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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

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2007. - 2011.
C - Small family car
cabriolet, 2 door
rear
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2008. - 2012.
C - Small family car
cabriolet, 2 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4360 mm
1748 mm
1411 mm
260 liters
305 liters
51 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4238 mm
1765 mm
1424 mm
260 liters
674 liters
55 liters
2007 BMW 1 Series Cabrio
2008 Audi A3 Cabriolet

Engine

Diesel
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Bi-Turbo
1995 cc
204 hp
400 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Volkswagen
2.0 TDI BKD
Diesel
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1968 cc
140 hp
310 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1515 kg
7.5 s
230 km/h
6.7 l/100km
4.6 l/100km
5.4 l/100km
144 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1475 kg
9.6 s
208 km/h
5.7 l/100km
3.9 l/100km
4.6 l/100km
119 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 6 gears
1515 kg
7.6 s
230 km/h
7.6 l/100km
4.9 l/100km
5.9 l/100km
154 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 6 gears
1495 kg
9.4 s
208 km/h
7.7 l/100km
4.4 l/100km
5.6 l/100km
148 g/km

Expenses

2500 EUR
Price from
4600 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by diesel engines and utilizing the 2-door cabriolet body style within the same 'Small family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (rear for the BMW and front in the case of the Audi). The first one has a BMW-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 204hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 140hp engine designed by Volkswagen.

Safety

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the BMW being a slightly better choice apparently. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the small family car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, 1 Series offers a marginal difference of 3% more metal.

Reliability

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, when all the models are taken into account. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of BMW, as well as Audi, with the same average rating of 4.2 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed 1 Series as average reliability-wise, and A3 is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as 1 Series rank it on average as 4.6, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.3 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

BMW is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 2.1 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 230 kilometers per hour, 22km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be Audi A3, averaging around 4.6 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (61 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 17% difference compared to 1 Series.


Verdict

BMW appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. 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, 1 Series offers much better overall protection, which launches it ahead of the other contender. It all continues in the same direction, with BMW being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... It's really tough to make a final decision here, but if I'd need to, I'd say BMW. 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 more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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