FIRST TEST
MERCEDES-BENZ C-CLASS lace the magazine to your ear and if you listen carefully, you’ll be able to hear a German Oompah band playing in the distance, as the launch of a new C-Class is something to get very excited about. The C-Class is a big seller for Mercedes-Benz, and a replacement doesn’t come along that often, so it’s certainly time to get the Trollinger corks popping. The fact that it arrives just a matter of months after the flagship S-Class means that it is always packed to the gills with technology that has filtered down from the luxury limousine. In many ways the C-Class is a mini-S-Class, and that’s an easy assumption to make, especially when you climb into the sumptuous cabin. The latest C-Class is dominated by screens – a sizeable 11.9-inch display sprouts upwards from the centre console and is rather Tesla-like in its dominance of the interior. A second, larger 12.3-inch screen nestles behind the steering wheel, and not only conjures up the instruments, speedometer and rev counter, but acts as a handy repeater for the navigation instructions. It’s all really nicely integrated and
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we like the dogtooth-effect dashboard appliqués that rise up from the transmission tunnel and fan out across both aspects of the dashboard. Mood lighting is interlaced into the edges, delivering a powerful effect at night. All of the materials used in the cabin are absolutely top notch, with stitched softtouch surfaces on the door cards that match the seats. The latest generation steering wheel has a double row of tactile buttons, while the outer rim is chunky and lovely to hold. The driving position is snug, low slung and cossetting, with heavily bolstered chairs that hold even the most generously proportioned driver neatly in place, as you catapult the C-Class along the carriageway. While we’ve often bemoaned that too many
of the functions are integrated into touchscreens, Mercedes-Benz designers have done a great job of keeping it simple. A row of shortcut buttons at the bottom summarises all of the important functions and sure the touchscreen takes a few minutes of familiarisation, but that’s the case with any dashboard layout that is new to the driver. The MBUX infotainment system is easy to navigate and the “Hey Mercedes” voice control is one of the most intuitive on the market. Headroom up front is plentiful, even with a panoramic roof fitted, while at the rear, the amount of space on offer is comparable with the car’s biggest rivals, the Audi A4 and BMW 3 Series, and much roomier than Jaguar’s XE. A lidded cubby on the centre console conceals lots of storage, including a couple of cupholders, with storage backed up by a compact glovebox, some space underneath the butterfly-like armrest and reasonably proportioned door pockets. Boot space is identical to its predecessor, with 455 litres of carrying capacity on offer. Under the bonnet of our test car is Mercedes-Benz’s latest generation 1,993cc turbodiesel engine with mild hybrid
