I put together the 11 coach Piko trainset. I had to go through the instructions to remember which coach goes where as they are not as easily sorted in the boxes as the Maerklin ones.
I have not yet pulled out the remaining 6 coaches for the Maerklin trainset. I had to extend the track sections for the Piko one and I will have to retrieve additional tracks before I can do the same with both.

If you look at the images above, the front of the Maerklin train looks a little more prototypical than the Piko one. I think I prefer the black painted vents on the hood better than the red painted ones on the Piko model.

Both models have illuminated destination signs. The win should go to Maerklin as the panels go out once the train starts moving, but it is easier to turn the Piko ones on/off as it is F9 and not F31. I could only access that function on the Maerklin train with my new updated MS3.

The Piko model has a destination of Genova and the Maerklin one has a destination of Milano. The Departure announcement for both gives the southbound route. The Maerklin one has an added feature where it announces the next station and which side to exit and this progresses by station in both the north and southbound directions. The downside is that every announcement is preceded by the cute "Geschaetzte fahrgaeste" which I don't remember hearing quite as often as it gets played on the Maerklin trainset.

One of the shortcomings of the Piko model was that the operating sounds would recycle the startup pattern during operation. So far, the Maerklin one does not sound quite as prototypical, but does not seem to recycle in the same manner. I will have to let it run more than a few metres in each direction to give a full assessment of operational sounds.

I am very pleased with both of these models. Although it might have been nice to have two different Piko ones that could be coupled together, I don't think that I would have run a 22 couch consist more than once in my life.

I leave you with a photo of the two models with the illuminated destination signs


Regards

Mike C