Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 4-door sedan body style within the same 'Luxury car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (rear for the Mercedes Benz and front in the case of the Hyundai). The first one has a Mercedes Benz-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 231hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 175hp engine designed by Hyundai.

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the Mercedes Benz being a slightly better choice apparently. 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. Furthermore, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, the German car offers a marginal difference of 7% more metal.

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Hyundai as a brand displays somewhat better results, when all the models are taken into account. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of Mercedes Benz with an average rating of 4.3, and models under the Hyundai badge with 4.5 out of 5. Independent research findings rank E as average reliability-wise, and Sonata 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 4.5, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 5.0 out of 5.

There's not enough data for me to elaborate on the subject, I'm affraid.

Hyundai 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 much better overall protection, which launches it ahead of the other contender. When it comes to performance, both vehicles provide similar experience, so I wouldn't point any of them out. Fuel consumption is more or less the same. No mistake, whatever you decide here, but I'd still go for the Mercedes Benz. 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. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.