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

compare selected cars
2005. - 2008.
F - Executive car
sedan, 4 door
rear
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2002. - 2007.
F - Executive car
sedan, 4 door
4 x 4

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

5039 mm
1902 mm
1491 mm
500 liters
500 liters
88 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
5051 mm
1894 mm
1444 mm
500 liters
500 liters
90 liters
2005 BMW 7 Series
2002 Audi A8

Engine

Diesel
6 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2993 cc
231 hp
500 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Diesel
6 - V config, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2967 cc
233 hp
450 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)

automatic - 6 gears
1875 kg
7.8 s
238 km/h
11.3 l/100km
6.4 l/100km
8.2 l/100km
216 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 6 gears
1830 kg
7.8 s
243 km/h
12.1 l/100km
6.5 l/100km
8.5 l/100km
229 g/km

Expenses

6500 EUR
Price from
4500 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 'Executive 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 231hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 233hp engine designed by Audi.

Safety

Unfortunatelly, neither of the two vehicles was submitted to the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) testing. This makes it virtually impossible for me to pick one over the other and I'm generally against buying such cars as the safety should really always come first. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the executive car segment, which is generally a fortune 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, 7 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. Some independent research have also placed 7 Series as average reliability-wise, and A8 is more or less at the same level.That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as 7 Series rank it on average as 5.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.6 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Both of the cars accelerate exactly the same, so we couldn't put one above the other. Car No. 2 is faster though, reaching top speed of 243 kilometers per hour, 5km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy things look pretty much the same for both cars, averaging around 8.4 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (34 mpg), in combined cycle.


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, 7 Series offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. When it comes to performance, both vehicles provide similar experience, so I wouldn't point any of them out. 7 Series still consumps less fuel, which needs to be taken into consideration. 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. 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 thousands of similar, yet so different vehicles.

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