New 2013 Audi A4 2.0 TDI vs Mercedes C250 CDI vs BMW 320d

What’s new?

BMW's new 320d has been the car to beat since its launch last year. Impressive both from behind the wheel and the back seat, the 3-series ticks all the must-have luxury car boxes. Audi’s attractive looking and recently updated A4 is doing well too. Smooth, refined and easy to drive, it combines effortless performance and fantastic build quality in a single package. Until now, however, the Audi A4 2.0 TDI had one major shortcoming – while the BMW 320d produces a respectable 181bhp, the Audi only managed 141bhp. Now Audi has finally addressed this issue and the new engine in the A4 now puts out a much healthier 174bhp. No Audi versus BMW tussle can ever be complete without a Mercedes joining in, so we decided to pull the 201bhp version of the C-class, the C 250 CDI, into the ring as well. At the moment, the 250 CDI is being phased out and Mercedes is offering only the less powerful 220 CDI, but there are a few left in stock, so speak to your dealer about its availability. So which of these three Germans has the best combination of driver thrills, luxury frills and rear seat comfort? Big question indeed.