Audi vs BMW vs Mercedes-Benz – The cheapest choice in South Africa

Audi is consistently the most affordable choice for anyone looking to buy a luxury German vehicle in South Africa.

Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz are three of the most sought-after brands in the country owing to their prestigious image, but this naturally comes at a price.

You’ll have to spend well over half a million rand to pick up the cheapest option from any of these badges, and several of their most popular models will now set you back far more than seven figures.

The Big 3 – Price showdown

TopAuto looked at three different car segments to get a better sense of what motorists are expected to pay for a premium German ride in South Africa.

This includes the C-segment hatchback scene, as well as the mid-range sedan and SUV brackets – all of which are very popular among households that can afford them.

Starting things off with the hatchbacks, Audi has the A3 Sportback, while BMW and Mercedes sell the 1 Series and A-Class, respectively.

As their name implies, the 1 Series and A-Class are the starting vehicles in their respective line-ups, but this is not the case for the A3.

Audi also offers the smaller and cheaper A1 which starts at R523,200, but this is a more diminutive car that shares a lot of its underpinnings with the VW Polo, and is thus not in the same bracket as the 1 Series and A-Class.

You can compare the starting price of the three hatchbacks in the table below:

We can see that the Four Rings is by far the most wallet-friendly option, as it is positioned R31,295 under the BMW, and a far more substantial R143,924 below the A-Class.

To be fair, the A3 is the oldest of the current selection. BMW has already revealed the pricing for the next-gen 1 Series, and Mercedes updated its hatchback in 2023.

The facelifted A3 will touch down in South Africa soon, which will probably close the price gap with the 1 Series, though the A-Class is likely to still be far higher up the price ladder.

Things are a bit more complicated for the midsize sedan group, comprising the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, and the Mercedes C-Class.

You can see the pricing for each car’s base specification below:

This time around, the BMW is the most affordable choice, but this is not the whole story.

The A4 roster has been shaved down to the special “Black Edition” units, as the manufacturer plans to replace the A4 as we know it with an all-electric series, and the A5 will serve as the new combustion equivalent going forward.

The Black Edition comes with a number of exclusive extras inflating its price tag by over R100,000, and so it would be the cheapest entry were it not for Audi’s new business strategy.

Regardless of this discrepancy, the C-Class is still the most expensive pick, being R112,742 more than the A4.

Finally, there’s the hugely successful midsize SUV segment, where the key players are the Audi Q5, BMW X3, and Mercedes GLC.

These are the starting prices for all three units:

It’s a similar story to the hatchbacks, as the Audi is the best-priced but is also the oldest of the three.

The new GLC was launched in 2023, and the next-gen X3 is launching this very quarter.

The Q5, meanwhile, is scheduled to enter a new generation at the end of 2025, which will undoubtedly raise its window sticker, though inflation will probably ensure that it is still the cheapest of the big three once it joins its rivals next year.

As things currently stand, the Q5 is R118,217 less than the BMW, and R246,748 less than the Merc.