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 'Small family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (4 x 4 for the Audi and front in the case of the Citroen). The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 5-cylinder, 20-valves 400hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 3-cylinder, 12-valves 136hp engine designed by Peugeot.

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 Audi 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, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the German car offers a considerable difference of 12% more metal.

Reliability

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Citroen does have a slight advantage, all the models observed together. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of Audi with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Citroen badge with 4.1 out of 5. Unfortunatelly, I don't have enough insight that would allow me to comment in more details on the specific models level. We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as the German car rank it on average as 3.0 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Performance & Fuel economy

Audi is way more agile, reaching 100km/h in 4.3 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 290 kilometers per hour, 80km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be the French car, averaging around 4.7 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (60 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 85% difference compared to the German car!

Verdict

Citroen 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, the German car beats the other contender by far, making it the best choice without even considering other things. It all continues in the same direction, with Audi outracing its opponent in any situation possible, making it better choice for boy racers. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... It's not difficult to say then that if I'd need to make a choice, it would definitely be the Audi. Nevertheless, let's not forget that people have different preferences and needs, so what really counts is your personal feel. I'm only here to help. 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.