Compare the2023 Toyota Prius PrimeVS 2023 BMW 530e

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Toyota Prius Prime 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 BMW 530e doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Toyota Prius Prime are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The BMW 530e doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Prius Prime are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The 530e doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

The Prius Prime XSE Premium offers an optional Panoramic View Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The 530e only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.

Both the Prius Prime and 530e have rear cross-traffic warning, but the Prius Prime offers optional Parking Support Brake (automatically applies the brakes) to better prevent a collision when backing near traffic. The 530e’s Cross Traffic Warning doesn’t automatically brake.

Both the Prius Prime and the 530e have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, post-collision automatic braking systems, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and driver alert monitors.

For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, daytime pedestrian crash prevention, and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Prius Prime the rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 36 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The 530e has not been fully tested, yet.

Toyota’s powertrain warranty covers the Prius Prime 1 year and 10,000 miles longer than BMW covers the 530e. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 5 years or 60,000 miles. Coverage on the 530e ends after only 4 years or 50,000 miles.

There are almost 4 times as many Toyota dealers as there are BMW dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Prius Prime’s warranty.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that Toyota vehicles are more reliable than BMW vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Toyota above average in long-term dependability. With 34 more problems per 100 vehicles in the first three years of ownership, BMW is rated lower.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2023 Auto Issue reports that Toyota vehicles are more reliable than BMW vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Toyota first in overall reliability. BMW is ranked third.

On the EPA test cycle the Prius Prime running its gasoline engine gets better mileage than the 530e running its gasoline engine:

The Prius Prime can travel longer on electricity, only, on a full charge than the 530e on electricity, only, on a full charge:

The Prius Prime has a standard continuously variable transmission (CVT). With no “steps” between gears, it can keep the engine at the most efficient speed for fuel economy, or keep it at its peak horsepower indefinitely for maximum acceleration. The 530e doesn’t offer a CVT.

The Prius Prime stops shorter than the 530e:

For better maneuverability, the Prius Prime SE’s turning circle is 5 feet tighter than the 530e’s (34.4 feet vs. 39.4 feet). The Prius Prime XSE’s turning circle is 5.4 feet tighter than the 530e xDrive’s (35.4 feet vs. 40.8 feet).

The Toyota Prius Prime may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 850 pounds less than the BMW 530e.

The Prius Prime is 1 foot, 2.7 inches shorter than the 530e, making the Prius Prime easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

Because it has more passenger and cargo room, the EPA rates the Prius Prime a Mid-size car, while the 530e is rated a Compact.

To shield the driver and front passenger’s vision over a larger portion of the windshield and side windows, the Prius Prime has standard extendable sun visors. The 530e doesn’t offer extendable visors.

The Prius Prime has a standard heated steering wheel to take the chill out of steering on extremely cold winter days before the car heater warms up. A heated steering wheel costs extra on the 530e.

The Prius Prime has a 115-volt a/c outlet on the center console, allowing you to recharge a laptop or run small household appliances without special adapters that can break or get misplaced. The 530e doesn’t offer a house-current electrical outlet.

The Prius Prime XSE Premium’s optional Advanced Park can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. The 530e doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

The Toyota Prius outsold the BMW 5 Series by 77% during 2022.