First drive review: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Saturday, 5 March 2022

• MERCEDES-BENZ C-CLASS

• Price range: $86,200 to 102,900

• Powertrains: 1.5-litre petrol inline-four with 150kW/300Nm, 6.9L/100km, nine-speed automatic, RWD (C 200). 2.0-litre turbocharged inline-four with 190kW/400Nm, 7.3L/100km, nine-speed automatic, RWD (C 300)

• Body style: Four-door sedan

• On sale: Now

The W206 generation of Mercedes-Benz C-Class is here, boasting S-Class-inspired styling and a dis tinct lack of engines with more than four cylinders. We’ve actually already driven it in the Land of Eng, but our roads are notoriously pretty terrible, so let’s see how it goes here.

Make me an instant expert: what do I need to know?

The new C-Class has been thoroughly reworked, aping the design language from the latest S-Class both inside and out, new suspension, fresh electronics and safety gubbins, and two new engines.

**READ MORE:

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* Six-figure looks for a five-figure price. Just.

**

Starting from the bottom, and the variant Mercedes NZ reckons it will sell most of, is the C 200. It uses a 1.5-litre turbo-four paired with a bulked-up mild hybrid system, producing 15kW/200Nm (compared to last generation’s 10kW/160Nm), for a total combined output of 150kW/300Nm. The engine is paired with a nine-speed automatic, familiar fare for Mercedes fans, sending power to the rear axle.

The next model is the C 300, which gets a larger 2.0-litre engine, producing 190kW/400Nm with mild hybrid assistance and the same transmission.

Both look notably different to last year’s model, sporting new headlights and taillights, shorter overhangs at each end, and a lower roofline, bringing the C into visual line with the A-, S-, and E-Classes.

Mercedes has extended the wheelbase by 25mm, and overall length by 65mm, which offers improved passenger comfort. It’s still obviously smaller than the E- and S-Classes, though.

Interior changes are much more impressive, with the new C-Class genuinely appearing like a mini S-Class. It has basically all of the same tech too, including the huge 11.9-inch portrait screen which dominates the centre console, 12.3-inch driver’s display, second-generation MBUX media system with fingerprint recognition, augmented reality navigation, and a 360-degree camera, among others.

There are a few option packs that let you customise the C-Class even more as well, one of which includes better driving assists like advanced cruise control, sign assist, lane assist and others. Be nice if that stuff was standard…

Where did you drive it?

On a little tour of Northland, starting in Auckland in the C 300 and winding our way up SH16, which was a good test for the new suspension. It’s still steel-sprung and does without adaptive damping, but it’s really quite superb at eating up our imperfect roads.

The shocks are the tricky frequency-dependent type, using a valve to reduce damping forces over small bumps, while the passive damping works to smooth out the larger jolts. It’s great too, with only the really nasty divots in 16 giving the C 300 any real grief. You can ask for the Agility Control package, if you’d like more, which adds adaptive damping to the fray.

It’s quiet too, this new C-Class, in terms of both road and engine noise. In Eco mode, the engine will shut off while coasting, letting the mild hybrid system take control. Those same electricals also offer a jolt of boost when you ask for it, as well as refining the engine start/stop process.

The steering is sharp and well-tuned, and the standard sports seats are comfortable. I would like if Mercedes was a bit more generous with its standard kit – can’t help but feel optional heated seats and head-up display at the $100k mark is a bit mean. Adding those, plus the cool augmented reality navigation, will plump the price of your C-Class by $4100 on the C 200 or $3800 on the 300.

If you want to spice up the engine, you don’t really have much to play with. There are Sports and Sports Plus modes, but they don’t really add much to the character of the car. The gearbox will hold in seventh rather than ninth at 100kmh, and the steering is a bit sharper, but it doesn’t transform the car into a racer. In fact, Sports Plus mode is largely a waste of time, as the only thing it changes is the fake engine sound, and you can barely hear that anyway.

I initially thought the 300’s larger engine would be the go-to, considering its 190kW/400Nm output is fairly pedestrian these days. But surprisingly, the C 200 didn’t really feel much less powerful at all, despite what the stats might show.

Both use the same electric motor, so both have the same low-down urge, the 200 just doesn’t have the same guts at the top end. But that doesn’t actually matter so much, because getting to about 80kmh feels like it takes around the same amount of time. Strictly speaking, the C 300 will break 100kmh in six seconds, while the 200 takes a bit longer at 7.3 seconds.

What’s the pick of the range?

Mercedes thinks around 80 per cent will stick with the 200, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that turn out accurate. If you’re happy with saving about $17k and missing out on the better driver assistance stuff, the C 200 is the one to get, especially considering you can add all the other packages and still save money over the 300.

Unfortunately there aren’t any wagons for the moment. But plug-in hybrids are due this year in the form of the C 350e, “hopefully by Q3”, said Mercedes.

And the AMGs? Those will be revealed this year, with arrivals expected around 2023. No V8s, remember, just plug-in hybrid-ified turbo-fours.

Why would I buy it?

You’re one of the C-Class lovers that put the sedan second behind the GLC in Mercedes best-sellers list, and love the idea of more tech, better fuel economy, and baby S-Class styling.

Why wouldn’t I buy it?

You’re waiting for the AMGs, you want a plug-in hybrid, you’re after a wagon, or you’re boycotting Mercedes for dropping the V8.