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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
2005. - 2009.
F - Executive car
sedan, 4 door
rear
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2007. - 2010.
F - Executive car
sedan, 4 door
4 x 4

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

5076 mm
1871 mm
1473 mm
560 liters
560 liters
90 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
5062 mm
1894 mm
1444 mm
500 liters
500 liters
90 liters
2005 Mercedes Benz S
2007 Audi A8

Engine

Mercedes Benz
4.7 M273 E47
Petrol
8 - V config, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
4663 cc
340 hp
460 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Volkswagen / Audi
4.2 FSI BVJ
Petrol
8 - V config, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
4163 cc
350 hp
440 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 - 7 gears
1840 kg
5.9 s
250 km/h
16.5 l/100km
8.1 l/100km
11.2 l/100km
267 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 6 gears
1800 kg
6.1 s
250 km/h
15.7 l/100km
8.2 l/100km
10.9 l/100km
259 g/km

Expenses

8400 EUR
Price from
10000 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 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 Mercedes Benz and 4 x 4 in the case of the Audi). The first one has a Mercedes Benz-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 8-cylinder, 32-valves 340hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 8-cylinder, 32-valves 350hp engine designed by Volkswagen.

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. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. 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, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, Mercedes Benz S offers a marginal difference of 2% more metal.

Reliability

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, at least on all of the models level. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of Mercedes Benz with an average rating of 4.4, and models under the Audi badge with 4.2 out of 5. Independent research findings rank S as average reliability-wise, and A8 is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as Mercedes Benz S rank it on average as 5.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.9 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Mercedes Benz is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.2 seconds less than its competitor. Still, it lacks the power to win the top speed competition, topping at 250 kilometers per hour, exactly the same as the other car does. When it comes to fuel economy things look pretty much the same for both cars, averaging around 11.1 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (26 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, Mercedes Benz S offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. It all continues in the same direction, with Mercedes Benz offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... At the end, as much as I'd like to give you a winner here, it's simply a pure tie if you ask me. 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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