Watch Triumph Trident Face BMW M340i in this bike vs car drag race

In the battle between relatively affordable yet sporty vehicles, which one will win?

Drag racing between motorbikes and cars is not new here Engine 1. We’ve seen them a number of times before, although they’re mostly between superbikes and supercars. Not that we’re complaining – a head-to-head battle between speed demons is always going to be exciting.

However, this drag race between a bike and a sedan is a little different than usual. Instead of a superbike, Coach IndiaThe two-wheeled contender is a middleweight naked bike that is relatively affordable considering the performance it offers. Meet the Triumph Trident 660, presented by the British motorcycle manufacturer in 2020.

Gallery: 2020 BMW M340i

Meanwhile, the German four-wheeled rival lines up with what the bike has to offer. The BMW M340i, the 3 Series that isn’t the most powerful M3, is still a sporty sedan and relatively affordable too, though it falls short compared to the M3 sports sedan.

In short, if you want sporty performance but don’t want to fork out for the high-spec model, these names are probably what you should be looking at, be it motorcycles or cars.

Let’s run the numbers first. The Triumph Trident 660 is powered by a 660cc inline-three engine that produces 80 horsepower and 64 Newton-meters of torque. Meanwhile, the BMW M340i is powered by a 3.0-liter turbo inline-six mill that puts out 382 hp and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) of torque to the ground.

The BMW is obviously more powerful, but with the bike weighing just 417 pounds (189 kilograms), it has a substantially better power-to-weight ratio compared to the Bimmer. That’s the price of having three more seats and a roof over your head.

However, given that rider skill is a major factor when launching a bike from a standstill, we have no way of identifying a winner based on the aforementioned numbers alone. This could be anyone’s career just looking at it in black and white.

So who do you think wins this quarter mile drag race? The fairly simple video at the top of this page should answer that.