One noted economist has made a comparison of the Federal Reserve and

Your Q is Very much valid
But Manhattan SC says
"GMAT ignores the traditional difference between COMPARED TO(emphasizing similarities) and COMPARED WITH(emphasizing differences)"

but let me apply PoE here
Whats wrong with B? its uses correct Idiom BETWEEN X and Y

is it becoz verb is wordy?
"made a comparison" is wordy compared to "compared"

In my opinion, this topic is a defining example of GMAT ignoring the unnecessary idiomatic nuance between ‘compared to’ and ‘compared with-. It can be seen that factors other than the right or wrong use of the above idiom, decide the right answer here.

In A and B ‘made a comparison’ is circumlocutory, In C ‘as racing and which bounced’ is improper with improper llism, a pronoun ambiguity and a shift of tense. E is wrong because of the redundant ‘it’. In a distant possibility, E also distorts the meaning that the Federal Reserve is trying to take an automobile and entering a race.

D is then the best; but to clear the doubt regarding the participial ‘bouncing’, it is precisely to avoid the word’s modification to tunnel, that the participle is set off by commas. Otherwise the bouncing will inescapably refer to the tunnel, which is illogical. In other words, the use of a participle is handy in situations, in which you are not able to address the noun that is just lying before it logically. So there is no change of meaning as such.

The final question is – do we have to still bother about ‘compared to and compared with’

In A , B and D "bouncing" after comma , gives us how aspect or the result of previous, illogically modifying economist. Economist cannot bounce.
In C and E, i found logical mistakes in each of them.
C and which is not correct.
In E only error is "and it" starting of new clause with FANBOYS. Anyway it cannot modify any other noun except "automobile ", still manageable. Expert can comment better

Responding to a pm:

I do not understand what you mean by "In A , B and D "bouncing" after comma , gives us how aspect or the result of previous, illogically modifying economist. Economist cannot bounce."

The use of "bouncing" is absolutely correct. It starts a participle modifier at the end of the sentence which modifies the entire preceding clause.
"bouncing first off..." shows the similarity between Fed and racing automobile. This similarity is highlighted in the preceding clause. The modifier explains the similarity. - perfect!
In (A) and (B), "made a comparison" is the problem. The use of the verb "compared" is far more suitable and precise.

In (E), joining "racing through the tunnel" and "bouncing off one wall..." with 'and' is illogical. They need to be independent ideas to be connected with "and". But "bouncing..." is showing how the automobile is "racing...".
So even if we remove the word "it" in (E), (D) makes more sense than (E).

(D) is correct in every aspect.

As for "compared to" and "compared with" - GMAT does not ask you to decide based on this distinction alone. As said in many of our posts, idioms are usually smokescreens.
But still, the correct distinction between them is this:

"compared to" is used to show similarity between things. The reason it often joins dissimilar things is that we NEED to show similarity when it is not apparent.
"compared with" is used to show differences. The reason it often joins similar things is that we NEED to show differences when things seem similar.

One noted economist has made a comparison of the Federal Reserve and an automobile as racing through a tunnel, bouncing first off one wall, then the other; the car may get where it is going, but people may be hurt in the process.

(A) made a comparison of the Federal Reserve and an automobile as racing through a tunnel, bouncing .....>Incorrect ,unidiomatic
(B) made a comparison between the Federal Reserve and an automobile racing through a tunnel, bouncing .......Distorted Intended meaning by making actual comparison between the Federal Reserve and an automobile,but Intended meaning is to comparing them metaphorically.
(C) compared the Federal Reserve with an auto-mobile as racing through a tunnel and which bounced .......>"as racing"Incorrectly describing "the Federal Reserve",and no parallelism with "which bounced" presented here
(D) compared the Federal Reserve to an automobile racing through a tunnel, bouncing .......>Correct
(E) compared the Federal Reserve with an auto-mobile that races through a tunnel and it bounces ......referent of "it" is not clear,Incorrect

Correct answer D

Answer is a straight D
One noted economist has made a comparison of the Federal Reserve and an automobile as racing through a tunnel, bouncing first off one wall, then the other; the car may get where it is going, but people may be hurt in the process.

(A) made a comparison of the Federal Reserve and an automobile as racing through a tunnel, bouncing
WRONG:- "made a comparison + as" is awkward "Compared" is more preferable usage

(B) made a comparison between the Federal Reserve and an automobile racing through a tunnel, bouncing
WRONG:- "made a comparison + between" is awkward "Compared" is more preferable usage

(C) compared the Federal Reserve with an auto-mobile as racing through a tunnel and which bounced
WRONG :- when comparing dissimilar things (for example comparing apples to greek philosopher) "with" is not used. "With" is used when similar things are compared. (my merdeces with your honda) . When dissimilar set of objects is compared "to" should be used. ( lover's face to the moon)
"Bounced" is incorrect tense.

(D) compared the Federal Reserve to an automobile racing through a tunnel, bouncing
CORRECT:- correct parallelism bouncing, going. "to" is correct when comparing dissimilar objects.


(E) compared the Federal Reserve with an auto-mobile that races through a tunnel and it bounces
WRONG:- "with" is wrongly used for comparision;
"it" has no clear antecedent; what bounces ?? federal bank or the automobile.

apart from the "compared to/with" ; I think GMAT prefers verb form of action rather than a noun form. So compared is preferred over made a comparison

Yes, Verb form is always preferred over Noun form on GMAT.

Here are my 3 cents

A, B, E maybe perfect regarding parallelism (racing ...bouncing or races ...bounces) but our comparison is between two different things! So in that case we have a metaphorical comparison. For instance:

You compare the Tiger (for its fighting skills) to a boxer fighter ..... You need Compared to.

If we had to compare the Tiger with another animal (Lion) ... then Compared with would be the correct idiom.

IMO D. It is the only "Compared to"

Hope it is clear.

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