StanNH

Monday afternoon, my wife and I drove down 2 hours to our "local" MB dealer and picked up our 2015 Iridium Silver C300. We traded in our 2012 Volvo S60 R-Design for this car, and I think that will turn out to be a good move. So, on the 100+ mile return trip, I was able to form some initial impressions of this new car.

I'm 6'3" and my wife is 5'2". Both of us were able to easily find comfortable seating positions in both the driver's and passenger's seats. Even with the Panoramic roof, I had an inch or two of room over my head. My size 12 right foot was able to fit under the brake pedal when I was on cruise, something I can't do with most cars. One quirk was that I could not electrically adjust the headrests with the door controls ... nothing happened. They worked fine manually, and I did try them at the dealer and they did work, so I'll have to try to figure this one out later.

Visibility was much better than I expected, with the only blind spot by the rear roofline. BLIS worked fine, and picked up all traffic off to the sides of the car.

My wife brought along a CD of Les Miserables for the trip home. I set the equalizer to my taste and we both listened as the music started. Wow! For all the debates I've seen about the Burmester system, I must admit that it is the best I've heard in a stock system. Excellent sound stage, crisp highs and mid range, full bass. I tried it with Surround and without, and think I prefer the Surround since it sounds a bit fuller to me.

It took some experimenting to figure out the Comand system, mostly in the lot with the salesman, but it wasn't really that difficult to learn. I used the voice recognition to set my home destination on NAV, and it took it right away and sent me on my way. Figuring out how to save and delete stations on the satellite and FM radio wasn't very intuitive but, once I found the edit menu, it was actually quite simple.

One surprise was the storage bin in the trunk. The salesman opened it up and we immediately started putting "stuff" in it. Interior storage seems to be quite good, and my wife found a cup holder in the door so she never even used the one on the console.

On the road, the ride was reasonably firm but not as stiff as my Volvo. Steering was on the light side, but very direct with some feedback. I only drove in Comfort mode, but will try the other modes this week as I get more miles on the car. On the trip home, which includes lots of uphill driving on the Interstate as I headed back to the White Mountains, the computer clocked 29.2 mpg. As with other cars, I expect this number to be on the optimistic side. I was surprised that an odometer is not fixed to the MFD display ... which shows speed only and has to be scrolled to show more information. The car was very quiet with minimal road noise and no wind noise, in spite of the fact that I was driving through 15-20 mph cross winds at times. I did feel some buffeting, but the wind conditions were severe. The little four cylinder engine sounded serene at all speeds, and appeared to have plenty of punch for passing, although I didn't push it hard with such low mileage.

Next project will be setting up the HomeLink for the garage opener, then trying to figure out those headrest buttons. I'll have it out tonight, so I'll see how good those fancy LED headlights work on unlit rural roads.

So far, it's an impressive and very likable little car.

Leslielp

Congrats on the car. The one I pick up this weekend is also a C300.
The driver seat headrest is motor operated but the passenger side only gets manual up down (in Canada).
This is the AMG Line with AMG interior (also Canada).
If you look at the headrest bars on the seat, if you see the little manual push in click device the headrest are manual only. The passenger side does have the button for the headrest but its only for show Why MB did this is beyond me?

StanNH

You are right. I tried it again this morning and the one on the driver's side worked fine, but the control on the passenger's side wouldn't move at all. I guess the button is there for looks only. Thankfully, the steering wheel is fully functional.

StanNH

Finally in the driveway. I'll post some better pictures when I have some time.

mercuk

StanNH
Please post some more pictures when you have time. I would like to see the Iridium Silver in the open air for daylight and evening
Much appreciated if you can

StanNH

Today will be my first day off from work since I got the car on Monday. I plan to take lots of photos today and will post some later.

Also figured out how to get the outside door handles to light up when exiting the car. Very nice feature!

mercuk

Excellent, thank you
I have already ordered the Iridium but apart from seeing it close up in the showroom and a few pics online I have yet to see how it looks out in the open. Look forward to viewing your photos

StanNH

Just posted some pictures here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...lver-c300.html

jbbeauso

Which suspension did you get on your c?

StanNH

I got the base suspension. The local roads here can be awful, especially in the winter, so I reluctantly decided to stay with the base setup rather than the Sport. I probably would have been happy with either, but the standard steel suspension seems to be very competent, especially with the 18" tires. I can feel a bit of body roll in hard cornering, but not much and the car feels very planted even when pushed. I did not consider the Airmatic.

mercuk

Good to see your photos, thanks for posting
Car looks great and glad your enjoying driving, looks like santa will be bringing mine

alsyli

Great review. Stan, how do you feel the seats in the W205 compare to the Volvo?

StanNH

That's not such an easy question to answer. The seats on the Volvo were very good ... supportive and quite comfortable on long trips. The C300 seats feel different and, right now, I'm not really sure if they're as good.

The one thing I really disliked about the Volvo seats was their lumbar support, which was manually operated with a wheel on the side of the seat backs. It had no vertical movement and was nearly impossible to adjust while driving. I have a bad back and need a good lumbar support that can be changed while driving the car. I've been told the newer Volvo's have finally added a power lumbar, but my 2012 S60 did not have that feature. So, in this case, the lumbar on the C300 is much better and very effective.

The C300 has the extendable thigh support, a feature not available on the Volvo. The seat adjustments themselves were on the sides of the seats and unlit, versus lit and up on the doors for the MB. The seats themselves were very good on my S60, but lacked lateral support. Lateral support isn't that great on the C300 either, perhaps a bit better though. The seats feel very firm on my C300, less so on the Volvo. On the C300, it feels like there is always some lumbar support engaged, whereas on the Volvo you pushed back into the seat more. The "dead pedal" or left foot rest, is huge on the C300, but it was small on the S60 and didn't fully accommodate my foot.

The longest trip I've taken so far with the C300 has been two hours. I felt no discomfort during or after the drive. But, I am still working on finding that perfect "sweet spot" in my new C300. I keep playing with the bottom seat cushion, the back angle, the steering wheel position, and the lumbar ... tweaking it every time I'm in the car. Even at 6'3", I find there's no way I can keep the seat all the way back ... I can barely reach the pedals . So now I'm closer and have more angle in the seat back. With all the adjustments available, I have no doubt I will finally get it just right.

In short, compared to the Volvo the seats are harder with a much greater range of adjustment. I believe, after I adjust to the new car, comfort levels will turn out to be similar.

alsyli

Thanks for the detailed answer! I don't have much experience w/ Volvo seats, but the few times I've sat in them, they immediately feel "right." MB seats seem well-formed but take some getting used to. My prob w/ the W204 seats is that they are a touch small. I'm hoping at the W205 seats are bigger....

StanNH

I never sat in a W204, but I am 6'3" and weigh 220 pounds. The seats are not confining for me and feel big enough, so I don't think you'll have any issues.