Compare the2023 Mercedes E-Class SedanVS 2023 Infiniti Q50

Safety
Warranty
Reliability
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Environmental Friendliness
Transmission
Brakes and Stopping
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Passenger Space
Cargo Capacity
Servicing Ease
Ergonomics
Model Availability
Economic Advantages
Recommendations

Safety

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For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Mercedes E-Class Sedan have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Infiniti Q50 doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

The Mercedes E-Class Sedan has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Q50 doesn’t offer knee airbags.

The E-Class Sedan’s standard pretensioning seatbelts also sense rear collisions and remove slack from the seatbelts to help protect the occupants from whiplash and other injuries. The Q50 doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.

The E-Class Sedan offers an optional Post Collision Brake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Q50 doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.

The E-Class Sedan’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Q50 doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.

Both the E-Class Sedan and the Q50 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, available lane departure warning systems, around view monitors and rear cross-path warning.

For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, with its optional vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its standard headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the E-Class Sedan its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 126 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Q50 is not even a standard “Top Safety Pick.”

Warranty

There are over 89 percent more Mercedes dealers than there are Infiniti dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the E-Class Sedan’s warranty.

Reliability

To reliably power the ignition and other systems and to recharge the battery, the E-Class Sedan has a standard 180-amp alternator. The Q50’s standard 150-amp alternator and largest (Red Sport 400) 170-amp alternator aren’t as powerful.

J.D. Power and Associates rated the E-Class Sedan third among midsize premium cars in their 2022 Initial Quality Study. The Q50 isn’t in the top three in its category.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Mercedes vehicles are better in initial quality than Infiniti vehicles. With 15 fewer problems per 100 vehicles, JD Power ranks Mercedes higher than Infiniti.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that Mercedes vehicles are more reliable than Infiniti With 33 fewer problems per 100 vehicles in the first three years of ownership, J.D. Power ranks Mercedes higher than Infiniti.

Engine

The E 450 4MATIC Sedan’s standard 3.0 turbo 6-cylinder hybrid produces 19 lbs.-ft. more torque (369 vs. 350) than the Q50 Red Sport 400’s standard 3.0 turbo V6.

As tested in Car and Driver the E 450 4MATIC Sedan 3.0 turbo 6-cylinder hybrid is faster than the Q50 Red Sport 400:

	E-Class Sedan	Q50
Zero to 60 MPH	4.3 sec	4.5 sec
Quarter Mile	12.9 sec	13 sec

Fuel Economy and Range

On the EPA test cycle the E-Class Sedan gets better mileage than the Q50:

			MPG
E-Class Sedan
	RWD	2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	23 city/31 hwy
	AWD	3.0 turbo 6-cyl. Hybrid	23 city/31 hwy
		2.0 turbo 4-cyl.	21 city/30 hwy
Q50
	RWD	3.0 turbo V6	20 city/29 hwy
		Red Sport 400 3.0 turbo V6	20 city/26 hwy
	AWD	3.0 turbo V6	19 city/27 hwy
		Red Sport 400 3.0 turbo V6	19 city/26 hwy

Regenerative brakes improve the E-Class Sedan 450’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Q50 doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

In heavy traffic or at stoplights the E-Class Sedan’s engine automatically turns off when the vehicle is stopped, saving fuel and reducing pollution. The engine is automatically restarted when the driver gets ready to move again. If the conditions warrant or the driver wishes, the system can be manually disabled at any time for the duration of a trip. The Q50 doesn’t offer an automatic engine start/stop system.

The E-Class Sedan 450’s standard fuel tank has 1.1 gallons more fuel capacity than the Q50 (21.1 vs. 20 gallons).

Environmental Friendliness

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Mercedes E-Class Sedan higher (6 out of 10) than the Infiniti Q50 (3). This means the E-Class Sedan produces up to 23.4 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Q50 every 15,000 miles.

Transmission

A nine-speed automatic is standard on the Mercedes E-Class Sedan, for better acceleration and lower engine speed on the highway. Only a seven-speed automatic is available for the Q50.

Brakes and Stopping

For better stopping power the E 450 4MATIC Sedan’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Q50:

	E-Class Sedan	E 450 4MATIC Sedan	Q50	Q50 Red Sport 400
Front Rotors	12.7 inches	14.2 inches	12.6 inches	14 inches

The E-Class Sedan stops much shorter than the Q50:

	E-Class Sedan	Q50
70 to 0 MPH	154 feet	165 feet	Car and Driver

Tires and Wheels

For better traction, the E-Class Sedan has larger tires than the Q50 (245/45R18 vs. 225/50R18).

The E-Class Sedan’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Q50 Luxe’s standard 50 series tires.

Suspension and Handling

The E-Class Sedan has standard front and rear gas-charged shocks for better control over choppy roads. The Q50’s suspension doesn’t offer gas-charged shocks.

The E-Class Sedan has a standard automatic front and rear load leveling suspension to keep ride height level with a heavy load or when towing. The E-Class Sedan’s height leveling suspension allows the driver to raise ride height for better off-road clearance and then lower it again for easier entering and exiting and better on-road handling. The Q50 doesn’t offer a load leveling suspension.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the E-Class Sedan’s wheelbase is 3.5 inches longer than on the Q50 (115.7 inches vs. 112.2 inches).

For better handling and stability, the average track (width between the wheels) on the E-Class Sedan is 2.5 inches wider in the front and 1.6 inches wider in the rear than the average track on the Q50.

The E-Class Sedan’s front to rear weight distribution is more even (54.2% to 45.8%) than the Q50’s (55.8% to 44.2%). This gives the E-Class Sedan more stable handling and braking.

The E-Class Sedan 4MATIC handles at .92 G’s, while the Q50 Red Sport 400 pulls only .88 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

Passenger Space

The E-Class Sedan has 1.1 inches more front shoulder room, .8 inches more rear headroom, 1.1 inches more rear legroom and 1 inch more rear shoulder room than the Q50.

Cargo Capacity

To make loading and unloading groceries and cargo easier, especially for short adults, the E-Class Sedan has a standard power trunk, which opens and closes automatically by pressing a button, or optionally by just kicking your foot under the back bumper, completely leaving your hands free. The Q50 doesn’t offer a power trunk.

Servicing Ease

The E-Class Sedan has a maintenance free battery for long life without checking the battery’s water level. The Q50 doesn’t have a maintenance free battery, so the water level in the battery’s cells must be checked often to prevent damage.

Ergonomics

Unlike the driver-only memory system in the Q50, the E-Class Sedan has standard driver and passenger memory, so that when drivers switch, the memory setting adjusts the driver’s seat, steering wheel position and outside mirror angle and the front passenger seat also adjusts to the new passenger’s preset preferences.

The E-Class Sedan offers an optional heads-up display that projects speed and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Q50 doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The E-Class Sedan’s power parking brake sets with one touch and releases with one touch or automatically. The Q50’s parking brake has to be released manually.

The power windows standard on both the E-Class Sedan and the Q50 have locks to prevent small children from operating them. When the lock on the E-Class Sedan is engaged the driver can still operate all of the windows, for instance to close one opened by a child. The Q50 prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

Heated windshield washer fluid is standard on the E-Class Sedan to defrost the washer nozzles and quickly clear ice and frost from the windshield without scraping. The Q50 doesn’t offer heated windshield washer fluid.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts detailed tests on headlights for their range both straight ahead and in curves and to be certain they don’t exceed acceptable amounts of glare to oncoming drivers. The E-Class Sedan’s headlights were rated “Good” to “Acceptable” by the IIHS, while the Q50’s headlights are rated “Marginal.”

To better shield the driver and front passenger’s vision, the E-Class Sedan has standard dual-element sun visors that can block glare from two directions simultaneously. The Q50 doesn’t offer secondary sun visors.

A power rear sunshade is optional in the E-Class Sedan to help block heat and glare for the rear passengers. The Q50 doesn’t offer a rear sunshade.

Both the E-Class Sedan and the Q50 have standard heated front seats. The E-Class Sedan also offers optional heated rear seats to keep those passengers extremely comfortable in the winter. Heated rear seats aren’t available in the Q50.

Optional air-conditioned seats in the E-Class Sedan keep the driver and front passenger comfortable and take the sting out of hot seats in Summer. The Q50 doesn’t offer air-conditioned seats.

The E-Class Sedan offers optional massaging front seats in order to maximize comfort and eliminate fatigue on long trips. Massaging seats aren’t available in the Q50.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Mercedes E-Class offers an optional wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console. The Q50 doesn’t offer wireless personal charging.

The E-Class Sedan’s optional Active Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. The Q50 doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

Model Availability

The Mercedes E-Class comes in coupe, convertible, sedan and station wagon bodystyles; the Infiniti Q50 isn’t available as a coupe, convertible or station wagon.

Economic Advantages

Insurance will cost less for the E-Class Sedan owner. The Complete Car Cost Guide estimates that insurance for the E-Class Sedan will cost $905 to $8555 less than the Q50 over a five-year period.

According to The Car Book by Jack Gillis, the E-Class Sedan is less expensive to operate than the Q50 because typical repairs cost much less on the E-Class Sedan than the Q50, including $6 less for a fuel pump, $236 less for front struts and $223 less for a power steering pump.

Recommendations

Motor Trend selected the E-Class as their 2021 Car of the Year. The Q50 has never been chosen.

The Mercedes E-Class/CLS outsold the Infiniti Q50 by almost four to one during 2022.