2012 BMW 328i vs. 2012 Audi A4 2.0T, 2012 Infiniti G25, 2012 Mercedes-Benz ... - Car and Driver (blog)
Even in its last year, the 3-series treated its competition like a bull treats a rodeo clown. We gathered an Audi A4 2. 0T Quattro, an Infiniti G25 Journey, a Mercedes-Benz C250 Sport, and a Volvo S60 T6 AWD—each fitted with an automatic transmission—to find out. If we’d assembled this group last year, only the Audi would have been equipped with a turbocharged four-cylinder. This year, three of the five cars in the test have four-bangers under their hoods. The two new four-cylinder cars are the entries from BMW and Mercedes, each of which chopped two cylinders and added a turbocharger to create more-efficient base engines. This is the new reality of mid-size sports sedans: Each generation of these cars gets physically larger and more technology-laden to meet perceived customer demands and to satisfy competitive zeal. Infiniti has gotten into the downsized engine business, too. But instead of cutting cylinder count and adding a turbo, the company offers a smaller version of its familiar VQ-series V-6. So we invited the G25 to this rodeo, even if that meant it would be the cheapest car in the test. This being a comparison of the little-engined sports sedans, we considered borrowing an S60 T5. At the time of our test,. Source: www.caranddriver.com
