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

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2008. - 2012.
C - Small family car
hatchback, 3 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2009. - 2013.
C - Small family car
hatchback, 3 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4238 mm
1765 mm
1421 mm
350 liters
1080 liters
55 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4266 mm
1782 mm
1443 mm
251 liters
894 liters
55 liters
2008 Audi A3
2009 Volvo C30

Engine

Volkswagen
1.4 TFSI CAXC
Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1390 cc
125 hp
200 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1596 cc
100 hp
150 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1295 kg
9.6 s
203 km/h
7.3 l/100km
4.9 l/100km
5.8 l/100km
134 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1175 kg
11.8 s
185 km/h
9.3 l/100km
5.7 l/100km
7.0 l/100km
167 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 7 gears
1310 kg
9.5 s
203 km/h
7.4 l/100km
4.8 l/100km
5.8 l/100km
137 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

Expenses

4500 EUR
Price from
3600 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 small family car segment and utilize the same 3-door hatchback body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 125hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 100hp engine designed by Ford.

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 Volvo 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, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, the German car offers a considerable difference of 10% more metal.

Reliability

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Volvo does have a slight advantage, at least on all of the models level. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of Audi with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Volvo badge with 4.6 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed A3 as average reliability-wise, and C30 is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the German car rank it on average as 3.6, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.7 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Audi is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 2.2 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 203 kilometers per hour, 18km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the German car, averaging around 5.8 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (49 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 21% difference compared to the Swedish car.


Verdict

Volvo 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 this case though, it seems that both cars show similar levels of passenger protection all together, so that won't break a tie. But one thing that actually could is the performance, with Audi 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 Audi. 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 more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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