The road south out of Munich toward Garmisch-Partenkirchen is the opening stretch of the Porsche Europe route, and it’s also, unglamorously, one of the best tests of what a “fast car for a real trip” actually needs to be. No hairpins yet — just autobahn, then the first hints of the mountains ahead, and three cars with three very different ideas about what matters on the way there.
Three definitions of “fast German car”
Juliana claims the BMW M3 Competition Touring — a genuine M-division performance wagon, and precisely the kind of engineering-brief car she goes for. Ron takes the Mercedes-AMG GT 63, the most overtly dramatic of the three and the biggest number on the spec sheet. The Audi RS6 goes to whoever’s running the test — the one nobody picked first, and the one that ended up mattering most.
The numbers, for anyone who wants them before the story
| Audi RS6 | BMW M3 Competition Touring | Mercedes-AMG GT 63 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body | Estate/wagon | Estate/wagon | Coupe |
| Engine | 4.0L twin-turbo V8 | 3.0L twin-turbo I6 | 4.0L twin-turbo V8 |
| Horsepower | 630 hp | 510 hp | 577 hp |
| 0–100 km/h | 3.4 sec | ~3.6 sec | ~3.2 sec |
| Top speed | 305 km/h | ~250 km/h (~283 with M Driver’s Package) | ~315 km/h |
| Real cargo space | Yes — wagon | Yes — wagon | No — 2-door coupe |
| Rental (per day) | ~€800 | ~€700 | ~€1,100 |
| Drivetrain | AWD | AWD | AWD |
M3 Competition Touring and AMG GT 63 horsepower figures come from the fleet’s own published specs; 0-100 and top speed for these two are general published figures for the model, not independently verified this session — treat as indicative. See the availability note below.
Ron’s opening argument: “577 horsepower and the best-sounding V8 of the three. It’s not close.” Juliana’s counter didn’t need the spec sheet at all — she just pointed at the M3’s roofline. “It’s the only one of the three that’s actually a wagon in the way that matters, plus a coupe.”
First stretch: onto the autobahn
Ron opened the AMG GT 63 up first, and it delivered exactly what the spec sheet promised — the quickest-feeling of the three in a straight line, the most theatrical exhaust note, a driving position that makes no apologies for prioritizing occasion over practicality. It’s also, unmistakably, a two-door coupe: whatever you’re bringing on this trip fits in a genuinely small trunk or it doesn’t come.
Juliana’s M3 Touring made its case differently — genuine M-division chassis tuning in a body that swallows real luggage without complaint, xDrive confidence on a road that, this early in spring, still had patches of standing water from the last snowmelt. “This is the car that does the job of the trip,” she said, “not just the job of being fast.”
Second stretch: where the RS6 actually won
The RS6 came last, and it didn’t try to out-drama either of the other two — it just quietly did everything both of them do, in one car. 630 hp, genuine wagon cargo space that matches or beats the M3’s, and a 305 km/h top speed well ahead of the M3’s standard-package figure, all in a package that never felt like it was compromising anywhere to get there. By the first coffee stop, even Ron had noticed. “It’s not the most exciting car of the three,” he admitted. “It just does literally everything the trip actually needs, and does it better than either of us expected.”
A bit of context on each car
The Audi RS6 has been Audi’s flagship fast wagon for multiple generations, built specifically around the idea that a genuinely quick car doesn’t need to sacrifice a family’s worth of cargo space to get there — the platform underneath is shared with other Audi/Porsche performance models, but the wagon body is the whole point.
The BMW M3 Competition Touring is a relatively recent addition to the M3 lineup — BMW held out on a wagon-bodied M3 for generations before finally building one, aimed directly at exactly the RS6’s market position.
The Mercedes-AMG GT 63 trades practicality for outright theater by design — a two-door coupe body over AMG’s performance platform, unapologetically the least practical and most dramatic of the three.
Practical considerations, and a fleet note worth flagging
All three run all-wheel drive, a real asset on early-season Alpine approach roads that can still carry standing water or the last patches of snow. One flag before booking: the RS6 is directly available out of Munich, but the M3 Competition Touring and AMG GT 63 are currently listed in the fleet out of Milan and Rome rather than Munich — worth confirming availability and any repositioning cost directly if you want this exact trio for a Munich-based comparison of your own.
Our call: the Audi RS6. It’s the one car of the three that never asks you to choose between speed and practicality — real cargo space, genuine pace, and a top speed that beats the M3 without giving up anything the M3 offers. Choose the M3 Competition Touring if you want the sharper M-division chassis feel, or the AMG GT 63 if outright drama matters more than what fits in the trunk.
All three are standalone rentals, a separate booking from the Porsche Europe Road Trip, which starts on this exact stretch of road south from Munich. Get in touch and we’ll set one up.