducted by engineers who measure how far light is projected from low beams and high beams as a car drives straight and around curves, according to Automotive News. Just as important, these engineers also measure whether the lights create too much glare for incoming vehicles.

As a sign of just how important headlight strength is for any vehicle’s IIHS safety ranking, a mere 15 models qualified for the institute’s 2018 Top Safety Pick Plus award, compared to last year’s figure of 38 vehicles. The decrease was mainly due to a new requirement for headlights to earn a “good” rating in order to receive the award. Considering nearly half of fatal car crashes happen at night in the US, the fact too much attention is being given to headlight design rather than effectiveness should be worrying to us all.