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 wagon body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Opel-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 65hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 102hp engine designed by Volkswagen.

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 same number of safety stars gained in the process. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. 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, Audi A3 offers a marginal difference of 1% more metal.

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Opel does have a slight advantage, at least on all of the models level. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Opel, as well as Audi, with the same average rating of 4.2 out of 5. The same official information place Astra as average reliability-wise, and A3 is more or less at the same level.That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as Astra rank it on average as 4.8, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.8 out of 5.

Audi is way more agile, reaching 100km/h in 5.6 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 189 kilometers per hour, 29km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy things look pretty much the same for both cars, averaging around 6.5 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (43 mpg), in combined cycle.

Opel 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, Audi A3 offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. It all continues in the same direction, 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... It's really tough to make a final decision here, but if I'd need to, I'd say 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.