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

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2008. - 2012.
D - Large family car
wagon, 5 door
rear
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2007. - 2011.
D - Large family car
wagon, 5 door
rear

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4527 mm
1817 mm
1442 mm
460 liters
1385 liters
63 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4596 mm
1770 mm
1459 mm
485 liters
1500 liters
66 liters
2008 BMW 3 Series Touring
2007 Mercedes Benz C Estate

Engine

Diesel
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1995 cc
143 hp
320 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Diesel
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2143 cc
120 hp
300 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1480 kg
9.4 s
210 km/h
5.4 l/100km
4.0 l/100km
4.5 l/100km
120 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1535 kg
10.8 s
201 km/h
6.7 l/100km
4.4 l/100km
5.2 l/100km
137 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 6 gears
1495 kg
9.6 s
210 km/h
6.9 l/100km
4.5 l/100km
5.4 l/100km
142 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 5 gears
1550 kg
11.1 s
200 km/h
7.7 l/100km
4.7 l/100km
5.8 l/100km
153 g/km

Expenses

6000 EUR
Price from
5800 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the large family car segment and utilize the same 5-door wagon body style and the rear wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific diesel engine choice they offer. The first one has a BMW-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 143hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 120hp engine designed by Mercedes Benz.

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. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. 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, Mercedes Benz C offers a marginal difference of 4% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, all the models observed together. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of BMW with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Mercedes Benz badge with 4.4 out of 5. The same official information place 3 Series as average reliability-wise, and C is more or less at the same level.That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as 3 Series rank it on average as 4.1, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.0 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

BMW is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1.4 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 210 kilometers per hour, 9km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be 3 Series, averaging around 4.5 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (63 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 16% difference compared to Mercedes Benz C.


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, Mercedes Benz C offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with BMW being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but BMW. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. 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, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.

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