Endras BMW participated in BMW Canada’s 3 Series comparison drive event in Toronto last week. Customers and staff in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver had the opportunity to test drive the All-New xDrive 328i and 335i 3 Series against its main competition – the Audi A4 Quattro and Mercedes-Benz C Class 4-Matic.

The purpose of the event was to showcase the superior and advance technology behind BMW’s xDrive platform and to demonstrate how it works better than either drivetrain offered by the competition.

What sets xDrive apart? Essentially the xDrive system has the ability to send up to 100% of engine power to either the front wheels or the rear wheels depending on traction needs. As you will see in the comparison video, only xDrive can do this and both the Mercedes-Benz and Audi have great difficulty gaining traction. In normal driving conditions 60% of engine power is sent to the rear wheels and 40% to the front but, for example, if both rear tires were slipping on ice and the front two were on dry pavement, xDrive can send 100% of the engine power to the front wheels within a tenth of a second. See the video below for a quick demonstration.

Technical explanation: The BMW xDrive system provides variable torque split between the front and rear axles through the use of a multi-plate wet clutch located in the gearbox on the output to the front drive shaft. This setup allows xDrive to modulate the torque split between the front and the rear axles, which is normally split at a 40:60 ratio. If wheel slip is detected by the ABS/DSC system, xDrive can react within a tenth of a second to redistribute up to 100% of the engine power to the front or rear axle.

The best way to understand how a BMW drives is to drive one yourself. Book a test drive with us today – email us at info@endrasbmw.com or call us at (905) 619-5522 or 1 (866) 633-3269.

Check out the two video demonstrations and comparisons below shot by our Client Advisor David Kim at the event in Toronto: