Audi A4/A5 vs Mercedes C Class vs BMW 5 Series

Danger Phoenix · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:28

As the title suggests, which one would you guys go for?

I am looking for a 4 door saloon with a maximum of a 2.7L engine. Would be looking to buy a second hand one for around the £20k mark, and not more than a couple of years old with less than 40k miles on the clock.

PMKeates · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:29

The 5 Series because it's in the segment above the others you list; it's at a different level of refinement and quality.

[TW]Fox · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:30

You have completely different cars in your shortlist, what do you want? The 5 Series is a large executive saloon, the A5 is a coupe for a start. £20k is a difficult budget, it only gets you an SE specification 5 Series with one of the poorer engine offerings.

Why a 'maximum of a 2.7L engine'? The engine size is totally arbitary and makes little real difference to anything. Specifying an exact engine size is the sort of thing 18 year olds paranoid about insurance do when picking a hatchback.

Danger Phoenix · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:32

[TW]Fox;25039291 said:
You have completely different cars in your shortlist, what do you want? The 5 Series is a large executive saloon, the A5 is a coupe for a start. £20k is a difficult budget, it only gets you an SE specification 5 Series with one of the poorer engine offerings.

Why a 'maximum of a 2.7L engine'? The engine size is totally arbitary and makes little real difference to anything. Specifying an exact engine size is the sort of thing 18 year olds paranoid about insurance do when picking a hatchback.

I am only at the initial stages of research so I don't really know yet what I want. All I am going by at the moment is that I like the look of all the cars I mentioned.

Although I am 27, I am worried about the engine because I have never had my own policy and therefore no NCD so don't want to be killed by insurance premiums.

I did consider an Audi A6 but I think that is a little big, so want something a little bit smaller but not overly so.

PMKeates · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:38

Have you run any insurance quotes? That would be a good first step to benchmark what you are happy with paying vs. what the premium is.

Danger Phoenix · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:38

PMKeates said:
Have you run any insurance quotes? That would be a good first step to benchmark what you are happy with paying vs. what the premium is.

I did do one on a 2 year old 2.7L Audi A6 and that came to ~£800 which I think would be acceptable.

[TW]Fox · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:42

Danger Phoenix said:
because I have never had my own policy and therefore no NCD so don't want to be killed by insurance premiums.

You are spending £20,000 on an executive car which isn't going to be cheap to run. You should be past worrying about insurance here (well, as far as the differences between non-high performance executive cars goes). It's not an issue.

And even if it was an issue, it doesn't go on 'engine size'. The engine size is completely arbitary and bears no relation to your insurance premium. It's a combination of lots of things including power and performance but not generally the actual size of the engine. For example the equivilent to a 2.7 TDI A6 in the 5 Series is a 525d - but it has a 3 litre engine...

I did consider an Audi A6 but I think that is a little big, so want something a little bit smaller but not overly so.

The 5 Series is not smaller than an A6! It's the same size.

Danger Phoenix · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:42

I do like the look of the Audis but was just keeping my options open. I had seen this which is a little over the budget, but I am willing to stretch if it is absolutely necessary:
Audi A4

Danger Phoenix · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:44

[TW]Fox;25039383 said:
You are spending £20,000 on an executive car which isn't going to be cheap to run. You should be past worrying about insurance here (well, as far as the differences between non-high performance executive cars goes). It's not an issue.

And even if it was an issue, it doesn't go on 'engine size'. The engine size is completely arbitary and bears no relation to your insurance premium. It's a combination of lots of things including power and performance but not generally the actual size of the engine. For example the equivilent to a 2.7 TDI A6 in the 5 Series is a 525d - but it has a 3 litre engine...

The 5 Series is not smaller than an A6! It's the same size.

Apologies. This is my first car purchase so I am currently running blind.

I guess that rules out the 5 Series then. The C Class and A4 are smaller right? If so, then I think that that is more for me.

PMKeates · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:46

Danger Phoenix said:
I did do one on a 2 year old 2.7L Audi A6 and that came to ~£800 which I think would be acceptable.

OK, then consider everything around that acceptable. Bear in mind a 3.5L competing vehicle could be cheaper than the A6, so don't rule anything out completely until you've checked it!

Danger Phoenix · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:49

I'm liking the look of the A4 more and more. Just found these:
A4 1
A4 2

Havana_UK · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:56

Merc C class, Audi A4 & BMW 3 series are the three "premium" brand small 4 door saloons, but then you have similar sized cars from the likes of VW, Seat, Alfa Romeo, Ford, Vauxhall, Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, Lexus etc. Before we can give you much help we need to better understand what you want and expect from your car and, besides insurance, what your other criteria are.

rodenal · 1 Oct 2013 at 21:57

Do you particularly want diesel? The likes of the 2 litre tfsi is a pretty good engine in the a4

Danger Phoenix · 1 Oct 2013 at 22:02

Havana_UK said:
Merc C class, Audi A4 & BMW 3 series are the three "premium" brand small 4 door saloons, but then you have similar sized cars from the likes of VW, Seat, Alfa Romeo, Ford, Vauxhall, Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, Lexus etc. Before we can give you much help we need to better understand what you want and expect from your car and, besides insurance, what your other criteria are.

I prefer the German cars and generally premium ones. Off the top of my head this is what I tend to look for:
- Stylish Design (I know this is personal preference)
- Fast acceleration
- Top speed is not an issue as I am rarely going to go faster than 120mph
- Automatic
- Leather Seats (if possible heated)
- Decent storage (for my annual camping trips)
- Decent sound system
- Parking sensors would be helpful in London
- Average economy (I know it won't be better than the 1.6L Toyota Corolla I currently drive)

rodenal said:
Do you particularly want diesel? The likes of the 2 litre tfsi is a pretty good engine in the a4

I have no preference over diesel or petrol.

PMKeates · 1 Oct 2013 at 22:06

Danger Phoenix said:
- Fast acceleration
- Top speed is not an issue as I am rarely going to go faster than 120mph

It's a mistake to separate these and set a limit of 120 MPH. An A4 that does 120 MPH will have about 120 HP and very slow acceleration around 60-100 MPH. An A4 that's capable of the typical 155 MPH electronic limiter will need at least 220 HP, and will have much better acceleration around 60-100 MPH as a result.

Danger Phoenix · 1 Oct 2013 at 22:07

PMKeates said:
It's a mistake to separate these and set a limit of 120 MPH. An A4 that does 120 MPH will have about 120 HP and very slow acceleration around 60-100 MPH. An A4 that's capable of the typical 155 MPH electronic limiter will need at least 220 HP, and will have much better acceleration around 60-100 MPH as a result.

Sorry, what I meant was that I am not that bothered about the top speed, but acceleration is more important for me. If I get high top speeds as a result of getting fast acceleration then so be it.

Havana_UK · 1 Oct 2013 at 22:10

Danger Phoenix said:
- Fast acceleration

Define "fast"?

Danger Phoenix said:
- Top speed is not an issue as I am rarely going to go faster than 120mph

Seriously? Remind me not be anywhere near Kingston when you're on the road then please. I see enough idiots doing 90+ mph let alone the ones who think it's ok to drive at faster then 120mph...even if it's only "rarely"

mjt · 1 Oct 2013 at 22:10

Test drive them all and then come back to us.

PMKeates · 1 Oct 2013 at 22:15

Havana_UK said:
Define "fast"?

Seriously? Remind me not be anywhere near Kingston when you're on the road then please. I see enough idiots doing 90+ mph let alone the ones who think it's ok to drive at faster then 120mph...even if it's only "rarely"

90 MPH lol

I take it you don't spend much time on our motorways?

Danger Phoenix said:
Sorry, what I meant was that I am not that bothered about the top speed, but acceleration is more important for me. If I get high top speeds as a result of getting fast acceleration then so be it.

It's not a case of 'so be it', it's a case of a quickly accelerating A4/A5/C-Class/3 Series/5 Series - anything around that class/segment - will be capable of 150 MPH or more

Danger Phoenix · 1 Oct 2013 at 22:16

Havana_UK said:
Define "fast"?

Seriously? Remind me not be anywhere near Kingston when you're on the road then please. I see enough idiots doing 90+ mph let alone the ones who think it's ok to drive at faster then 120mph...even if it's only "rarely"

0-60mph in less than 9 seconds is what I would call fast.

Haha, I don't actually drive at those speeds (I don't think that the Corolla can even go that fast). I was more future planning as I would like to take on the autobahns one day.

PMKeates said:
It's not a case of 'so be it', it's a case of a quickly accelerating A4/A5/C-Class/3 Series/5 Series - anything around that class/segment - will be capable of 150 MPH or more

I am liking the sound of 150mph but I think I would be too scared to take it up to those speeds. For me I think it will end up knowing that I can