Whats better a BMW or an Audi?

Audi vs. BMW vs. Mercedes – Which Brands is for YOU?

Audi, BMW, and Mercedes are each appealing in their own unique ways to different types of people.

Updated Feb 14, 2023 Tag Car Comparisons

Many people have asked me which is the best car manufacturer: Audi, BMW, or Mercedes? It’s a question that comes up often and one that can be difficult to answer. All three brands have a reputation for being exceptional in the automotive industry. However, even though the three different manufacturers have converged in many respects over the course of their respective histories, each of them still maintains its own individual identity and possesses its own set of distinctive attributes.

Well, to give you an answer, we’ll start by looking at some of the common questions people want to be answered. But first… let’s look at some of the interesting facts from each company.

Here’s a rundown of each brand and what makes them unique. We’ll start with reputation, followed by price, and ending with overall opinion.

Which Car Brand Has the Most Prestige?

Mercedes (Win)

Mercedes-Benz remains the world’s most popular luxury car brand, outselling its German arch-rivals BMW and Audi for many successive years. In addition, Mercedes-Benz remains the world’s most valuable luxury automotive brand for the seventh consecutive year, according to Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2022 survey.

Mercedes have a reputation for making high-quality, luxury vehicles that are a pleasure to drive and give off an aura of professionalism and elegance. So, it’s understandable that they are one of the top vehicles of choice when it comes to business cars.

For over 100 years, Mercedes-Benz has been known for its distinctive three-pointed star and for embodying typical Mercedes brand values such as fascination, responsibility, and perfection. As a result, Mercedes-Benz is also the clear winner regarding resale values.

Moreover, from society’s point of view, the Mercedes now becomes the status symbol, and people bear the cost of the luxury car due to its high reputation in society.

Mercedes are the most expensive among cars of the same class.

Which Car Brand Offers the Best Handling?

BMW (Win)

While we have given BMW the slight edge in this guide, ultimately the choice is yours: We think BMW offers a better driving experience and a range of models to suit all tastes, but at the same time, Mercedes offers better driver comfort and technology.

That said, if you have the money to spend on either a BMW or Mercedes, it’s very hard to go wrong with any model in their range nowadays. But it’s a general rule of thumb that if you want something sportier, stick to BMW; but if you want something premium and classy, Mercedes-Benz may suit you better.

When it comes to great handling, you can’t go far wrong with any BMW M car. With the BMW M5 CS, however you are getting the best that the brand has to offer. The steering is quick and precise, and there’s plenty of grip from the all-wheel-drive system.

There’s BMW, a true up-and-comer in this industry. BMW strongly emphasizes the driving experience itself, particularly the enjoyment that can be derived from agile handling on winding roads. The growth in demand for these particular models can be attributed to the production brand’s decision to expand its SUV lineup. In addition, a younger demographic is typically drawn to BMW because of its dedication to creating an enjoyable driving experience.

It is worth noting that BMW has retained the crown of best-selling German luxury automaker for the 2021 and 2022 years, beating Mercedes-Benz by a minimal margin.

BMW and Audi have parity prices, which can be slightly ahead of each other depending on the dealer.

Audi occupies the golden mean.

Audi

To begin, you should expect Audi to place emphasis on all-wheel drive, which will make their vehicles trustworthy in a variety of climatic conditions. This gives an edge in handling, safety, and tenacity of the car on the roadway in any weather. BMW and Mercedes have been producing rear-wheel drive cars for a long time, although this trend has begun to fade, especially in the compact class.

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Next, Audi often edges out its competitors if you want to prioritize looks over everything else. When it comes to the interiors of its vehicles, in particular, the Audi brand is dedicated to the presentation of a luxurious aesthetic. Audi pays meticulous attention to every facet of a car, regardless matter how seemingly minor it may seem. However, their attention to detail is faced head-to-head with the dominant presence of Mercedes, another brand noted for the grandeur of its interiors, the strength of its engines, and the smoothness of its rides.

Although the rivalry between the three has been raging on for almost 100 years, and the battle between BMW and Mercedes remains quite fierce, Audi has been losing ground to both Mercedes and BMW in recent years, and the gap is widening.

Conclusion

The three German luxury car brands—Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz—each have qualities that make them appealing to different types of people. Consequently, making an objective decision between BMW, Mercedes, and Audi is impossible, at least in certain respects. Different people have varying preferences, requirements, and price ranges. Consequently, arriving at one of these three options is primarily dependent on one’s own personal preferences rather than on any objective criteria.

Customers looking for luxury should consider purchasing a Mercedes, while those looking for driving pleasure should consider purchasing a BMW. Audi is positioned in the middle and offers a mix of the two by combining a slick design with a significant amount of cutting-edge technology. Your choices will determine which option is best for you now that you have an overview of the benefits that come with selecting each brand.

For some drivers, the prestige of their favorite brand will outweigh all other considerations. But for others, a careful analysis like this can point them in the right direction for a car that fits their needs.

So there you have it—a comparison of these three luxury car brands: Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. Hopefully, this resource has provided you with a clear sense of the benefits that each brand has to offer.

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Rank	Company	Country
#1	Volkswagen	Germany
#2	Toyota	Japan
#3	Stellantis	Netherlands
#4	Mercedes-Benz Group	Germany
#5	Ford Motor	United States

BMW xDrive Vs Audi Quattro — Which All-Wheel Drive System Is Best?

The German car industry has been a forefront of technology for decades, particularly when it comes to all-wheel drive systems for road cars. Audi and BMW have swiftly risen to the top of this particular engineering sect and the rivalry between them is as strong as ever. With xDrive BMWs now out-selling Audis equipped with quattro all-wheel drive in the UK, it seems that the tide is beginning to turn in favour of the men and women from Munich. So what makes these all-wheel drive systems different and which is more capable?

Quattro

It’s fair to say that Audi has been a force to be reckoned with in the world of all-wheel drive for the last few decades. Although Subaru’s AWD systems may have been technically more advanced, the delivery of power to all four wheels has been commercialised for the masses by the Germans, ever since the coveted Audi ur-quattro of the early 1980s.

Audi took its system to rallying when rear-wheel drive was rife and completely changed the motorsport forever to vastly all-wheel drive.

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Quattro has evolved since then and is now plastered on the front grille and rear bumper of many models within the Audi range. It forms a balanced all-wheel drive system, with a 50:50 split between the two axles in normal driving conditions. That orientation switches more to rear-bias in S and RS variants. It uses a central Torsen (torque sensing) differential that’s built within the gearbox. This means it’s a nice neat package when compared to the transfer boxes used in off-roaders in the past.

‘True’ quattro systems are mounted longitudinally, in-line with the gearbox and engine of the car at hand. Transverse-engined models like the A3 and TT cannot fit a proper quattro system under the bonnet. The smaller-engined cars instead use a Haldex four-wheel drive system which is generally front-wheel drive until the rear wheels are required for added traction.

The Torsen diff transfers torque between the two axles in a solely-mechanical form along with stability control, allowing each wheel to spin at different rates depending on the slippage conditions at each corner. When a wheel slips on one of the axles (one driveshaft rotates faster than the other) the centre differential is locked and torque is transferred from the axle that slips to the other axle that has traction. As soon as the wheel slip is eliminated, the diff unlocks and normal torque bias is resumed.

xDrive

BMW has had to play catch-up with Audi in this domain, but some would say the Bavarian AWD system more than matches the rally-derived might of quattro. The first BMW to drive all four wheels was the E30 325iX ‘Allrad’ from 1985 but now the company’s own AWD system can be found in everything from the 1-series to the luxurious 7-series.

xDrive uses a multiplate clutch system instead of a viscous coupling as used in many other generic all-wheel drive cars. Output is electronically controlled using the clutch system to vary torque to the axles every 0.1 seconds, with the capability to send 100 per cent of torque to one axle. Dynamic stability control is combined with an xDrive system to enhance the on-road capabilities by braking the inside wheels and cutting power across the axles to enhance rotation of the car.

A promotional video from BMW showing how the xDrive system works

Predictably, xDrive is a rear-biased system – as chosen by BMW – with a 40:60 split from front to rear. Although this may seem detrimental to AWD performance as less torque is being applied in the location of the heavy engine for traction, the firm has kept to its dogma and decided that its AWD cars need to still feel and act like true BMWs on the road.

Which system is better? It depends who you ask, as the Internet is wash with videos and forum arguments over which is superior. It is hard to trust any DIY comparison videos due to the ferocity of the rivalry, with any sort of bias to one or the other making a test immediately tarnished. Accusations of tampering with stability control settings and ham-fisted driving often scuppers the chance of a fair result being established.

Tyres are also a massive factor – since they are the only contact patch with whatever surface is at hand, the compounds would need to be identical in makeup and wear to perform a valid test, adding to a huge list of variables.

The purely-mechanical nature of quattro all-wheel drive makes it a relatively simplistic system, but one that has worked tremendously for Audi ever since it tore up the 80s rally scene.

The locking differentials can hinder a Quattro car in very specific situations however. Quattro in its basic form cannot fully lock an axle like the BMW can, with always some torque output reaching both. The mechanical nature of the Torsen differential means that if zero traction is found on an axle, it has zero resistance to send to the other side of the vehicle. The centre diff is essentially a torque multiplying device so if complete traction is lost at an axle, things can get very tricky for quattro.

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The packaging space needed for the quattro system means that the engine has to be pushed further up the chassis. This makes for the front-heavy weight distribution that has plagued Audis for decades, with quattro cars becoming synonymous with understeer. But overall it is still an extremely capable AWD system that has proven itself time-after-time in conquering the toughest of real-world road conditions.

XDrive has its merits and could be classed as the more refined system, using the electrical response as a much quicker method than a hydraulic viscous coupling. The electronically-actuated clutch allows for full torque to be sent to one axle which gives a BMW an advantage when transitioning from a high traction surface to a low traction surface, or vice versa.

The electronic aspect of xDrive does make for some unwanted intervention however when compared to Audi’s mechanical system. The rear-bias means that the electronics will always veer towards safety, so the Audi should in theory be superior when trying to make brisk progress down a snowy or icy road.

Audi has recently started the shift to electronics via its ‘Ultra quattro’ range which uses an actuated clutch much like BMW, so you could say that Ingolstadt has conceded to Munich’s way of thinking. Seen first in the 2016 A4 Allroad estate, it seems that Audi may have analysed the success of the Haldex system and decided that it’s time for the torsen diff to be consigned to the history books.

Whether Audi fully commits to that train of thought is yet to be seen, but deciding which all-wheel drive system is better is like deciding between McDonalds and Burger King. They do an extremely good job but in slightly different ways, both having pros and cons. But if rear-wheel drive fun is more your cup of tea and you’re not having to hoon down any snow-covered roads anytime soon, then the xDrive system probably takes the win on this occasion.

Audi vs. BMW vs. Mercedes – Which One is for YOU 2023?

If you are in the market to buy luxury cars, then you must be looking at the German car market as well. German cars, especially Audi, Mercedes, and BMW, are known to be luxurious. However, they don’t offer just luxury but also comfort and reliability- if we ignore some of the issues regarding that department.

All of these German-made vehicles have the same luxury, superior engine performance, and proven durability. Customer preferences in these three areas will determine which car brands are the best. Overall, a car buyer cannot go wrong with any of these three options.

All three manufacturers provide a broad selection of cars, from the least expensive (starting at around $30,000) to those with up to and above 12 cylinders and prices in the mid-to-upper-$150,000 range. First, let’s evaluate the current standing of each brand.

BMW ranked #1 of 32 on Consumer Reports’ best car brands for 2023, beating both Audi and Mercedes, which came in the 9th and 26th positions, respectively. BMW performed well in road test scores, reliability, and owner satisfaction survey results, making it the best German car brand for 2023.

An Overview of Their Remarkable Histories: Audi, BMW, and Mercedes

There is no denying the depth of history shared by these three brands. This history can sometimes be traced back hundreds of years.

In the year 1884, in particular, Mercedes was the first automobile manufacturer to appear on the market and the first of the brands to establish its presence. After that, in 1909, Audi entered the scene, and then in 1916, BMW did.

When it comes to the interiors of its vehicles, in particular, the Audi brand is dedicated to the presentation of a luxurious aesthetic. Audi pays meticulous attention to every facet of a car, regardless matter how seemingly minor it may seem. However, their attention to detail is faced head-to-head with the dominant presence of Mercedes, another brand noted for the grandeur of its interiors, the strength of its engines, and the smoothness of its rides.

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Lastly, there’s BMW, a true up-and-comer in this industry. BMW strongly emphasizes the driving experience itself, particularly the enjoyment that can be derived from agile handling on winding roads. The growth in demand for these particular models can be attributed to the production brand’s decision to expand its SUV lineup. A younger demographic is typically drawn to BMW because of its dedication to creating an enjoyable driving experience.

Taking all of this into consideration, which brand can boast the most illustrious history? Which of these will lend some prestige to your acquisition? Is it a Mercedes, a BMW, or an Audi? To tell you the truth, all three.

These automobile manufacturers are, without a shadow of a doubt, equally seasoned competitors when it comes to the building of automobiles.

The best Interior, Exterior, and Technology: Audi, BMW, or Mercedes?

Several substantial distinctions between these brands may be seen in the external and interior detailing of their products.

As a manufacturer of automobiles, Audi places a significant emphasis on elegance, as evidenced by the company’s use of high-end upholstery for its seating, as well as the incorporation of some remarkable technological innovations. When you see an Audi from the outside, you can typically identify it by its recognizable four-ring logo and its smooth curves.

Imagine a car with precise bodywork and a grille design like twin kidneys when you think of a BMW. Inside, you’ll find seating equivalent to what you’d find in an Audi, albeit perhaps a little less opulent and more centered on convenience. However, when it comes to technological features, BMW shines. A significant example? Newer models of the BMW X3 Series come equipped with a standard infotainment touchscreen measuring 10.2 inches, blind-spot tracking, and lane departure warnings as standard features.

Last but not least is Mercedes-Benz, known for producing iconic cars. This car manufacturer is always concerned with both raw power and a high level of refinement. For instance, if you purchase one of the more recent base models of the CLA 250 Class, you may anticipate finding leather upholstery, leather and metallic steering wheel, and leatherette door trim.

The best SUV: Audi, BMW, or Mercedes?

Due to the fact that Mercedes-Benz was the first company to market a premium SUV in 1998, the company enjoyed a few years without any competition. Despite this, the company was slow to recognize the trend toward smaller-sized SUVs and crossover vehicles. As a direct consequence, BMW has dominated the SUV market for the better half of a decade. In contrast, Mercedes-Benz has been forced to play catch-up, mainly as a result of the unsatisfactory design decision made for the GLK.

Even though Audi was late to the party and all of its offers are still in their first generation, the company has had a lot of success in Europe with its SUVs and crossovers. Audi noticed that even if customers value the utility of a crossover, the majority of them prefer for it to look more feminine and trendy as opposed to tough and capable. This led to the development of an appealing design, one of the key drivers. Because of this, the brand has been at the top of the overall premium charts continuously since 2009.

The most reliable: Audi, BMW, or Mercedes?

There are very few things about an automobile that is more crucial than its reliability. Each of these manufacturers has high-powered turbo engines that are capable of producing hundreds of horsepower in addition to advanced driver assistance safety systems that will keep you out of scrapes. However, Consumer Reports has ranked one of them higher than the others in terms of dependability.

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According to the results of the research on vehicle dependability that Consumer Reports conducted for 2022, the Audi brand came in at number fifteen, ranking higher than both BMW and Mercedes-Benz. BMW is now ranked #17, two spots below Audi, while Mercedes-Benz has slid to #23.

Audi comes out on top as the brand you can rely on the most to endure for the most extended period.

Better in Terms of Safety and Handling: Audi, BMW, or Mercedes?

When it comes to these three car manufacturers, how do they rate in terms of safety and handling?

To begin, you should expect Audi to place emphasis on all-wheel drive, which will make their vehicles trustworthy in a variety of climatic conditions. In addition, because of its generally more rigid suspension, Audi’s on-road handling could be more agile than BMW’s. Nevertheless, regarding safety ratings, Audi boasts some of the best.

When contrasting the dependability of Audi and BMW, you should anticipate more nimble handling from the latter and place more emphasis on response. Because newer BMW models come with the option to incorporate an all-wheel-drive system, these vehicles are fantastic choices for driving in icier climates because of this feature. When it comes to safety ratings, BMW is on par with Audi in every way.

And then, there’s Mercedes-Benz, which equips most of its vehicles with all-wheel drive as standard. When it comes to priorities, Mercedes prioritizes safety. In fact, they have been leaders in the auto safety industry for such a long time that they were instrumental in developing “crumple zones” in automobiles during the 1950s. Because of this feature, a vehicle can better protect the people inside of it in the event of an accident by absorbing some of the force of the hit.

Which one is for me: Audi, BMW, or Mercedes?

The exceptional features that separate these three are determined by how the customer perceives those features. But what if you are a consumer of cars who places a high value on having a good time behind the wheel? If such is the case, you should purchase a BMW. Regarding “fun and thrilling,” BMW is a brand that takes things to a new level as far as its approach is concerned. Above all else, they want the drive to be user-friendly and versatile in its design.

But a Mercedes is an excellent option to consider if you are looking for safety in addition to speed and power. Mercedes is all about high status and making a statement. Their high quality is reflected in the mechanics of their cars, which frequently have large, strong engines capable of quickly getting you up to speed.

But if the outside appearance of a vehicle is the factor that influences your decision the most, then you should consider purchasing an Audi. With a few exceptions, Audi is recognized for its quiet engines: their appreciation of elegance extends into the mechanics themselves.

Conclusion

Making an objective decision between BMW, Mercedes, and Audi is impossible, at least in certain respects. Different people have varying preferences, requirements, and price ranges. Consequently, arriving at one of these three options is primarily dependent on one’s own personal preferences rather than on any objective criteria.

Even though the three different manufacturers have converged in many respects over the course of their respective histories, each of them still maintains its own individual identity and possesses its own set of distinctive attributes.