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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

Petrol
8 - V config, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
6208 cc
525 hp
630 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Volkswagen
6.0 W12
Petrol
12 - W config, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
5998 cc
450 hp
580 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
1970 kg
4.6 s
250 km/h
23.2 l/100km
10.2 l/100km
14.9 l/100km
355 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 6 gears
1960 kg
5.1 s
250 km/h
21.4 l/100km
10.8 l/100km
14.7 l/100km
353 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 525hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 12-cylinder, 48-valves 450hp 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. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the executive car segment, which is generally a fortune safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, Mercedes Benz S offers a marginal difference of 1% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, at least on all of the models level. That's the official data, 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. Some independent research have also placed 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 3.0 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Performance & Fuel economy

Mercedes Benz is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.5 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 14.8 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (19 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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