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

compare selected cars
2004. - 2008.
C - Small family car
hatchback, 5 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2006. - 2011.
C - Small family car
hatchback, 5 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

3838 mm
1764 mm
1593 mm
435 liters
1370 liters
54 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4415 mm
1800 mm
1535 mm
524 liters
1339 liters
51 liters
2004 Mercedes Benz A
2006 Dodge Caliber

Engine

Mercedes Benz
2.0 OM640 DE20 LA
Diesel
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1991 cc
109 hp
250 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Volkswagen
2.0 TDI BKD
Diesel
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1968 cc
140 hp
310 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1245 kg
10.8 s
186 km/h
6.4 l/100km
4.6 l/100km
5.2 l/100km
137 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1400 kg
9.3 s
196 km/h
7.9 l/100km
5.1 l/100km
6.1 l/100km
161 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

cvt - gears
1280 kg
11.1 s
181 km/h
7.0 l/100km
4.4 l/100km
5.4 l/100km
142 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

1700 EUR
Price from
2600 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 5-door hatchback body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific diesel engine choice they offer. The first one has a Mercedes Benz-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 109hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 140hp engine designed by Volkswagen.

Safety

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the Mercedes Benz 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? On the other hand, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, the American 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 Dodge does have a slight advantage, when all the models are taken into account. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of Mercedes Benz with an average rating of 4.4, and models under the Dodge badge with 4.1 out of 5. Independent research findings rank A as average reliability-wise, and Caliber 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 4.7, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.3 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Dodge is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1.5 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 196 kilometers per hour, 10km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the German car, averaging around 5.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (54 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 17% difference compared to the American car.


Verdict

Mercedes Benz 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 Dodge being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. 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 Mercedes Benz. 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 more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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