German Car Zone

Is the Volume Seller the One To Buy?

Mercedes has worked hard over the years to make its various controls and audio systems logic easier to understand and use. It takes a little learning to master the entertainment, nav, and COMAND controller, but once done, it's logical -- easy even. As with the rest of the car, the seats are firm, supportive, and easy to adjust via the pictogram-style controls on the door panel. We've talked about previous C-Classes being "built to a price and not to a standard," but that's no longer the case for the current generation, which was all-new last year. It's not trimmed to S-Class levels, but everything looks and feels of quality. You could call the IP design plain or businesslike, depending on your viewpoint, but this writer likes the clean surfaces and lack of gingerbread trim.

Will you miss that 40 horse? Yes. It's just a fact: The C300 feels noticeably slower than does the C350. You'd expect that, but the difference seems more than the horsepower curve and 1.0-sec 0-to-60 time difference would indicate. The C350 feels particularly punchy in the low and mid range, where the 300 needs to be rung a bit. That's the 37 lb-ft of additional torque talking, or in the 300's case, not talking. Few complaints with the seven-speed automatic transmission. There's a ratio for every occasion, it's always in the right gear, it melts through the shifts in Comfort mode, yet is nicely responsive in Sport. The only gripe is the unfortunate side-to-side motion required in Manual mode, instead of the more natural front-to-back whap of the shifter that everyone else now employs. It's nice that Mercedes got with the program in the exhaust system department; the old C's small, black, unfinished pipes would look at home on the average rental car. Today's sports nice oval pipes and a throaty-yet-understated rumble; trappings of a quality machine, not a cheap one.Fuel mileage isn't a criterion here. The C300 is EPA rated at 18/25, the C350 at 17/25 (for automatic trans-equipped models), so there's no measurable advantage or savings at the pumps.



Full Story: Motor Trend - First Drive: 2009 Mercedes-Benz C300


This the first C-Class I could see myself owning. Maybe at facelift time they'll do something with the engines and a few interior tweaks...these are the only things holding it back from true greatness. I had a ball driving a fully loaded C350 Sport a while ago.


M

Wood with that colour and package combo = very out of place

This is one of MB best looking cars- the new E-class and E-class Coupé isnt even close to this. Forza C-class

By the way...

One of the best looking Mercedes, looks tunning in white!

I think the new C class is brilliant, only thing lacking are proper engines to rival the 335i/d

Rightly said! Like always, Bimmer a step ahead & when it comes to 3-Class... no parallel!