Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 4-door sedan body style within the same 'Executive car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (4 x 4 for the Audi and rear in the case of the Jaguar). The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 6-cylinder, 30-valves 193hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 8-cylinder, 32-valves 240hp engine designed by Jaguar.

Unfortunatelly, neither of the two vehicles was submitted to the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) testing. This makes it virtually impossible for me to pick one over the other and I'm generally against buying such cars as the safety should really always come first. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the executive car segment, which is generally a fortune safety-wise, but that fact doesn't break the tie between the two cars. On the other hand, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, the British car offers a marginal difference of 8% more metal.

Manufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, when all the models are taken into account. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of Audi with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Jaguar badge with 4.1 out of 5. Independent research findings rank A8 as average reliability-wise, and XJ is more or less at the same level.That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as the German car rank it on average as 4.9, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.0 out of 5.

Both of the cars accelerate exactly the same, so we couldn't put one above the other. Car No. 1 reaches top speed of 225 kilometers per hour, 10km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the German car, averaging around 11.1 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (25 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 9% difference compared to the British car.

Audi is apparently more reliable, not too much, but just enough. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the British car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. When it comes to performance, both vehicles provide similar experience, so I wouldn't point any of them out. the German car , on the other hand, consumps significantly less fuel, and that's a big plus. It's not difficult to say then that if I'd need to make a choice, it would definitely be the Audi. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser™, among thousands of similar, yet so different vehicles.