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Compare any two cars and get our Virtual Adviser™ opinion

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

compare selected cars
2008. - 2012.
D - Large family car
sedan, 4 door
rear
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2007. - 2011.
D - Large family car
sedan, 4 door
4 x 4

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4531 mm
1817 mm
1421 mm
460 liters
460 liters
63 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4717 mm
1826 mm
1406 mm
480 liters
962 liters
65 liters
2008 BMW 3 Series
2007 Audi A4 S4

Engine

Petrol
6 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
2996 cc
218 hp
270 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Volkswagen
3.0 TFSI CAKA
Petrol
6 - V config, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2995 cc
333 hp
440 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1405 kg
6.7 s
250 km/h
9.8 l/100km
5.7 l/100km
7.2 l/100km
168 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1650 kg
5.1 s
250 km/h
13.7 l/100km
7.3 l/100km
9.7 l/100km
225 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 6 gears
1435 kg
7.1 s
248 km/h
10.0 l/100km
5.9 l/100km
7.4 l/100km
174 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 6 gears
1685 kg
5.3 s
250 km/h
13.5 l/100km
7.0 l/100km
9.4 l/100km
219 g/km

Expenses

6000 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 petrol engines and utilizing the 4-door sedan body style within the same 'Large family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (rear for the BMW and 4 x 4 in the case of the Audi). The first one has a BMW-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 333hp engine designed by Volkswagen.

Safety

A starting point here would be to take a look at the results from European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) tests which were performed on both of the cars, with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the large family car segment, which is generally a good thing safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? On the other hand, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, Audi A4 offers a considerable difference of 17% more metal.

Reliability

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, at least on all of the models level. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of BMW, as well as Audi, with the same average rating of 4.2 out of 5. The same official information place 3 Series as average reliability-wise, and A4 is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as 3 Series rank it on average as 4.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.3 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Audi is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1.6 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 250 kilometers per hour, exactly the same as the other car does. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be 3 Series, averaging around 7.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (39 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 35% difference compared to Audi A4!


Verdict

Audi 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 A4 offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. It all continues in the same direction, with Audi being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... No mistake, whatever you decide here, but I'd still go for the 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. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser, among thousands of similar, yet so different vehicles.

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