Best modern day tank

[AlienXXX]

Most of what I have heard about modern tanks is about the US Abrams, so to be honnest, I do not know much about other moddern tanks.

In terms of actual operations, all tanks drink a lot of fuel - pushing all that steel around comes at a cost. Given its weight, the Abrams swallows double of everyone else.
I am also concerned about the cost. Say that one Abrams costs twice as much as a Challenger. Is it worth it?

I have a feeling that the lack of casualties amoung the Abrams tanks has a lot to do with the american air superiority in the Gulf wars. By the time the tanks went in, there was not much still moving on the first Gulf war. On the second Gulf war they faced a much demoralised and depleted army and still they had all those A10 and Apache birds flying over their sholders and the AWACS and satelites spottnig all the targets.

Even in the second Gulf war, I remember seeing news reports of Abrams being destroyed or disabled by RPGs fired into vulnerable spots.

All other things being balanced, I suspect the Abrams would have a tough time if it were to meet other modern tanks.
In the lack of actual battle data, it would be interesting to know how well it has done in Nato exercises against other modern tanks.
Does anyone know?

Cesar / AlienXXX