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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
2000. - 2003.
E - Luxury car
sedan, 4 door
rear
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2001. - 2004.
E - Luxury car
sedan, 4 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4775 mm
1800 mm
1435 mm
460 liters
460 liters
70 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4796 mm
1810 mm
1453 mm
551 liters
551 liters
70 liters
2000 BMW 5 Series
2001 Audi A6

Engine

Diesel
6 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2497 cc
163 hp
350 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Volkswagen
2.5 TDI BCZ
Diesel
6 - V config, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2496 cc
163 hp
310 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
1595 kg
8.9 s
219 km/h
9.2 l/100km
5.3 l/100km
6.7 l/100km
179 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1560 kg
9.3 s
222 km/h
9.7 l/100km
5.4 l/100km
6.9 l/100km
186 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 5 gears
1605 kg
9.1 s
219 km/h
11.1 l/100km
6.4 l/100km
8.1 l/100km
216 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
cvt - gears
1590 kg
9.3 s
217 km/h
9.2 l/100km
5.6 l/100km
6.9 l/100km
186 g/km

Expenses

1200 EUR
Price from
1500 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 4-door sedan body style within the same 'Luxury 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 6-cylinder, 24-valves 163hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 163hp engine designed by Volkswagen.

Safety

The first thing to look into here would be the results from European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) tests performed on the two cars. Good thing is that both vehicles got tested, 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 luxury car segment, which is generally a very good thing safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, 5 Series offers a marginal difference of 2% 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, all the models observed together. 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 5 Series as average reliability-wise, and A6 is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as 5 Series rank it on average as 5.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.5 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

BMW is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.4 seconds less than its competitor. Still, it lacks the power to win the top speed competition, topping at 219 kilometers per hour, 3km/h less than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy things look pretty much the same for both cars, averaging around 6.8 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (42 mpg), in combined cycle.


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, 5 Series offers much better overall protection, which launches it ahead of the other contender. It all continues in the same direction, with BMW offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. 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, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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