Luxury limousines look pretty fancy, but how fast are they when going straight? There’s only one way to find out!
We compared the Bentley Flying Spur S V8 with the Mercedes-Maybach S680 V12 and Rolls-Royce Dawn V12 to find out which is the fastest.
The winner will then face off against South Korea’s all-electric rocket: Hyundai Ioniq 5N 2024.
Thanks again to Hyundai for helping to cover the costs of making this series – it was VERY expensive, so without their support it wouldn’t have been possible. You can Read more about that here.
The cars
The first car on the list is the 2024 Bentley Flying Spur S. We couldn’t get our hands on the powerful W12 engine, so we had to go with the twin-turbo V8 petrol engine.
It’s hardly something to scoff at. It uses a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine that produces 404kW of power and 770Nm of torque. It’s mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission and uses all-wheel drive.
Bentley says the car can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 4.1 seconds with a top speed of 318km/h.
Next up is the Mercedes-Maybach S680 V12. This is the pinnacle of the S-Class range and the most luxurious limousine Mercedes-Benz sells in Australia.
The car uses a 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12 engine that produces 463kW of power and 900Nm of torque. The car also uses a four-wheel drive system combined with a nine-speed automatic transmission.
Mercedes-Maybach claims the car can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds with a top speed of 250km/h.
Last but not least is the gorgeous Rolls-Royce Dawn V12. This one is a little special; it has a downdraft exhaust, is lowered and sits on 23-inch alloy wheels.
The Dawn uses a 6.6-litre twin-turbo V12 petrol engine that produces 420kW of power and 820Nm of torque. It’s mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and is the only rear-wheel drive car here.
Rolls-Royce claims the car can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 5.0 seconds with a top speed of 250km/h.
The challenger can achieve
Priced from $111,000 before on-road costs, the car is all-electric. Hyundai Ioniq 5N uses a four-wheel drive electric powertrain with two motors producing 448kW of power and 740Nm of torque.
Those outputs increase 478kW And 770Nm with N Grin Boost function, which can be combined with launch control function. It has a claimed 0-100km/h acceleration time 3.4 seconds with N Grin Boost active.
It also has a bunch of other features like the ability to destroy tires, make engine noises, and even fake gear changes to make it feel like an internal combustion car with a DCT gearbox.
Result
Although it may seem like a pretty simple contest, it’s actually not!
We got locked out of the Mercedes-Maybach twice, and once it decided not to move off the starting line because it thought there was something in front of the car (outside the empty runway in front of it).
When it finally got going, the final contest was between Bentley and Mercedes-Maybach, showing that cylinder count isn’t always the only thing that matters.
| Mean of transportation | 0-100km/h | 80-120km/h | 1/4 mile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bentley Flying Spur V8 S | 3.96 seconds | 2.47 seconds | 11.90 seconds at 186.75km/h |
| Rolls-Royce Dawn | 5.28 seconds | 2.87 seconds | 12.98 seconds at 179.70km/h |
| Mercedes Maybach S680 | 4.44 seconds | 2.34 seconds | 12.11 seconds at 190.44km/h |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5N | 3.52 seconds | 1.86 seconds | 11.32 seconds at 195.92km/h |
THAN: Drag Race | Hyundai v Lamborghini v Ferrari v Porsche v Brabus Mercedes-AMG
THAN: Drag Race | McLaren Elva vs KTM X-Bow
THAN: Drag Race | Countach v 812 Compizione v SF90 v Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
THAN: Drag Race | 1800hp Holden vs 650hp Hyundai EV
THAN: Drag Race | Mansory Rolls-Royce vs. Brabus G63 AMG vs. Lamborghini Urus vs. Ioniq 5 N
THAN: Drag Race | McLaren P1 vs McLaren P1 GTR vs Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
THAN: Everything about the Hyundai Ioniq 5
