So, after putting 5.000 KM on my car during this summer holidays, I posting here my impressions on the C-Class that I found out during my long holiday trip throughout Europe.

1. Engine

Perfect blend of quietness and power. Have to keep it above 2K RPMs in order to have the best of it. Consumption is now stabilizing at 10L/100KM in town driving, down from 13.5 initially. During a 1000Km trip, I averaged 8.5L/100Km doing an average of 140Km/h (OBD numbers). Overall, quite happy with its performance and I don't see any reason to go for an ECU upgrade (224HP->272HP) right now. However, when turning it off, the engine vibrates the whole car like a tractor. I don't remember if this behavior was something that was already there in the beginning. Perhaps other 320CDI owners can pitch in…

2. Transmission

No complaints except once when I tried to floor it once while getting on the highway. It took easily 2 seconds in order for the transmission to change up. It only happened once since I don't have the habit of flooring my cars…I also noticed that the transmission isn't quick to change from 'P' to 'R' and vice-versa. On my old Volvo, is was immediate. A bit annoying when wanting to leave in a hurry ('P' to 'D')…
A bit more worrying is the fact that, when in 'P' and in a hill, when I disengage 'P', the transmission does a very "bunk"-like noise. This doesn't happen if the car is in a flat surface. The noise is still there even if I activate the parking breaks and step on the brake pedal before disengaging from 'P'.
Concerning Hill Assist, I still don't know how it is supposed to work. What I know for sure is that it doesn't engage if the normal lugging forward, typical of automated cars, is enough to prevent the car of rolling backwards. In the other cases, I thought that the Hill Assist would apply the brakes and keep them on until you pressed the accelerator. Well, sometimes it does it, sometimes it doesn't. Lately, it stopped doing like initially meaning that now I have a small time window from the moment you release the brakes and press the accelerator before the car starts rolling backwards.

3. Seats

Worse that the ones in my old Volvo in terms of comfort and lateral support. Good leather though.

4. Cruise control

Again, comparing to my previous car (Volvo), the car don't floor it when resuming the previous set speed. A bit annoying when accelerating out of road tools or just resuming speed. CC stalk a bit oddly situated and the resume speed action can be easily mistaken with the big lights flashing.

5. Automated boot (station wagon)

Didn't wanted to take it as an option but apparently it was mandatory to have it, together with the 7-speed auto box, if I wanted the Keyless entry. It works flawlessly apart from the fact than you can still open and close it manually by forcing it. It blocks sometimes when you do it manually for no apparent reason. Also, I still have to find how to remove the luggage cover mechanism in order to flatten the back seats. No luck with the manual and I find this extremely annoying since there were a couple of times I could need the extra space.

6. COMMAND APS

Some insane route calculations done by the GPS but overall satisfied. I would like to have more POIs categories like the likes of TomTom and several POIs categories are not up to date.
I abandoned the idea of using the PCMCIA slot for the DVD-R MP3 solution. Much more convenient, specially if the system accepts double-layer DVD-R like it was suggested by a forum member here.
Concerning Linguatronic, nice concept but I don't like the Mercedes implementation with too much confirmations requests. It goes much faster if you do it yourself by hand.
No complaints on the sound quality of the system. Very good (no HK).
Bluetooth: flawless with my new Nokia E71.

7. Build quality

No squeals or strange noises. Everything's solid like the first day. Road noise can be neutralized easily with music. Picks up speed very quickly without you noticing (isolation). Windscreen wipers can be a bit noisy.
I still didn't cleaned the interior of the car since I got back but I noticed that the black interior gets dirty very easily ( upper dashboard part and upper doors part). Hope it goes away with a humid cloth.

8. Keyless entry

It was the better option that I took since I have the opportunity to use it every time. In two words, flawless and hugely practical. Pity that, in order to open all windows at the same time, one needs to point the remote to a small patch in the drivers door. In my old E46 BMW, this was done via RF and not via IR, meaning that you could do it from everywhere.

And well, that's it. The conclusion is that I'm still very satisfied with the car and that I hope that I'm able to say the same for many years to come.

 

Great write-up , sounds like your CDi is a nice machine. I really hope that mercedes brings more diesels to north America sometime soon.

Where about in Europe did you travel to?

 

[QUOTE=dragonii;3016568]So, after putting 5.000 KM on my car during this summer holidays, I posting here my impressions on the C-Class that I found out during my long holiday trip throughout Europe.

Thanks for the write up. It is always interesting to compare notes. I have a CDI 220 4 cyl/ 5 speed so cannot comment on your V 6 or 7 speed gearbox. I found the seats very firm but they turn out to be excellent on a long trip.

 

.....No complaints except once when I tried to floor it once while getting on the highway. It took easily 2 seconds in order for the transmission to change up. It only happened once since I don't have the habit of flooring my cars.....

I think you meant "change down." This is a common complaint with the electronically controlled transmission. Get used to it.

…I also noticed that the transmission isn't quick to change from 'P' to 'R' and vice-versa. On my old Volvo, is was immediate. A bit annoying when wanting to leave in a hurry ('P' to 'D')…

Your Volvo undoubtedly was manually controlled by the lever. The shifter in the W204 is merely a switch sending a signal to the transmission controller. Normal.

.....A bit more worrying is the fact that, when in 'P' and in a hill, when I disengage 'P', the transmission does a very "bunk"-like noise. This doesn't happen if the car is in a flat surface. The noise is still there even if I activate the parking breaks and step on the brake pedal before disengaging from 'P'...

This is normal and is caused by you. When you park on a slope and engage park, the entire weight of the car is resting on the parking pawl. Setting the brakes afterward changes nothing. To avoid this, set the parking brake before you engage park so that the brake holds the car, not the parking pawl.
"Bunk." That IS what it sounds like.

.....Concerning Hill Assist, I still don't know how it is supposed to work. What I know for sure is that it doesn't engage if the normal lugging forward, typical of automated cars, is enough to prevent the car of rolling backwards. In the other cases, I thought that the Hill Assist would apply the brakes and keep them on until you pressed the accelerator.....

Hill start assist works only when you have stopped on an upslope and are holding the footbrake. When you release it, you have about two seconds (to prevent rollback) to depress the gas pedal. That is all it does. Doesn't work on a downslope and doesn't hold the brake on more than the previously mentioned 2 seconds.

It has been reported that the E-Class (and above) system holds the brake on until the gas pedal is depressed with no time limit.

If so, that's what we need.

 

This is normal and is caused by you. When you park on a slope and engage park, the entire weight of the car is resting on the parking pawl. Setting the brakes afterward changes nothing. To avoid this, set the parking brake before you engage park so that the brake holds the car, not the parking pawl.
"Bunk." That IS what it sounds like.

Ok, I'll try your suggestion next time.

It has been reported that the E-Class (and above) system holds the brake on until the gas pedal is depressed with no time limit.

Well, that's what I had in the beginning. The car didn't moved back until you pressed the accelator pedal. Now, it is behaving like you say. Could the slope inclination have anything to do with it ? More factual data needed...


Thanks for your remarks.

 

Dragonii,
regarding hill assist, the angle of the incline is the key here. If it's a very sloped incline, then the hill assist will hold the car for as long as is needed until you press the gas medal. I have tested it for up to 45 seconds, whilst holding at a traffic lights.
But if it's only a gentle incline, then the hill assist seems to hold the car only for a few seconds. That's why you get the car starting to roll back if you don't press the gas after those few seconds.
Actually, I think hill assist is only designed for those acute slopes. Eg, on a near flat surface, it makes no difference, the car will roll back.
Go find a nice slope, and try it - trust me, it'll hold for ever probably!

 

After trying the suggestion of RLE yesterday, I must say that engaging the parking brake before shifting to 'P' didn't made any difference. The "bunk" noise was still there. Also, I don't know if this happens in other owners cars, but when I engaged the parking brake, I still could feel the transmission blocking the car after putting it in 'P'. This means that the parking brake and the transmission don't talk to each other to secure the car.

Concerning the Hill Assist, I also tried Mercster suggestion on a steep hill but car didn't hold indefinitely like suggested. It started rolling backwards after a few seconds. It would be much helpful if other forum members would contribute with their respective experiences in order to confirm if I need to pay a visit to the dealer or not

 

point 4.

i agree the cruise slow when resuming.
sometimes it starts out (slowly) in the gear it's in & only shifts down after a second or two..

 

Well, just an update on this matter. Apparently, I wasn't pressing the parking brake hard enough. You have to go all the way in order for the brakes to bite. Once you do that, then the bunk noise that I was experiencing is gone.

 

Hill Assist works fine for me, even on not so steep hills. Never had the car roll back. On more gentle hills, my car tends to inch forward, so I need to apply the brakes.

 

Nice report Dragon. I always enjoy well crafted user reports. Yours is outstanding.

The run-on you report when switching off could be the result of a lower than required cetane rating of the fuel. With the spot price of refined diesel being so high, refiners and marketers are using all the dirty tricks to sell less value for the money.

The transmission learns to be crisp or soft when shifting by the way you drive. Some owners lug the car everywhere they go (Ever been behind an Indian family on Holiday? Nice people, but very thirfty!) and some owners drive like the stole it. (The German feeling is if a car will go 240 Km, then it will be driven 240 Km!) You can reset the transmission to forget what you have taught it, and it will shift as new.

The hill holder doesn't use the service brakes, but rather brakes the transmission output shaft. The transmission has two operating modes, marked C or S in America. Think of it as Comfort and Sport. In the comfort mode (C) the transmission starts out in second gear for smooth "motorized sofa" mode. It is in this mode that the hill holder works. If your car is about to roll backwards a sensor in the output shaft of the transmission tattles that the shaft is going the wrong way. A quick report from the throttle position sensor tells the transmission controller the driver has his foot off. The controller then commands the output shaft to throw on the brake. The shaft throws on the brake, but asks why the driver does not put his foot on the service brake? The controller answers, "Shh, he is old and has selected the comfort mode, we have to hold tight because he is the kind of guy who likes a little service. We'll wait until he steps on the pedal and the TPS screams here we go!" Then it lets off the brake while squeezing into second.

Now if you have the transmission in sport (S) the controller figures you like to do a little more spirited driving, and starts you out in first gear. If the transmission output shaft reports it is turning backwards, the controller tells it not to turn on the brake. Obviously, the more sporting driver knows how to use the service brake to start out on a hill, and since the driver is a sport, he has no patience for the transmission to drop the brake, and then start out in first gear. If the driver wants to roll backward down Montblanc (4711m), well, that is his business, he announced it when he selected the S mode.

As with any electronic controller that executes instructions from a program, glitches can occur that cause undesired operation, like an unusual delay when using wide open throttle (WOT) when entering a limited access highway (Autobahn). My own experience is that it is not the fault of the electronics for failure to kickdown to lower gears, but rather a bunched up floor mat causing the pedal to be held off the peg, and WOT is never signaled by the TPS to the transmission controller.

 

Um, being "old," I may be, but I only use "S" mode, and this hill brake works just fine, as intended, and is not limited to the 2 second deal. Dunno where you got the idea that it is controlled by the C/S button.

But fun read!

 

Good explanation Moviela.
For info, I'm always in C mode, but I will try the hill assist in S mode tonight to see if there's any difference at the same points where I normally use it to hold at traffic lights.

Oh, by the way, what is service brake?

 

This post contradicts my previous answer on the subject so here we go once more.

Just yesterday I was stopped on a very steep hill waiting for a green light so I decided to test this once again.

In neutral, hill start assist is not operational.

In Drive position, whether in C or S mode (tried both), the brakes are held for TWO seconds before releasing. After about six tries, I conclude that this is normal operation and the grade percentage is irrelevant.

Keeping in mind that on a very slight upslope, idling in gear, the car would not roll back anyway, leading one to the false conclusion that the feature is preventing rollback.

I think you need to consider whether C-Classes for other markets (non-US) are configured differently since the hold-forever feature apparently does exist on E and S Classes.

 

Do you not have the 7-speed auto transmission?

 

Yes. I think my post makes that quite clear.

"In Drive position, whether in C or S mode (tried both), the brakes are held for TWO seconds before releasing. After about six tries, I conclude that this is normal operation and the grade percentage is irrelevant."

 

Sorry, was thinking you might have the 5-speed auto transmission. Anyways, this 2-second hold is a US feature. See the interactive manual: http://www4.mercedes-benz.com/e/cars...d13e14385.html In other markets, the hold seems to be forever.

 

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The manual says one second, my car takes two seconds.
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Hill start assist

Hill start assist helps you when pulling away on uphill gradients. It holds the vehicle for a short time after you have removed your foot from the brake pedal. This gives you enough time to move your foot from the brake pedal to the accelerator pedal and depress it before the vehicle begins to roll.
Risk of accident

Never leave the vehicle when it is held by hill start assist. After approximately one second, hill start assist will no longer brake your vehicle and it could roll away.


Depress the brake pedal.


Pull away.



Once you have taken your foot off the brake pedal, the vehicle is held for around one second.

Hill start assist does not function if:

*

you are pulling away on a level road or a downhill gradient
*

on vehicles with automatic transmission*, the gear selector lever is in the N position
*

the vehicle is secured with the parking brake
*

ESP® is malfunctioning