Audi A5 vs Mercedes-Benz C350

What's the difference?

The Audi A5 has done something naughty. It’s replaced the Audi A4.

Or at least that’s the case for now after the Ingolstadt brand made a bit of a mess of its naming strategy.

Essentially, the Audi A5 is now available as a sedan or a wagon, and the next A4 coming soon will be electric. The previous A5 was a swoopier two-door coupe or four-door gran coupe style model. So the A5 is now effectively Audi’s main BMW 3 Series or Mercedes C-Class and CLA rival.

Plus, the Audi S5 is also here to cater to performance car fans.

Can a new platform, a sleek, fresh look and a techy interior do the job?

We’ve been pedalling around the Victorian countryside in the hopes of finding out.

Stick with me, and I reckon we’ll get to the bottom of it. The question about the car, that is, not the bottom of Victoria.

If you’re picturing the premium mid-size segment in Australia, you’re almost certainly picturing Mercedes-Benz. Honestly, the premium carmaker has the kind of powerful and unquestioning stranglehold on the segment that would have despots and dictators turning green with envy.

The C-Class often outsells its nearest competitor by a factor of two to one. Even more impressive, that nearest competitor is another Mercedes, the CLA. Audi and BMW are left off in the middle distance, duking it out for third and fourth place.

So yes, the C-Class is a very important car for Mercedes. And this new one, updated for 2019, is even more so. It’s the first major update in the current car’s four-year lifespan, with a handful of exterior tweaks, some new key cabin technology and, most importantly, a new and clever engine option for its top-selling version.

So is that enough to keep the C-Class at the top of the mid-size pile?