Think city car and you’ll no doubt conjure up images of small hatchbacks ideal for darting in and out of tight spaces. But if you’re living in the thick of the hustle and bustle, would you really want to be driving a Yaris or a Polo for the rest of your life?

Look at the eco system of any big city – you’ll find a bee’s hive of ambitious people with good jobs or successful businesses, people on the move and making a good living for themselves.

Question is, what is the next step up the automotive ladder for the city slicker? A luxury car with a trendy badge is a definite plus, but you don’t want something too big to weave through traffic, nor something that’s too heavy on gas – after all, you spend much of your time moving through heavy traffic. An automatic gearbox seems very tempting right now.

Eventually your choice comes down to the BMW 3-Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes C-Class – the established players and an all-too-common sight on SA’s city roads. If you still want to keep things economical, you’d be looking at the four-cylinder entry-level models that come in around the R260 000 mark. Now there’s yet another player that wants to stake a claim in the junior-exec game and its badge was once known as being the standard of the world in luxury car terms. Alright, you can’t deny that the Germans have moved to the top of this game over the past few decades, but when something from an old and prestigious marque like Cadillac comes in with all guns blazing, it makes for an interesting tussle.

It’s worth mentioning that the Cadillac BLS is made from mostly European genes – it’s built in Sweden and based on the Saab 9-3, although its styling is pure Cadillac. In the battle for style supremacy there’s no clear winner here. The BLS wins for individuality – not only is it a rare sight on the road, but its chiselled appearance sets it apart from the rest of the style set. But it’s a matter of personal taste and not everyone’s going to find it easy on the eye. The Audi A4 remains as elegant as ever, in a simplistic, uncluttered kind of way, but it is getting on in life and will be replaced by early next year. When it comes to the crunch, it’s the BMW’s design that pleases us most, with its sporty lines marred only by that over-complex grille and airdam design up front.

For the purposes of this test, we chose to feature the most basic models in each range, with the smallest engines mated to automatic gearbox options. Like that, all three cars cost in the region of R260 000. Bear in mind, though, that the two German cars can be had with a lot more in the way of power and specification if you’re prepared to fork out a bit more than that.

When it comes to the driving experience, these three cars offer a very mixed bag. It’s here that the Cadillac pulls out its first trump card with its turbocharged engine. With 131kW and 265Nm on tap, and the advantage its forced induction has at reef altitudes, the Caddy screams ahead of its two opponents here in the performance stakes. In fact, it proved almost two seconds quicker than the next most powerful BMW in the 0-100km/h and 80 – 120km/h acceleration tests.

We were also surprised by the ease at which the BLS pulls off from the mark, with little in the way of turbo lag. That’s often a big bugbear in force-fed, automatic transmission cars at high altitudes because without a clutch there’s no easy way to counter the turbo’s inability to spin at low revs. While the BLS is a bit laggy on pull off, it’s nowhere near as apparent as it is on many other turbo autos. The Caddy’s is a good, modern engine with a decent flexibility through the rev range and a quick-thinking 5-speed automatic gearbox that cooperates well with the engine. The gearbox has a manual function too, from which gears can be changed either from the gear stick or via levers at the top of the steering wheel.

The naturally aspirated BMW and Audi engines fall behind in performance terms. Especially the Audi, which still uses the old 20-valve 2-litre motor, rather than the group’s latest FSI direct injection units. With just 96kW on tap, it struggles at reef altitudes, but bear in mind that a turbocharged, 1.8-litre version of the same engine – aka Polo GTI – is available for R287K. For those who are discerning about their automatic gearboxes, the Multitronic CVT gearbox in the Audi impresses with its seamless shifting.

The BMW has a little more armour in the power stakes, with 110kW from its 2-litre 16-valve engine with Valvetronic and dual-Vanos variable camshaft adjustment. It’s a good motor, but weighed down by altitude and the 6-speed Steptronic autobox, which also offers smooth shifting and a manual function. Yet, if you have any inkling towards performance, BMW’s entry engine doesn’t quite crack it.

This becomes even more of a sore point when you experience the driving dynamics of these three cars – because the BMW is well superior here. It’s the only rear-wheel driven car in this trio and that, along with its independent 5-arm rear axle and that typical all round engineering finesse BMW’s renowned for, there’s little to touch this car when it comes to an enjoyable and twisty country road. Except, this version doesn’t have the power to exploit its giant-killing ability.

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