Had a little time off during lunch today so I drove up to the dealer for a quick spin in the new C-class my girlfriend has as one of her options for a new car.

Wow. What a huge disappointment that car was.

For starters, the first official pics floating around with the white pimped out 350 avantgarde, remember - looked stunning. But as I stood infront of an identical, although silver, one there I was like, Hmm. This looks odd. Unproportional, as if the designer made the ENORMOUS grill and drew the rest creatively exhausted from the first phase just so he could have something to put this HUGE grin on. Oh and by the way, the Classic/Elegance grill รก la S-class looks so much better than the Avantgarde it's ri-****-ulous.

Moving on... I step inside. Wheeeps! No sport seats, I slid on my butt with half a cheek over the center console. What's this I'm sitting on? It feels like rubber? On the back of the sign that says SOLD (Which I doubt they will get to flip any time soon, by the way) the specs are written out for this particular beige-ish C280. Hmm... Leatherette! What the hell? This car is 65K USD with the currency converted, and it has plastic seats? *shivers*

My eyes wander though the dashboard and I remember reading here the day before that the interior was plastic mania. Apart from the seats being covered with something that you usually wrap your left-overs and stuff it in the freezer with, it's not that bad actually. Sporty on the moderate side, but not even a little bit vulgar. Looks pretty tight, and it will look really nice if say, the AMG gets a bit of CF in there.

While this is a sports car forum, space and comfort isn't a top priority - not for me at least - but quite honestly, the leg room in the backseat is pretty much non-existent. Not that you would ever get to drive people around because they'd have nowhere to put their stuff. Nothing thicker than a ruler comes through that mailbox in the back without proper force.

Ooh and I almost forgot - the trunk itself. When you open it, watch your freakin' head. Touch the open-button and that thing flies up like a bat out of hell. The MB shops better start piling up those hinges already, because doing that a few times a week they will last till the end of the weekend.

Aaaanyway, time for some driving.
I've been promised to try the 280 and the 350. What I really wanted was a 320CDi but apparently they don't make them. Off we go.

7Gtronic - smooth as hell. Lightyears ahead of my previous E500's. It seems they've finally got a hang of it after 110 years, because let's face it - ask 10,000 people what they think is best about Mercedes and nobody will say gearboxes. Suspension was okay in the 280 Elegance, but there was a really annoying squeak every time I turned left that I couldn't get over, so I quickly u-turned and picked up the 350 Avantgarde.

Ahhh. Silence while turning left. Pulls pretty strong, but not in a "Wow, I am 30 car lengths ahead of the 280" sort of way, and really makes me wonder if the three-fiddy is worth the extra dough. But it behaves really well when I push it a little on some twisty roads. Some of the dull MB steering is gone, but not all of it. There's still a dead area going straight ahead. Changing lanes on the highway you either cut in screaming the tires... or you barely move sideways at all.

So. Who is this car for then? Honestly, I don't know. It's a brand new model, but somehow the W211 E-class feels just as fresh. And it's bigger and has better proportions. A4 buyers? No. People who love their A4s will hate this car. E46 drivers? Ha, not a chance. That'd be like introducing a squash player to a game of chess.

I would say this is for 50-somethings who buy a new Mercedes every 10 years. Not because they are die hard fans, but because they always have. Because I don't believe anybody who has driven the 3-series, the A4 or any of the newer spiffy asians come out and say "Hey, this is a better car - I want this!". Because they'd be full of ****.

3.5 Joxes out of 10.

 

interesting write-up, just waiting for a dealer car to come!

 

Yeah, would like to hear someone else's impressions as well!

I'm actually a bit bummed about this because I had really high expectations.

 

eventhough this was posted before but this video makes we want a c-class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQxz5yqAhcs

 

I guess my next car will be a 335i...