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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
2001. - 2004.
D - Large family car
wagon, 5 door
4 x 4
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2002. - 2007.
D - Large family car
wagon, 5 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4547 mm
1766 mm
1428 mm
442 liters
1184 liters
70 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4654 mm
1762 mm
1492 mm
419 liters
1273 liters
58 liters
2001 Audi A4 Avant
2002 SAAB 9-3 Sport Combi

Engine

Audi / Volkswagen
1.8 5V BEX
Petrol
4 - Inline, 5 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1781 cc
190 hp
240 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Opel / General Motors
1.8 Z18XE
Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1796 cc
125 hp
165 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1530 kg
8.5 s
230 km/h
12.9 l/100km
7.3 l/100km
9.4 l/100km
226 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1375 kg
11.5 s
200 km/h
10.7 l/100km
6.2 l/100km
7.9 l/100km
188 g/km

Performance (automatic 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

Expenses

1600 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 petrol engines and utilizing the 5-door wagon body style within the same 'Large 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 SAAB). The first one has a Audi-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 20-valves 190hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 125hp engine designed by Opel.

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 SAAB being a slightly better choice apparently. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the large family car segment, which is generally a good thing safety-wise, but that fact doesn't break the tie between the two cars. Furthermore, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, the German car offers a considerable difference of 11% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that SAAB does have a slight advantage, at least on all of the models level. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Audi with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the SAAB badge with 4.1 out of 5. Independent research findings rank A4 as average reliability-wise, and 9-3 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 3.3, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.7 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Audi is way more agile, reaching 100km/h in 3 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 230 kilometers per hour, 30km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the Swedish car, averaging around 7.9 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (36 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 19% difference compared to the German car.


Verdict

SAAB 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 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... No mistake, whatever you decide here, but I'd still go for the SAAB. 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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