Diesel Battle Royale: Mercedes E350d vs BMW 530d
In the Battle for Best All-Around Mid-Range Diesel Sedan, Can BMW’s 5-Series Take Down the Silver Standard E-Class?
In the world of family-minded four-door German sedans with diesel engines, your two primary choices are the Mercedes E-Class and the BMW 5-Series. Sure, there’s an Audi mucking about in there as well, but is it really on par? Similarly, there are fighters from Jaguar and Volvo, but don’t you really want something Teutonic when it comes to your oil-burning highway cruiser? For decades, Germany has been at the head of the class — often the only ones in the class — building excellent, economically-conscious, road-trip beasts. Indeed, both the Mercedes-Benz E350d and the BMW 530d are a step ahead of the rest, but which one is truly the best?
When it comes to technology, both cars crib their new gadgets from their larger siblings, the 7-Series and S-Class. Above and beyond that, the Bimmer has new transmission-predictive shifting technology, straight from the best that Rolls Royce has to offer. It selects the best gear for the coming set of corners, based on your current speed, weather conditions, and the curve’s severity (as read by the satellite navigation). It’s also got gesture controls for the radio, which seem to be mostly a gimmick, but cool nonetheless. In both the 5 and the E, though, reviewers note that the tech requires some getting used to, and can occasionally require the driver to be distracted from the road.
CHECK OUT: What Forum Members Are Saying About This Battle Royale
In real-world testing — as seen in the video above, conducted by Autocar‘s Mauro Calo and Matt Prior — the two cars seem pretty similar. They’ve clearly got the driving dynamics down. Prior notes that the BMW isn’t perhaps the most comfortable car in its class, nor is it the most performance oriented, but it seems to do everything really well — a jack of all trades, perhaps. Best of all, because it’s a BMW, the DSC Off button is still just one click away, which makes it easy to pitch into a corner and get it skidding.
At the end of the video, both reviewers admit to liking both cars, but say that the BMW “sets a new standard in its class.” That’s seriously high praise.
