BMW 530e vs Mercedes E 300 e: safety and reliability
Mercedes is slightly ahead in terms of standard safety kit, but both brands have poorer owner satisfaction than you'd expect
Both cars get a host of active safety aids, including autonomous emergency braking, traffic-sign recognition, rear parking sensors and excellent automatic LED headlights.
The Mercedes goes one better with blind-spot monitoring and lane-keeping assistance as standard; these are part of an £895 pack on the BMW, and the Mercedes also gets a reversing camera that costs £375 on the 530e.
Sadly, adaptive cruise control is an expensive option on both cars, and neither can be had with a space-saver spare wheel – it's tyre repair kits only.
BMW finished a poor 25th place in our sister title Auto Express' Driver Power 2019 customer satisfaction survey, but Mercedes was only one place lower last year, so the ownership experience should be similar.