How about a performance saloon agains a tuned four door premium sedan? This was probably the question Autocar wanted to answer when it choose to battle the new 2014 M3 against the diesel Alpina D3.
 
If you want to say that this is a little unbalanced, Autocar argues with that and considers that what M3 gains on power, the Alpina D3 catch up on torque. The M3 is 4.1 seconds to 60 mph, while the D3 is 4.6 seconds. Even so, the fight is very tight.