Audi A4 Avant v BMW 3 Series Touring v Mercedes-Benz C-Class Estate: Three premier estates road tested - The Independent
See if you can guess which of these three we’re describing. It’s a premium junior exec wagon from Germany, made by a company which seems to watch almost obsessively to see what the other two in this group are up to. So far, we could be talking about the Audi A4 Avant, BMW 3 Series Touring or Merc C-Class... It has about 500 litres of cargo space with the seats up, or three times that with them down. The 3 Series is the least hushed, but even on M Sport suspension it rides comfortably – and if you’re a keen driver, it’s the most rewarding of the group. Out of three extremely premium cabins, the Audi offers the best blend of space and hewn-from-rock build quality. The 3 Series has the best seats, but Mercedes is the most generous manufacturer of the three with the kit it gives you – to spec the others up to a similar standard would cost you around a couple of grand extra. We were surprised by a few creaks from the Merc’s dashboard, however, whose air of solidity yielded beneath a firm thumb on some of its buttons. Talking of buttons, though, the C-Class has one in the boot to drop the back seats in a one-shot movement – though overall it’s the A4 whose cargo bay is best shaped to make the most of the space it gives you. We’re still dealing with fine margins there, and the same goes when you look at the cost of ownership and find that the Merc is the cheapest over three years. Source: www.independent.co.uk
