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Virtual Adviser's™ opinion
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 'Large family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (front for the Audi and rear in the case of the Lexus). The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 211hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 207hp engine designed by Toyota.
SafetyBoth vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. 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, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? On the other hand, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, the Japanese car offers a marginal difference of 9% more metal.
ReliabilityManufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that Lexus as a brand displays somewhat better results, 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 Lexus badge with 4.9 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed A4 as average reliability-wise, and IS is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as the German car rank it on average as 3.4, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 5.0 out of 5.
Performance & Fuel economyAudi is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1.2 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 250 kilometers per hour, 20km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be the German car, averaging around 6.4 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (44 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 53% difference compared to the Japanese car!
Verdict
Lexus is apparently more reliable, not too much, but just enough. 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 Japanese car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, 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. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.