I love it when a vehicle does something unexpected. Just a few examples might include a school bus that does a wheelstand all the way down the 1320, or a mud-eating Smart Fortwo that crushes off-road, or a wagon->ke143 with enough power to smoke a sports car.->ke506 Unfortunately, those first two take a little extra wrench time, but if it’s a cargo-hauling five-door speed machine you’re after, ze Germans have the answer – several, in fact. Top Gear Magazine recently got its hands on two of them for a straight-line runway showdown, and the result is this two-and-a-half minute video.

In the red corner, we have the Audi RS6 Avant, which comes loaded with a 4.0-liter V-8 boosted by two turbos for 552 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque, all of which gets routed to the pavement via the Four Ring’s quattro AWD system. In the black corner is the Mercedes-AMG E63 S Estate, which also gets a twin-turbo V-8, but ups displacement to 5.5-liters and increases output to 577 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. Only the rear axle provides the traction.

Clearly, the Audi->ke14 has the advantage off the line, as the Merc->ke187 will no doubt scramble to put down all that muscle from a standstill. Once in motion, however, the Audi will start to lose ground to the more powerful AMG->ke8 missile.

Which Teutonic terror will come out on top? Hit play to find out.

Audi RS6 Avant

Read the full review on the Audi RS6 Avant here.

Mercedes-AMG E63 S Estate

Read the full review here.