Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the large family car segment and utilize the same 5-door hatchback body style and the 4 x 4 wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific electric engine choice they offer. The first one has a BMW-engineered powertrain under the hood, a IM Electric unit in formation 1 / 1 with 544hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a PMSM Electric unit in formation 1 / 1 with 450hp engine designed by Tesla.

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the Tesla being a slightly better choice apparently. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the large family car segment, which is generally a good thing safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the German car offers a considerable difference of 24% more metal.

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Tesla is significantly less fault-prone, at least on all of the models level. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of BMW with an average rating of 4.1, and models under the Tesla badge with 1.3 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed i4 as average reliability-wise, and Model 3 is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the German car rank it on average as 3.0 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Tesla is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.6 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 261 kilometers per hour, 36km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy things look pretty much the same for both cars, especially if you take into account all the free charging points provided by the manufacturer and/or the local government's environmental programs. One of the essential things to consider when it comes to this type of vehicles would be range, although here it's more or less the same, orbiting around 500 kilometers on a single charge.

Tesla appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In this case though, it seems that both cars show similar levels of passenger protection all together, so that won't break a tie. But one thing that actually could is the performance, with Tesla outracing its opponent in any situation possible, making it better choice for boy racers. The American car offers somewhat better range. It's not difficult to say then that if I'd need to make a choice, it would definitely be the Tesla. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.