2016 Audi A4 vs BMW 3 Series – In Depth Review & Comparison

Oh , hello .

Look what we have here .

It's a German rivalry which stretches back decades , like Adidas and Puma or Bayern Munich and another German football team .

We're here to decide which of these super sedans is worth your hard earned rands .

Both of these cars are the sportier versions of the standard models .

Both have large racy wheels and sports exhausts and it must be said they look significantly better than your bog standard A four or three series .

But the sports kits push the pricing over half a million RAND .

If you buy this Audi , a 42 liter T F si sports line today , you'll pay 517,000 RAND .

Whereas if you opt for the BMW 3 20 I M sport , you'll pay just 501,000 RAND .

That's a saving of 16,000 rand .

But actually it isn't because I have the spec sheets of both of these cars here and the Audi is spec to 630,000 RAND while the BMW is spec to 721,000 RAND for a three series .

Yes , you can go to town on the options list .

But as standard , both cars are quite similarly specked .

So be careful which boxes you tick because even at that price , the BMW doesn't even have electric seats .

The next important figure you probably care about is fuel consumption .

While both cars have two liter turbo engines , the Audi has more power and more torque .

It is claimed to use less fuel at 4.9 liters per 100 kilometers compared to the BMW S claim of 5.3 .

However , in our real world driving test , the Audi is averaging 9.3 and the BMW is averaging 9.1 .

We are in a studio so I can't exactly show you how these cars drive .

So I'll just have to tell you the BMW is rear wheel drive , which means it has a traditionally sportier feel than the front wheel drive , Audi .

But if you don't care which wheels your car down the road , then the Audi has the better overall ride quality .

It's very refined , quiet and smooth .

There seems to be an overall better attention to detail in the Audi .

Even the window washers operate completely silently .

It's very impressive .

Let's head inside now and take a good look at the interiors .

BMW has made big advancements when it comes to connectivity technology .

The car comes with a SIM card built into it and that allows it to connect to the internet .

It will even read the news for you .

There's optional real time traffic information , it will make an emergency call in an accident and there's even a concierge service to help you find that really good Italian restaurant that someone told you about .

But as premium as it feels in here , having spent time in both cars , it feels a bit more premium in there .

Audi interiors really are refreshing of late .

We've seen this gear knob before in the Q seven and it acts as a great rest for your hand and wrist so that you can interact with all the buttons and knobs down here by your knee .

But the real talking point is this fully digital display in front of me .

Now , it's not the first display of its kind , but we think it's the best execute of the concept .

And while it is a 7000 rand optional extra , we do recommend it , it completely changes the way that you interact with your car .

The steering wheel becomes a lot more functional and it's just so easy to flick between the car's information , the satellite navigation and your cell phone .

For instance , once you're used to this , you're going to wonder how you live without it .

Testing rear seat space is tricky .

You need tape measures , other complicated tools like that .

So we're going to use the highly scientific sit behind yourself test .

I'll get comfortable in the front seats of each car and then I'll sit behind myself first .

The Audi where we find that I have got a good four inches of knee room .

That's not too bad .

34 inches good head room .

I'm five ft nine , so I'm pretty comfortable back here .

Bit of adjustment on the wheel seats .

Good .

Yes .

Very nice .

And , oh , if I have to call it , I would say that the Audi maybe has a little bit more knee room and a little bit more headroom , but it's really , really close .

I'm actually gonna call this a dead heat .

Both manufacturers claim that their boot space is 480 liters .

So there's not much between them in that regard and both have seats which fold flat to open up the load space .

But for the privilege of folding your own seats flat , you need to pay Audi 5300 RAND and you need to pay BMW 3250 .

Yes , it's an optional extra given that the Audi is a bit longer and a bit wider than the BMW .

We think it will have the overall load space advantage .

It is very close between these two German saloons .

After all , they are direct rivals in a fiercely competitive segment .

The Mercedes C class and the new Jaguar X E are also strong contenders .

But in this matchup , we think there's a clear winner , but you've got to remember that these cars are quite different in their approaches to the same thing .

If you're looking for something a bit sportier in character , the BMW is the car for you .

However , with a more premium interior , better ride quality and a punchier engine overall , the A four is the better car we're here to decide which of these super sedans is worth your hard earned rands .