crater64

After much deliberation I finally joined the ranks of W204 owners yesterday. My new car is a '14 C250 Sport sedan, Palladium Silver over Ash. Not heavily optioned with only Premium and Multimedia Packages and KEYLESS-GO, but that's okay with me.

I'll come back and elaborate on this post later today, but for now I want to thank the forum contributors for the collective knowledge that helped me off the fence. Sportstick and MDMercedesGuy were explicitly helpful, and of course Mr. Ruck's expertise was critical, but the overall shared experiences here (especially the subset of facelift W204 and C250 owners) finally convinced me to make the purchase.

More to follow...

BenzManNy

Nice ride. Post pics whenever possible. Welcome.

MDMercedesGuy

Welcome to the family.

Now, stop posting and go drive!

crater64

Funny that those smilies show up as "zoom zoom zoom" as I'd narrowed down my choices to the C250 and the Mazda6. The 6 has an awful lot going for it but in the end, RWD v. FWD driving dynamics and the truism of never buying the first model year of a new design swayed me to the C. It didn't hurt that M-B dealers were more willing to deal than Mazda dealers (memories of the surcharges on first-year Miatas surge to mind).

crater64

Bad phone camera pic. Immediately I notice one subtle visual difference between this and the '13s, one which people have duplicated using Plasti-Dip.



It will share a garage with this, which I've owned since January 2009.



It replaces this, which I owned from July 2004 until just before Thanksgiving.

alsyli

I test drove the Mazda 6 from 2 generations ago. Thought the steering was really wonderful. Think the new Mazda 3 wagon looks considerably more sophisticated than the car it replaces, and it'd probably make a great commuter car. I think Mazda really "gets" driving.

spyked

Nice car! I have a P.silver with your packages (but no Keyless). Main difference is mine is a Lux model. I wanted the traditional MB experience (comfort suspension and star down the hood to lead the way), lol.

Anyway, I envy you. My only real complaint is that Ash interior wasn't offered/available in the Lux model with my configuration. LOVE the Ash interior.

Enjoy the new car! Take advantage of the lease specials? Mind telling us what your end of lease residual value is?

crater64

Thanks. Not a lease but a purchase.

I had a '12 C250 Sport as a rental (long story) about a year ago at this time in Mars Red over Black. I really like the flat-bottomed steering wheel so wanted Black or Ash interior. Ash breaks up the monotony of an all-black interior while keeping the black carpets; I don't know how easy the Ash will be to keep clean but at least the floor won't look as dirty as it could. I'd have liked burl walnut trim over aluminum as it would've warmed up the interior a bit visually, but I suspect the aluminum will be easier to keep clean and less likely to show fingerprints or scratches.

I prefer the suspension calibration of the Sport but I think I'd like the Luxury's grille and hood ornament better. The Sport grille star is way too big IMO and looks like it belongs on a Unimog or Sprinter. Maybe something to swap out down the road.

AkaSigFreak

Congrads on the new car, but I'm really envious of your Porsche. In highschool- I had the opportunity to buy a Red 1969 912 that had been completely restored, but needed 2 tires for a ridiculously low price. My Mother made my pass on it due to the cost of insurance. Brings a tear to my eye every time I see a Classic Porsche.
Drive on!

MDMercedesGuy

We have the same combo - Ash/Aluminum. I like the bright interior moreso over the warmth of the wood personally. That said, my home has been described as "sterile" by some friends (minimalist style, furniture is all birch/black leather) - so I guess it carries over.

As far as cleaning the Interior - head over to griotsgarage.com and pick up a bottle of their interior cleaner. It works wonders - particularly in getting denim dye off of the seats. Don't use a Micro fiber cloth to clean MB-Tex though, otherwise it will give it a shine.

The biggest thing I have found with the aluminum is that it attracts dust. A quick wipe every other week with a cloth sprayed with the above keeps it shiny.

alsyli

It's MB tex; it's pretty easy to keep clean. =) My car's almost 2 yrs old, and, IMHO, has held up very well. Just wipe off any stains w/ cloth (but not microfiber, apparently?) + water. Perhaps I shouldn't admit this, but I've used baby wipes, and it's been fine.

This was my problem w/ the Ash/aluminum (and why I couldn't find a Sapphire Grey w/ the desired interior!). It's *too* monochromatic w/ Ash + aluminium. For me, it's not a luxury car w/o a lot of wood slathered everywhere.

MDMercedesGuy

Haha... the only wood I can deal with is the dark ash/bird's eye maple, which isn't available on the C250. At 31, I'm not ready to have wood on my dash

As far as Sapphire grey goes... were you able to find any at all? Mine was the second one in that color delivered at my dealer - and my car was built 6 months into the production year.

crater64

Sounds Mid-Century Modern. My house has a lot of hardwoods, particularly cherry and mahogany, and a lot of Chinese Chippendale style furniture. Needless to say what I drive does not necessarily reflect my home furnishings.

alsyli

I'm only 35. But I've loved wood since I was a child.

Ack! No dark stained wood. I was communicating w/ some random furniture refinisher, and he wanted to take my mid-century modern wooden table to stain it "cappuccino." Next! The next refinisher said, "People pay me lots of $ to try to get their wood to look like the wood in your table." That's better....

I realize that's totally different than what you're talking about, but I want my wood to look relatively close to natural.

Not really. When I first started looking, there was one in Orange County (which is pretty far from me in LA county) that was more fully optioned than I had wanted (I didn't want any options at all). But I was willing to take it. Of course it sold quickly.

Local dealers told me that some (like 1-2) would arrive soon, but they all either had black interiors (presumably w/ aluminum) or ash/aluminum. I could barely find one in the state of California, and couldn't find any w/ Ash + wood. Can't figure why the color was so uncommon, although I tend to like funny colors. I thought it was beautiful, and I don't even like green! ::sigh:: And now they've gotten rid of it entirely. =P

I was in a rush to buy the car this last time (I think I'm only person the world who has owned an unreliable Honda). I plan to buy again in late 2016/early 2017 (b/f my current car goes off warranty). If I end up liking a strange color combo, I'll just special order. Would be interesting in doing European delivery, but I think my C-class diesel will probably be made in the US. =(

spyked

I'm a young 41 and I wanted wood trim. Luckily the Luxury model gives you no choice

I really loved the wood in the 2013 A4 (a "dry" boat deck style" wood), but I didn't want such a large car (and I've had too many other VW/Audi to count). This was my first MB so I wanted the MB experience (wood and soft suspension).

I'm beginning to think, from a longevity POV, we got the best version of the W204 offered in the U.S. No 4MATIC to fail, older engine base (with newer technologies implemented), and in general, a tried and true chassis. As long door handles and EIS issues were fixed during the refresh, we should be good!

04boxster

I'm new as well... '14 C250 with the AMG package option (sport plus)


previous vehicle..

crater64

04boxster, nice stable you have there.

Today marks a month since I took delivery. I've logged 750 miles and filled the fuel tank twice. First tank was 90:10 city:hwy and averaged 28 mpg. Second tank was 95:5 city:hwy and averaged 24 mpg. Much more idling while clearing snow/ice and short trips on the second tank. Looking forward to finding out how it will do on a mostly highway road trip.

I've mostly followed MBUSA's advice and kept the transmission in E during the break-in period, but I did switch over to S just once to see if it'd help with merging into traffic (it did, of course!). I look forward to taking advantage of that more often.

Other observations, which may fall into the category of nitpicks or RTFM:

- The car is short on interior storage space. Door pockets are shallow, especially the rears which might as well not exist. I'm also not too crazy about the fabric covering on them, which looks like it'll be harder to keep clean than if they were just bare plastic. (OTOH the hard plastic sun visors get dirty easily as well; I think it may have acted like a pumice stone on the heel of my hand once!) I'm disappointed that the underseat stowage compartments were not standard and, apparently, not available in the US. I may look into sourcing them abroad to install here.

- Also on the storage front, I need to figure out which trunk storage net/mat combination will work best for me. The two cargo hooks on either side of the trunk seem like they’ll be easily broken.

- Interior lighting: I need to figure out if/how I can dim the COMAND display at night. It dims automatically but is still too bright for my liking; I'd like to get dimmed to the same level as the instrument cluster. Similarly, the amber/orange ambient lighting that shines down from the rear-view mirror is very distracting, especially as it reflects off the aluminum trim and off the HVAC temperature dial, which reflects onto the aluminum trim as a bright ring of light. I may have missed reference to dealing with that in the manual, but if I have to make extended night drives I may have to just cover the light with electrical tape.

That’s it, really. I’m happy with the ride and handling. The steering lightens up a bit at highway speeds but is well weighted around town. Even with our bad winter so far I don’t feel like I miss 4Matic or the power of the V6; I know I don’t miss the additional weight in the front or the fear that the transfer case will fail.

alsyli

Glad you like the car so far. I actually really like the ambient lighting provided in the 2013 model from the rear-view mirror. I think my 2012 has a pinlight in the same area, but it's far too dim.

Regarding the steering, I agree that's well-weighted at low speed and a little too light at freeway speed.... And I feel like it should've been calibrated to be the opposite....

Agree there could/should be more interior storage space....

spyked

If you can figure out anything to do with interior lighting adjustments at all, let us know.

My main complaint is that I can't get interior lights to come ON when I want. Have to rely on light sensor which it not sensitive enough.

Glad you are enjoying the car. I was also wondering if I would regret having a RWD in this weather. Not a single issue yet.

crater64

One thing I should add: for good or ill, the car is very tight structurally. On the occasions that I haven't removed all of the snow/ice from my shoes upon entry, that little bit that I leave behind on the floor mats evaporates and condenses on the inside of the windows. (That's not to say that hasn't happened in other vehicles I've owned, but amounts as small as this usually found their way out of the cars upon evaporation.) It was an unexpected surprise to find I needed to scrape the inside of the glass to remove the frost! I didn't do that actually, but I have since bought a container of DampRid to put in the passenger compartment when that happens. I'll clean the inside glass formally when the weather warms up enough that the window cleaner doesn't freeze upon contact.

crater64

Three-month (approx) update: Just ticked over 3000 miles this weekend, on the return leg of an unforeseen trip from metro Philadelphia to Charleston, SC and back. Fuel economy was 30.7 mpg at an average 70 mph going down, and 27.9 mpg at an average 66 mph coming back, during which I encountered much more traffic. Around towns in the SC Lowcountry I saw 26.7 mpg. (Average mpg figures are my own calculations, not the car's, but the average speeds are the car's calculations.) Not bad for a car I don't yet consider "broken in."

No mechanical or electronic issues with the car to date. So far, so good (knocks aluminum interior trim). Just waiting for spring to give the car its first proper cleaning and waxing.

crater64

Just shy of eighteen months with the car and just a bit over 16K miles on the odo. But for an isolated issue with the backup camera (see https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ven-drive.html) no faults with the car to date. (There is also that pesky driver's side wiper blade chatter/streaking/residue issue but I don't know that anyone's resolved that to their satisfaction.) I see a fairly steady 25 mpg city/32 mpg highway at this point; best tank was just shy of 34 mpg (33.8) on an all-highway drive. Steady highway driving at 75-80 mph routinely returns over 30 mpg.

I had dedicated snow tires installed on the stock 17" wheels this past November and decided to leave them mounted on those wheels. Searching for factory 18"s to use for spring/summer/fall, I happened upon a set of AMG 7-spokes still on their factory ContiPro Contacts on eBay; I made an offer that was accepted and, now, here they are.

MDMercedesGuy

Very slick man... love the 7 spokes on a sedan - completely changes the look!

ezshift5

....not clear here: C250 not listed in the header. Is it W204 or W205?

ez

W57thNY

Congrats on the car. I think the 7 spoke wheels are the best looking ones. They give the car a unique look since not many people have them.