Ethan

On my C240, I picked charcoal interior believing that it would be easier to keep clean. What I didn't realize is that if you get any other color than charcoal, you have a two tone interior with the upper dash being the darker color. Do you guys like this? Or does it show marks more? I saw another Benz the other day with the two tone and it just looked "smarter" than my plain old charcoal.

MarkL

Personally, and this is just me, I've never been a fan of dark interior colors, and I tend to like beige more than gray. I have the java interior in my capri blue C240 and I like it a lot. I also liked oyster. I do think the two tone colors with those interiors add a little more "pizzaz" and provide a more interesting blend of coloration. Also, I think the wood on the sedans blends better with the lighter door colors than the charcoal. As for cleaning, I've had light beige leather interiors in many cars, and have never had a problem. If you just avoid letting soil build up it's very maintainable. About every 3-4 weeks, I use the MB interior care cleaner on the MB-Tex portions of my seats and it takes off any minor build-up. I've actually never had to clean the leather inserts in the 5 months I've had the car. I've seen many brilliant silver C's with the charcoal interior and they also look nice -- it's just that I prefer the lighter tones. With white, I'd always go w/ beige over gray, but charcoal could be OK. I'm sure your black/charcoal looks very distinctive.

Lynn

I think the two tone interiors are slightly odd looking. Some colors are less add than others. But if I had an interior other than charcoal, I would want a dark upper dash to minimize its reflection in the windshield.

If Java leather had been available, I would have ordered it. I would also have considered Ash leather. I also wondered how and Orior car would look with blue leather. Probably too much blue. Osyter is a very weird color to my eyes. Grey with a pink tint. I wouldn't buy a car with Oster leather.

Ethan

I do agree the wood looks better in a lighter interior. I am always looking at my wood trim and I always think to myself "is this plastic"? I know it's real, it just looks too good to be real, does that make sense? The wood does smoodge pretty easily, but I hear the metal trim does that as well. The one pro to charcoal is that the floor mats don't get as grungy as quickly (or if they do, you can't really tell as much)....That's important for the rainy northwest where a parking lot is nothing more but a big puddle.

Ethan

Oh, BTW,
I guess it could be worse.

In Europe I road in a newer E-Class taxi that had the ugliest shade of blue interior and blue dash I've ever seen. It definitly was not "designo".

MarkL

The wood is coated with "whatever" (probably some sort of clear resin) to protect it and give it the sheen. Basically, any smooth shiny surface will "smudge", so it's not the wood itself.

You're right about the mats. That's why in my last 3 cars I've ordered WeatherTech tan rubber mats and saved my OEM mats until I put them back in when I sell my car!

MarkL

Maybe you're referencing the oyster cloth. The oyster leather with Orion is beautiful, IMO. I've seen it in person, and there's a picture of it in the 2002 brochure. To me, it's a "warmer" gray, a little taupe, but no pink. The upper dash and wheel almost look like charcoal but a little more brownish.

Lynn

Nope, I meant the Oyster leather. Oyster cloth looks a lot better than the leather, and I would agree with a little taupe for the cloth. Oyster cloth doesn't bother me. The Oyster leather/Orion looks good in the brochure. I haven't seen an Oyster/ Orion car, but I have seen oyster in black, Bordeaux, Capri Blue and Midnight blue cars of various classes. It always looks grey-pink to my eyes. I wish MBUSA gave us more choices and without the stupid special order fees. MB does that in other markets, why not here?