What's going on people of YouTube?
Now it's often very hard to find a vehicle that can do most everything well
But when it comes to German compact sports sedans that honestly may not be the case
They give you style performance space for the whole family and are often some of the most affordable
offerings in their brands lineups
That's why we're comparing two of the most beloved entries today be refreshed a four and the all-new 330i
so we can find out once and for all which one strikes the best balance
All right, so the first thing on the agenda is pricing and equipment as
I'm sure most of you are already aware of German cars are notorious for having tons of options, and these are no exception
both the a4
45 Quattro and the 330i xDrive started at almost identical
$42,000 but in the case of the Audi we have $12,000 of options and
$15,000 worth on the BMW
All told we're looking at approximately
54000 and
$57,000 total prices, which for luxury vehicles is not a huge amount of difference
So to make up for that difference will start the Audi off with one point per thousand dollars or three points
Beginning things with the exteriors these cars show off the latest and greatest design languages of the respective brands on the
A4 that means the typical chrome single-frame grille
But for 2019 the sheet metal and lower fascia is revised for a more aggressive look
Of course the BMW has been fully redesigned
So it features a new more angular version of the kidney grille which pushes right up against the headlights
On this model, they are known as laser lights
Which are fully LED just like the Audi's but you'll also find LED fog lights in the place where the Audi only has sensors
as
Far as the side and back the BMW is styled to be the sporty er looking of the two but both look pretty athletic
BMW gives you dual chrome exhaust while thankfully the a4 still retains real exhaust outlets just with a different shape than last year
Both taillights are fully LED. However, only Audi has the cool dynamic turn signals
As far as the wheels our a4 has 18 inch silver wheels
Whereas the 330i has 19 at contrast alloys that stand out a lot more
Now moving past the design choices
we have the mirrors both of which include heating power folding auto dimming and blind spot monitoring and
Then on the safety front both cars have a wide variety, but they are a bit more restricted on the BMW
While the prestige trim of the a4 gives you all the driver assistance package contents as standard equipment
The 3-series breaks them into two packages, which we only have one up
That means both have forward emergency braking lane keeping assist and auto high beam headlights
But only the a4 includes adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist
That said however, the 330i is an IIHS Top Safety pick+ instead of just being a Top Safety Pick
Next up we have the warranties which are both for year
50,000 mile for powertrain and basic but the Audi has one year of complimentary maintenance compared to three in the BMW
Finally ending at the fuel tanks. They are 15 point three and fifteen point six gallons for the Audi and BMW
respectively which translates to 413 and
437 miles of range
But that pretty much wraps up the exterior, so now let's see which cabin spoils the passengers the most
So walking up to the vehicles both obviously come with smart entry systems and very nice key fobs
But BMW now has remote start which is something Audi is still not offering
Now checking out the interiors they have vastly different design philosophies
So on the Audi what you're looking at is a more luxurious theme of beige leather and open pore gray, Oakwood
The BMW has the sporty-er design of this example with black Vernasca leather and aluminum Tetragon trim
As far as the seats themselves the BMW gives you more adjustments with bolsters and thigh extension
But the Audi does have heating and ventilation instead of just heating on a 3-series
Be on the seats both interiors are very nice visually and in terms of material selection
For the 330i you have a soft touch dashboard with color contrast stitching and all through the middle
you have two different types of aluminum and
The same goes for the entire center console
The Audi has the same soft touch dashboard, but of course in the middle and the center console
It has open pore wood instead of aluminum
But overall it wins the materials point since it has leatherette trim along the center tunnel and on the door
Armrest which are two important touch points neglected by the BMW
After startup you can see that both have giant reconfigurable digital gauges
While the BMW's is still really neat
I found that Audi's virtual cockpit has a lot more customized ability and
Information plus it continues to be the only automaker with Google Earth
Moving back to the steering wheels both are leather wrapped and heated but the BMW's feels quite a bit nicer since it's thicker rimmed
Trimmed with real aluminum and has leather covering the airbag
Now the next major section is interior storage and here the 3-series comes out on top
It center console is about twice as deep as the eight fours and the front bin is the same way
Both have abundant plugs and wireless charging
Heading to the shifters both have easy to use electronic ones with the same operation and when in Reverse we'll pull up
360-degree camera systems in
This respect the a4 is a little behind
Since it does not have the latest version that allows you to spin around the vehicle like the BMW does
And now that brings us to the audio system, so let's take a sample
So even though the Audi is up on speakers over the BMW, I honestly found both systems to sound fantastic
The next step up the dashboard are the three zone automatic climate controls
Both of them have all the controls represented by physical buttons
Which is nice but the a4 setup is more intuitive since the buttons are larger and safer to operate when driving
But now that brings us up to the vehicles implement systems
Starting with the all-new iDrive 7.0 system
You have a ten point two five inch display that can be controlled four different ways the touch screen controller a knob
gesture or through the advanced voice assistant
Hey BMW
I'm cold
What temperature should I set
78
I'm setting the temperature on the driver's side to 78 degrees Fahrenheit
In comparison the a4 is still using the older-style MMI system, which is controlled exclusively via the control knob
Obviously both do have integrated navigation systems, but Audi remains the undisputed champ here with 3d Google Earth satellite maps
However, many people still prefer to use their phone interfaces
So on the Audi you have standard Android auto and apple carplay while the BMW only has apple carplay
Finally anything's here up front both have regular-sized moonroofs
Now in the back here these two are more similar than in the front first off
they have nearly identical rear dimensions both the head and legroom and
Then once inside the amenities are the same with each having rear vents climate controls heated back seats
two USB ports and a 12-volt outlet
Moving around to the trunks the BMW beats the a4 here with a capacity of 17 cubic feet versus 13 in the Audi
And for what It's worth it also has a power trunk
Well, we still have a super close race. So let's see who pulls ahead during the drive
Jumping into the specs these two are very similar on paper
both have 2 liter turbo
four-cylinder engines making
248 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque in the Audi and
255 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque in the BMW
that is less than a 5 percent difference on horsepower but a 7% difference on torque and
When paired with all-wheel-drive they both deliver identical 0 to 60 times of 5.6 seconds
So first taking off in the all new BMW 3-series
Definitely feels strong off the line, you know, this is a
you know the basic engine but in a similar way to like the Audi a4
These base engines nowadays are really quite powerful. I mean
They have a very distinct peppiness to them. They're not like some lethargic
4-cylinder or anything? They have a peppy-ness to them. So despite some of their horsepower ratings not being too impressive
You definitely still feel pretty pretty powerful
So it's setting off in the 2019 a4
You know, the engine is unchanged from last year and this is a really good engine the power that feels excellent right off the line
Of course out Audi and Volkswagen are known for
Two-liter turbo fours, and this one is an excellent one as well
As far as what that power is routed through you have a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic
on the a4 and an 8-speed Auto on the BMW. Audi
has managed to eliminate the typical cons of a DCT while keeping the pros like lightning fast manual shifts
At the same time though BMW has taken a traditional auto and made it respond just as well including to manual shifts
Which I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the two
Now like I mentioned this does have the 7-speed DCT
You know that's different from a lot of rivals, which usually go with like more traditionally 8-speed automatic or something like that
This is very good DCT
As we've mentioned on previous Audis reviews
This transmission doesn't have any of edible fashion
lag
And that's another big benefit of your DCT
Is that manual mode is true manual mode, it will give full control over and it is so fast
instantaneous
Yeah, the paddles were respond instantaneously
You know some of the rivals actually have a dual clutch like the in the audi a4
And this is a traditional automatic but i'd say it does respond just as well
Now moving on to the actual dynamics both do an excellent job in the typical german way
The BMW steering is excellent as expected with nice heft quick response and great accuracy
The whole car responds with Swift really button-down body motions
But it does have to be pointed out that the ride suffers because of that firmness
And we don't have any like real back road
Type of roads to drive on but going around a couple of little corners
You can definitely tell like I said, not only how tight the suspension is
but also how well calibrated the steering is
It's really quick responding
and really there's just no numbness or anything that a lot of
more luxury minded vehicles can have
Of course this being a sports sedan it does you have a nice agile feel steering is very responsive weights
up nicely. I'm not sure about drive mode we're in. I guess we're just in the normal comfort mode
I will try out the dynamic a little later but steering feel is still good even in your regular mode overall
The a4 is the more luxury minded of the two which has its pros and cons
The pro is that the ride handling mixture is better since it feels button-down and agile
But it also rides a lot more comfortably the con though
is that the steering while quick is quite a bit lighter and has a numbness not present in a 3-series and
The last thing to mention is the fuel economy where the a4 gets 27 combined and the 330 i28 combined
Obviously that is less than our 5% point threshold
Well guys that's where we're going to finish up another super-tight comparison video as
I'm sure you've noticed throughout this video these two are very similar in a lot of regards
but also have totally different personalities as
Always we strongly recommend checking them out in person and we feel confident that you'll pretty quickly figure out which side of things you prefer
Anyways, thanks for joining us for another car confections face off comparison and be sure to subscribe for more comparisons and our signature full
Review videos. Take care!