2020 BMW 330i vs Mercedes-Benz C300

What's the difference?

The 330i Touring is not as practical as an SUV such as a BMW X3 in that it’s not as spacious nor does it have the cargo capacity. Then there’s the low ride height which was a pain in the back for me as a tall dad trying to strap kids into their car seats. That said, the 330i is far more practical than the 330i sedan with its tailgate and boot opening, while retaining all the sedan’s superb dynamic ability and performance.

While I’m still adamant the 330i Touring is the most BMW of BMWs, if it was today that Max Reisbock was looking to take his family away on holiday, he would have chosen an SUV rather than a station wagon.

The C 300e feels more like a purely electric car to drive than a hybrid, but to get the full fuel-saving benefits you'll need to be disciplined and charge it every day.

As a daily driver I found the ride in the C 300e to be overly 'bouncy' and body control could be better.

That said, the C 300e is a great urban vehicle for its excellent fuel economy, easiness to drive and advanced safety technology.

The latest generation BMW 3 Series arrived last year and to anybody who’s not really into cars it looked just like the previous model had been served up, but it’s completely new inside and out.

Like its 3 Series sedan sibling the latest Touring has brought some significant styling changes. There’s the wider kidney grille, the more angular headlights and the tail-lights have taken on a hockey stick shape.

For the first time since Max Reisbock’s E30 wagon the 3 Series Touring doesn’t have a 'Hoffmeister Kink' – the boomerang-shaped forward curve to the C-pillar.

Nope, that rear-side window has had its curve replaced with angle. The change is small but my eye is so used to seeing that stretched rounded corner that this straight-edged new one looks awkward (similar to the same window on a mid-’90s 5 Series Touring).

That each 3 Series is bigger than the last is now just one of those things we accept and expect. In the past the growth has seemed subtle, but this time, to my eyes, the Touring looks huge.

The dimensions show it to be 4709mm end-to-end, 1827mm wide and 1440mm high, making this seventh-gen 3 Series Touring 76 mm longer, 16mm wider and 8mm taller than the previous model.

Our test car was a 330i Touring M Sport, which meant it came with a few aggressive styling touches such as an aero kit and 19-inch M light alloy wheels. The 'Davit Grey metallic' paint provided the perfect urban camouflage.

Inside the 330i Touring shows off BMW’s new-generation cockpit, complete with a virtual (digital) instrument cluster, large integrated media display and leather upholstery with aluminium trim.

It’s a modern and super stylish cabin but for BMW fans it will still be familiar with that traditional centre console treatment.

The Touring is more elegant than Mercedes-Benz’s C-Class Estate, but to my eyes Audi’s A4 Avant pulls off the tough, little wagon look better,. Then, outshining all the luxo wagons in the style stakes is the Volvo V60.

The C 300e looks exactly like a C 300 except it has 18-inch alloy wheels not 19-inch rims, there's subtle hybrid badging on the front wheel guards and a charging flap on the rear bumper. Oh, and then there's the 'e' for 'electric' in 300e on the tailgate. The outward signs that the C 300e is a plug-in petrol electric hybrid are so discreet most people would have no idea it was anything other than a regular Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan.

When say I regular though, the car is stunning in its design. While our photographer was taking the shots which accompany this review he was 'oohing and aahhing' all over it. There's the way the light brought out the sharp crease running from the front wheel guard through the rear door; the wide stance seen front-on; the LED DRL eyebrows; and the curve of the rear window as it meets the boot lid, which flicks up into a spoiler.

If you were hoping the hybrid would be more futuristic and more radical looking then you might be disappointed, because the C 300e is unmistakably classic C-Class and that goes for the interior, too.

The black leather and stitching, the piano lacquer and aluminium trim, the large displays for media and the instruments – this cabin still feels and looks beautifully crafted and stylish, even though this generation of C-Class has been around since 2015.

The C 300e's dimensions are the same as any other C Class sedan too at 4686mm long, 2020mm wide (with mirrors out) and 1442mm tall.

The father of the 3 Series Touring, Max Reisbock, would have swapped his home-made BMW wagon in a split second for this new version, and being larger than the previous model, cabin space has also increased.

That said, rear legroom behind my driving position isn’t too generous for me at 191cm tall, and I had only a finger’s width of room between my knees and the seat back.

Cabin storage is good with enormous door pockets in the front, decent sized rear ones, plus four cupholders, but the centre console bin is on the small side.

Power outlets are in good supply with a wireless charger, plus two USB ports and a 12-volt outlet in the tray in front of the shifter, while for those in the second row there are two USB-C ports and a 12-volt outlet.

The 330i Touring doesn’t come with sunshades or privacy glass in the rear, and I wasn’t happy about putting my young son back there on long trips during this blistering summer Australia's just had. We were thankful, though, for the climate control and directional air vents in the back row.

The cargo capacity of the boot is 500 litres, which is 50 litres less than a BMW X3. Is the 3 Series Touring as practical as an X3 SUV? Nope, and it’s not just about the boot size, but also from an entry and exit perspective.

See, while the 3 Series’ large rear doors open wide, nothing beats an SUV's ease of access, for putting kids into their car seats and even for the less mobile adults climbing in and out.

Just as a reference: the 3 Series sedan’s boot is 480 litres, but is nowhere as accommodating as the wagon’s cargo area with its large tailgate opening and a removable parcel shelf which opens up the entire rear of car when the seats are folded flat.

Scooters, BMXs, doonas, holiday gear, shopping, boogie boards were all swallowed up by the Touring’s boot – Max would have been proud.     

The C 300e is a four-door, five-seat, mid-sized sedan with plenty of room up front for even me at 191cm tall with good elbow-, shoulder-, leg-, and headroom, although rear seating isn't overly spacious.

I couldn't sit behind my driving position without my knees up against the seat back and my head was getting pretty friendly with the ceiling thanks to the sunroof housing.

Still there was enough room for us to install my five-year-old's car seat.

Being rear-wheel drive, the C 300e has a prominent drive-shaft hump, which eats into the floor space back there, too.

Cabin storage is good with a large split-opening centre console bin, large door pockets and four cup-holders (two up front and two in the rear).

For charging there are two USB ports in the centre armrest and one for rear-seat passengers.

Sounds just like a regular C-Class, right? Well, it is until you see how much of the boot space the hybrid batteries take up. Take a look at the images – the cargo capacity of the C 300e's boot is 300 litres, down from 455 litres in a C 300. That was a real problem; even a trip to the park with just scooters and skateboards meant we had to do a bit of clever arranging in the boot.

So, if you plan to frequently use the boot for large bulky items, such as prams or boxes, I'd take them to the dealership and test to see if they fit in the C 300e, because, as you can see from the images, there's not a lot of room.

The Mercedes-Benz C 300e lists for $82,300 and is the hybrid version of the C 300 that sells for $8K less. This means the C 300e has the same standard features as the C 300, such as leather upholstery with black piano lacquer and aluminium trim, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and 10.25-inch media display, sat nav, Mercedes Me assistant, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio and Bluetooth connectivity, shifting paddles, drive modes, proximity unlocking, power opening boot, rear privacy glass, push-button start and LED headlights.

The C 300e has 18-inch alloy wheels (the C 300 has 19-inch) and picks up a few extra standard features over the petrol car it's based on, such as air suspension and pre-entry climate control, which will allow you to set the cabin temperature while you finish your coffee before leaving for work.

The safety features on the C 300e are impressive, too, and many have a focus on urban environment hazards. You can read about those below.

The C 300e's direct rival is the BMW 330e, listing for $81,900, and while Audi doesn't have a plug-in hybrid version of its A4, the 45 TFSI grade is $73,300. You may not have considered the Lexus IS 300h, which offers great value but still has a similar list price at $81,160.

My test car was fitted with the optional Vision Package, which costs $6300 and adds the panoramic sunroof, Multibeam LED headlights, 360-degree camera and a head-up display. There was also the $900 Seat Comfort package, which adds memory settings for all seat positions, heated front seats and power-adjustment steering wheel and head-rests.

The car was also optioned with wireless phone-charging – it's $400.

The 330i has a four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine making 190kW/400Nm, and drive goes to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Personally speaking, BMW’s straight six turbo is the stuff of dreams, but this four can throw the 330i from stationary to 100km/h in 5.9s, which is brisk enough for most. 

The C 300e is a petrol electric plug-in hybrid. There's a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine making 155kW and 350Nm and an electric motor producing 90kW and 440Nm. The drive goes to the rear wheels via a nine-speed automatic transmission.

BMW says the 330i Touring should use 7.0L/100km over a combination of open and urban roads. After 190.3km of my testing on motorways and suburban school runs the trip computer was reporting 12.6L/100km.

Mercedes-Benz says that after a combination of urban and open roads the C 300e will have used just 2.1L/100km.

For this urban review, my testing took place only on the streets of Sydney's CBD and inner-city suburbs and I found out a few things.

First, there are four drive modes: Hybrid, E-Mode, E-Save and Charge.

In my first fuel test I chose Hybrid Mode and drove the 8km from my home to Sydney's CBD and when I arrived the trip computer told me I'd used 0.8L/100km of premium unleaded petrol. For most of that peak hour journey I was being powered by electricity alone and my average speed was 21km/h. That's outstanding.

Then I drove home in E-Mode which is electric-only and the only time I used fuel, was when I accelerated hard to merge. Acceleration is pretty swift, too, with 0-100km/h coming in 5.4 seconds.

The trip computer said energy consumption for the round trip was 39.0kWh/100km. According to the energy gauge I'd used 'half-a-tank' of charge with an electric range of 16km left.

I did another fuel test and that was 112.5km of urban driving over seven days in mainly Hybrid Mode, but only charging the car to full for just two nights of that week. After that time the trip computer displayed my average use as 7.9L/100km. I verified that by measuring 9.06L needed to fill the tank back up to full, which comes to 8.0L/100km.

There's no official urban consumption figure for the C 300e, but as a comparison the urban fuel economy for the C 300 is 9.6L/100km. The tank capacity of the C 300 is 66 litres, while the volume of the one in the C 300e is 50 litres.

There's the lesson: if you're going to own the C 300e and get the best mileage out of it, then you'll need to charge it almost every day, like you would a phone. Otherwise, the fuel economy will be getting close to the regular C 300's.

Charging can be done through a regular 240V power point using the cable provided and if you plug it in empty at night, it'll be full by the morning (eight hours). Alternatively, Mercedes-Benz have a fast-charging Wallbox for $1250, which will add 15km of range every 30 minutes and fully charge the 13.5kWh battery in under two hours.

SUVs are so popular and fill up so much of my testing timetable that piloting the 330i Touring felt like I was literally sitting on the road, both in terms of visibility and dynamics.

Okay, so you aren’t going to have the high-up commanding position as you would in an SUV (although if everybody has an SUV doesn’t it defeat the towering-above purpose?), but the handling you get in exchange is grin-inducing.

Yep, there’s no wobbly, no top-heavy sensation and no slow-geared vagueness in steering that tends to go with SUVs. Instead, the 330i Touring feels un-tippable with sharp and quick steering.

This family alternative to an SUV is low, fast and different to the rest of the over-fed herd.

That turbo-four isn’t the in-line six I prefer, but it’s still responsive, smooth and powerful, while the eight-speed shifts seamlessly.

Quiet. That's what it's like to drive around town. See, because the C 300e is a plug-in hybrid, if you charge it every night and, like me, live close to the city where speeds don't get much higher than 50km/h and journeys tend to be less than 10km then you'll spend most of the time driving in E Mode, just powered by the electric motor. Combine this with a well-insulated cabin and it's almost an isolation-tank feeling when driving through a busy city with the sounds of traffic and even road noise from the C 300e blocked out.

Dab the accelerator and the shove from the electric motor is pleasing, but if you really need to accelerate hard and plant your foot, then the petrol engine will come to the party.

Drive like that over a couple of days without charging and you'll drain the battery. If you let that happen then suddenly the tranquil experience becomes much noisy as that petrol engine lugs you, an electric motor and stacks of batteries around.

Also, not ideal is the ride, I found. The C 300e comes with air suspension and while the ride was comfortable on good roads with a smooth surface, such as a motorway, on urban runs, which were potholed and speed-bumped streets with roundabouts and patchy surfaces, the body control could have been better and resulted in a 'wobbly' ride and too much head sway – and that's what can cause motion sickness.

It's a shame because everything else – from the light, accurate steering and responsive, smooth hybrid powertrain to the quiet cabin and good visibility – all add up to a car that's easy and comfortable to drive. But diminishing that comfort is a ride that isn't as composed as it should be.

The C 300e was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was tested in 2014. Coming standard is AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection along with a cross traffic function; there's also evasive steering, active blind spot assistance and lane keeping assistance. All great safety systems for urban environments.

The reversing camera is excellent and Mercedes-Benz's auto parking system is standard on the 300e, too.

For child seats there are three top tether points and two ISOFIX points across the second row.

There are also nine air bags and in the boot you'll find two high-vis vests, although no spare wheel – just a puncture repair kit.

The 330i Touring is covered by BMW’s three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is the same duration as Benz’s and Audi’s coverage, but falling short of the five-year warranties offered by mainstream brands.

Servicing is condition-based, meaning the car will tell you when it needs to be serviced through a message which will appear on the instrument cluster.

While there is no capped price servicing, BMW does offer the Basic plan for $1650 for five years/80,000km.

The Mercedes-Benz C 300e is covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended at 12 month/25,000km intervals. A three-year service plan will cost $2000, a four-year plan is $2800, and a five-year program is $4300.

A six-year warranty applies to the battery system.