[indica]

i have sold both my optra and my sister's civic, as they have clocked 60,000 km (i don't drive any car beyond that!).

My parents would be keeping their 2006 Sonata CRDi for another 4 years at least but i would like to purchase a car for myself soon (within a month).

Criteria:
German brand
(was willing to consider CTS if GM launches it soon but they said it is uncertain and won't come to India before 2009)
automatic transmission.
cruising ability on highways so high on torque.
comfortable for 4 persons.
reliability.
performance.
ride comfort important, handling is secondary.
acceptable(for its size) fuel economy.
not too frequent on maintenance.
rugged body to deal with poor roads of Delhi.

which is a better car overall?

C220 CDI or 320 D?
should I also consider the new Audi A4 2.0.TDI 2009?

please help me out in making a correct decision as I am spending my hard earned money and i don't want to buy anything wrong which i would regret later.
My daily running will be a minimum of 200-250 km, thats why i am considering diesel as my first preference due to the price of fuel which is cheap, torque of engine for easy highway cruising, fuel economy and optimum maintenence costs.

 

[Bravada]

I'd steer away from Mercedes if you want troublefree maintenance. Basically, the new A4 walks over the C-Klasse wherever you look. A 3er is also worth considering, but certainly not the W204.

Please note modern common-rail diesels are EXTREMELY sensitive to fuel quality, so do make sure diesel quality in your area (and wherever you intend to travel) is entirely top-notch (which is very often not the case, much to the delight of dealers' service departments).

Do you get Citroens in India? Considering what you wrote, I'd check out the new C5.

Also, for bulletproof reliability and extreme durability to wear and tear (including the interior), as well as a fine ride, check out the outgoing Skoda Superb. Perhaps it does not do so much for your carefully cultivated image, but then it is the very best of underdog automobiles available.

 

[tomprice]

automatic transmission.

I don't know if you've researched this, but for the C-class in India there is only one trim level with the 5-speed automatic transmission - Elegance.

The BMW India website says the 320d also has an automatic gearbox with steptronic [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiptronic ] , as it does in Europe.

cruising ability on highways so high on torque.
comfortable for 4 persons.
reliability.

Torque figures I've found - C220 has 295lb ft, 320d has 258lb ft, A4 has 236lb ft.

I'd think, being compact executives that have done thousands of development miles all over the world on all kinds of roads so unless you plan on driving deliberately over cobbled streets everywhere it'll be pretty comfortable whichever car you choose, with maybe the Mercedes very slightly ahead due to the BMW's slightly stiffer set-up.

Though it's probably quite difficult to accurately judge the reliability of cars this new, from my experiences I'd probably be very wary of a Merc, very wary, but then again my experiences were with a totally different type of car, engine and age.

ride comfort important, handling is secondary.

As soon as you say this it's the Mercedes that is likely to be in the lead - the BMW and probably Audi are far more likely to be stiffly sprung relative to the Merc

acceptable(for its size) fuel economy.

Just to give a general idea...

A4 2.0 TDi 16v Multitronic

In the city 31.4 mpg :: Out of city 54.7 mpg :: Average consumption 42.8 mpg

320d Steptronic

In the city 33.1 mpg :: Out of city 53.5 mpg :: Average consumption 43.6 mpg

C220 CDi

In the city 29.8 mpg :: Out of city 50.0 mpg :: Average consumption 39.9 mpg

Not sure how reliable those figures are - but I'm 95% sure they're decent enough to reckon on...

not too frequent on maintenance.

Refer to my earlier comment about Mercedes reliability - the least reliable car will obviously require the most trips to the dealershi(t). I'd imagine it's the standard service interval though for all three (12,000 miles), it could be different for India though..

which is a better car overall?

C220 CDI or 320 D?
should I also consider the new Audi A4 2.0.TDI 2009?

please help me out in making a correct decision as I am spending my hard earned money and i don't want to buy anything wrong which i would regret later.

My daily running will be a minimum of 200-250 km, thats why i am considering diesel as my first preference due to the price of fuel which is cheap, torque of engine for easy highway cruising, fuel economy and optimum maintenence costs.

Hopefully you found some of that lot ^^ of interest - though it has illustrated to me I really have a painfully small workload atm....or maybe I'm just a stickler for detail...

Just to finish off - three reviews of the A4 2.0 TDi, C220 CDi and 320d which might help you a long a little...

C220: http://www.autocarindia.com/new/RoadtestDetails.asp?id=1150

320d (UK test): http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/RoadTestsHistory/BMW-3-Series-320d-SE/214374/

A4 (UK test): http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/RoadTestsHistory/Audi-A4-2.0-TDI-SE/231230/