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Virtual Adviser's™ opinion
Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by diesel engines and utilizing the 5-door wagon body style within the same 'Luxury car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (rear for the BMW and front in the case of the Chrysler). The first one has a BMW-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 163hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 218hp engine designed by Mercedes Benz.
SafetyThe fact that the BMW got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, offers a slight advantage, as the 4-star rating is better than none. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the luxury car segment, which is generally a very good thing safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. On the other hand, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, the American car offers a considerable difference of 17% more metal.
ReliabilityManufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that BMW does have a slight advantage, when all the models are taken into account. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of BMW with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Chrysler badge with 4.4 out of 5. Independent research findings rank 5 Series as average reliability-wise, and 300C is more or less at the same level.That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as the German car rank it on average as 4.2, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.5 out of 5.
Performance & Fuel economyChrysler is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 227 kilometers per hour, 9km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be the German car, averaging around 6.1 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (46 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 36% difference compared to the American car!
Verdict
BMW 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 my opinion, everything taken into account, the German car offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. From there things take a different direction, with Chrysler being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but BMW. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser™, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.