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

compare selected cars
2014. - 2018.
E - Luxury car
wagon, 5 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2014. - 2018.
E - Luxury car
wagon, 5 door
rear

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4943 mm
1874 mm
1461 mm
565 liters
1680 liters
65 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4953 mm
1881 mm
1419 mm
590 liters
1550 liters
59 liters
2014 Audi A6 Avant
2014 Mercedes Benz CLS Shooting Brake

Engine

Diesel
6 - V config, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2967 cc
218 hp
500 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Diesel
6 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2987 cc
252 hp
620 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

dual clutch - 7 gears
1760 kg
7.3 s
234 km/h
5.5 l/100km
4.4 l/100km
4.8 l/100km
125 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 9 gears
1860 kg
6.6 s
245 km/h
6.5 l/100km
5.0 l/100km
5.6 l/100km
145 g/km

Expenses

14700 EUR
Price from
30000 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 5-door wagon body style within the same 'Luxury car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (front for the Audi and rear in the case of the Mercedes Benz). The first one has a Audi-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 218hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 252hp engine designed by Mercedes Benz.

Safety

The fact that the Audi got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, puts it sky-high safety-wise, in my eyes at least. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the luxury car segment, which is generally a very good thing safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? On the other hand, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, CLS offers a marginal difference of 6% 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, all the models observed together. 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 Mercedes Benz badge with 4.4 out of 5. Unfortunatelly, I don't have enough insight that would allow me to comment in more details on the specific models level. Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as Audi A6 rank it on average as 3.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.5 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Mercedes Benz is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.7 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 245 kilometers per hour, 11km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be Audi A6, averaging around 4.8 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (59 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 17% difference compared to CLS.


Verdict

Mercedes Benz 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, Audi A6 beats the other contender by far, making it the best choice without even considering other things. From there things take a different direction, with Mercedes Benz offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but 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. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.

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