Atcdude

Hi folks,

Was poking around today at one of the local Merc dealers today. Didn't have time to take one for a drive, so maybe next week.

Currently own a 2012 Audi A4. Thinking of a C Class perhaps in a year or two down the road. I'm never confident enough in German vehicles to buy the first year.

Anyhow, have to say that the new C Class is a real beauty of a car. Other than the "iPad" screen, the interior is stunning. Looks much more expensive than my A4 (mind you, so is the price).

A few things I didn't like, however this is me being quite critical.

The passenger interior door handle was loose and caused the whole panel to creak. Doors don't have the solid "whump" when closing them that I've typically been used to with German cars. The A4 feels a bit cheap in this manner, but the C Class felt worse.

The alignment of the taillight housing within the bumper/rear quarter panel was inconsistent. It seems some fit well, and are nicely flush, and others not so much.

In the centre console, with the nav/media etc buttons, the text was inconsistently aligned between the different buttons, on one car it was quite badly so and it was very noticeable. I should have taken a photo.

Other than that, I'm super excited about the car. Just hoping they will sort out a few of these small things as time goes on.

Cheers

Pete1968

Driving Italian cars, i can comfortably say that you are nit-picking. How it drives, and how it makes you feel to sit in, is what really matters in cars of this class. An interior like the one in the new C-class is a bonus.

The issue with the center console you mention, is not a general problem i am sure.

Not a mercedes man myself, but I think we can all agree that the C-class currently has the best interior of it's class. By a mile even.. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate the C-class interior at 9 and the current A4 interior at 5.

I know it hurts audi owner's, who is used to owning the cream of the crop in that repspect but Mercedes really pulled a fast one here.. brilliant strategy really..they jumped one full generation and one full class with this interior.

To make matters worse for Audi, rumour has it that Audi was caught off guard, and that the soon to be released A4, will not be able to match the new C-classs interior as is. I don't know if there is any truth to that, but the moto-journalists all seemed to express surprise with their reviews of the c-class.

Atcdude

I wouldn't say I'm hurt about it all actually! I agree, Mercedes really hit a home run on the interior. It looks great. I'm talking more about the assembly so far. Maybe it's because they are early models, but I have none of those small issues on my A4 that were on the C. Nor did I have that on a previous 3 Series I had. You're probably right, the lettering on the centre console buttons is probably a one off issue, as well as the loose handle on the door.

Going to test drive one tomorrow for the heck of it. Looking forward to it.

StanNH

I've owned an A6 and two A4's and have enjoyed them all. I've also owned a BMW 528, another exceptional car. The C300, which I have for only a few days now, may turn out to be the best German sedan I've yet owned. I have not seen the issues you mentioned, so that may just be sloppy fit on that particular car. The doors do not have that solid thunk, but many of the panels are now aluminum to save weight. General fit and finish are quite good, with very good paint showing some orange peel.

Driving the car is a pleasant experience and the car feels solid on the road. Sport mode increases steering resistance and provides more aggressive shifting. So far, the car is exactly what I hoped it would be ... a very civilized German feeling, compact sport/luxury sedan with no obvious faults.

Pete1968

The other day i saw a photo from the new c-class, of a center console with dark ash wood trim. it was the one piece version from the auto box.

the weins in the cup holder lid, did not align at all with the main part of the consle.trim. looked horrible! but again i am sure it was a one-off mishap and i have no doubt the unlucky owner will get it fixed at no expense.

@Stans, very good point on the doors..

If i was to nit-pick myself, i would say that the door handles are not the best design and the Grab opening (for lack of better word) is certainly not overly large..It is pobably just a matter of getting used to the car, but when grabbing for the handle on the demo cars, i sort of bumped my fingers against the door side..

The inside base plate of the wing mirrors is not made from very tactile or optically pleasing plastic either..same goes for a C-Pillar plastic trim i noticed.

Still this is only a Premium Compact Sedan Class car, so you can't really expect Premium Executive Class materials in every single component. Overall, that cabin interior is a very nice place to be!

Edo81

Maybe it was a pre-production car. I jumped in/out a few w205 and never noticed those issues. They all seemed more solid than my BMW X1. Maybe there are also minor differences in the assembly process of US cars respect to those built in Germany.

Edo81

Which Alfa do you drive? My first car was an old 164, then I also drove a GT. My father-in-law currently has a Giulietta and I have to say that it is great to see and to drive!

Pete1968

Hi Ed,

They do feel special don't they? despite all the quirks and faults.. Maybe one day, the brand will return to the US, who knows.

Had a long time love affair with the Alfa's so we've had a fair few of them, incl GT Veloce and a 164 Q4. Great cars, but i had to let the 164 go after a short time, as I was not able to service the computers in it.

Which type of Giulietta does your father-in-law have? the current one maybe?

I have a small collection of alfa's in storage, nothing very exotic though. We currently have a MiTo QV and a Series 4 Spider running. We just traded in the lastest model 939 Spider as part of the deal for the S205 which is going to be my wifes daily driver. Looking forward to getting the Merc, and it seems like a very nice car. Would have prefered to get an Alfa. But what are you gonna do.The CEO of Fiat seems to be running the brand into the pages of history. How does people in Milan feel about what he did to Alfa?

Edo81

Perfectly agree, let's see what will appen in the next couple of years. The Giulia should be on the way, as the new Spyder and, hopefully a beautiful Coupe.
My father-in-law traded a 166 JTD for a Giulietta 1.4 TB 170 Distinctive with the sport package. It's really nice to drive and the DNA selector really changes the car. Also the interiors are very appealing and sporty, nothing to deal with those of my current X1. Somtimes I remember what Jeremy Clarkson said about the 166: they took a perfect car and make it even better. Nevertheless AR sold just a couple of 166s in the UK...

boycjo2

noticed this also. alignment of radio is off.

Atcdude

Drove a C400 a few days ago with the Premium and Sport package (Canada).

Firstly, the exterior of the car is gorgeous. The rear is probably the part I like the least, but I still think it looks fine.

The new interior is such an improvement compared to the W204 and all the other cars in the class. The demo model had the open pore wood trim adds a beautiful touch. It would be must for me if I was to order one. The switch gear feels of high quality. The AMG dash with the stitching is a really nice touch.

Didn't get a good chance to mess with the Burmester audio, so I can't speak to that. Unfortunately neither myself or the sales person really had any appropriate music to demonstrate the system.

The multimedia screen visual quality was nice. Still not sold however on the tacked on "iPad" look. I still think there could have been a more elegant way of integrating it, although the functionality of it (ease of viewing) is good.

Now to driving it. The airmatic really is special. The ability to adjust the ride/handling is great. Too floaty on Eco, but sport+ was solid.

The power is great! Honestly, although I think you can never have enough power, this is really much more than adequate. Once in sport+, I enjoyed the quick up and down shifts which I was a bit surprised were coming from a non DCT.

Only thing that I was disappointed about the vehicle was the quality of the steering. I don't like the trend of electric steering. I wouldn't describe the feel as awful, but I wouldn't call it good either. I'm sure electric steering will get better in regards to feedback, but it's not quite there yet. In regard to the weight of the steering I would have liked sport+ to be a bit more firm, especially on centre.

Would I buy it? Maybe. I suppose it's not quite sporty enough for me. I very well know that isn't the market they are aiming for, so I'm not surprised. It's a shame because I absolutely love the style of the vehicle. If the C400 was more sporty, I'd settle for it, but it looks like I will have to wait for the C63.

As for the defects that I had mentioned previously, I didn't notice the same problems, except for the fit of the rear headlights.

Atcdude

Boycjo2,

You're pictures are exactly what I'm talking about. I only noticed it on one vehicle out of a few I looked at. It'll be interesting to see if this is a common problem.

alsyli

Took me awhile to figure out what was misaligned (the text, for anyone who couldn't initially tell, like me). Yikes. I've never seen that on an MB before. Are those promotional pics or your own photos? If they're promotional pics, that's pretty bad. =(

Also wondering if there are maybe some teething probs w/ the Alabama plant. Hopefully, it'll all be sorted out soon....

joshg1001

The parts are still make in Germany right? They are just shipped to Alabama for assembly? If that is the case, then this should be a problem with all W205s

benzw205

And what you haven't seen is how ridiculous is the full command / computer system.

So slow...

ddeliber

Not that this explains any of the observations in this thread, but I thought it was cool so here is a video of W205 production in Germany from back in Feb.


I am sure it was posted earlier, but I haven't seen it until today. Enjoy. I'd love to see something similar from the plant in Alabama.

StanNH

60% American or Canadian parts, 40% German parts for the Alabama built C300.

StanNH

That's a great video! My guess is that the Alabama plant uses the same robotics and quality control processes as the German plant. Although the Alabama cars use primarily North American sourced parts, I don't believe there should be any differences in final assembly quality or the durability or function of the components. MB is still responsible for the final product, regardless of the point of assembly. Time will tell ....

Here's a somewhat crude video of the Alabama line:

BoboPolo12

Oh no.. I actually wish I didn't read this thread, haha! I never noticed this before during test drives and I just placed my order yesterday. I'm hoping it won't bother me, but I can picture myself staring at it whenever the car is at a stop. Thanks, OCD!

ajmerc

I've now had my 2015 C400 for over 1 month. My previous car was a 2011 C350 (bought new) and before that, a 2008 C350 (also bought new), so I have lots of experience in the previous C class (W204) to compare to the new C400. here are my comments/observations:

I think in general the hype from the auto journalists praising the new C class is way over-blown and totally undeserved for the following reasons:

The only good thing in this car is the power from the new engine at 329 hp and lots of torque - but they achieved this with a smaller (3.0L) engine and twin turbo chargers.

Aside from that, in my opinion, the rest is inferior to the previous model and falls flat relative to all the hype/praise because:

The interior fit/finish and quality of materials is very disappointing. The switch gear is very low quality - e.g. take a close look at the black buttons for "Radio", "Tel" etc.. on the centre console: they are cheap, plastic and are not firm/solid to the touch. When you touch them they jiggle/move around before you actually depress them. That gives them a very cheap feel. I had better switch gear in my '92 Golf GTI!! The button/switches in that Golf felt much more solid, substantial, made from better quality materials and did not jiggle when touched and when depressed, they gave a solid "click" sound and feel. That's they kind of switch gear characteristics you would expect, at a minimum, in a Mercedes. Older Mercedes from the glory years of high quality had solid switch gear made from quality materials. The current C Class interior materials also look cheap, and are too glossy - finger prints are all over the place and very difficult to keep clean (i.e. on centre console for example). The aluminium trim around air vents etc.. also looks cheap and too much like a cheap ford, GM car.

They changed the gear shifter from the centre console to the steering wheel stalk- it used to be a solid well-designed shifter and now it is essentially is a cheap plastic stick attached to the steering wheel....

The wheels/tires: they made the wheels narrower than on the previous C350 (e.g. now the 18 inch rears are 245mm vs 255mm on the older C350)!!! For sport car enthusiasts this is blasphemy - no one journalist has picked this up!!!

The technology is over done - why do we need three or four devices/switches and/or surfaces to to make the same operation??? e.g. touch pad and rotary dial on centre arm rest / console. Tone back the tech and give us better quality materials, switches, not narrower wheels/tires and/or make leather standard on the C400.

No On/Off button for the climate control - in the old C350 there was an On/Off/Auto button that made it very easy to turn on an off the climate control in Auto mode. Now you have to keep pushing down the fan/"Off" button several times to turn it off. Can anyone tell me if there has ever been any car built (even the cheapest car) without a clear on/off button for the climate control?

Other disappoints include the top of door panel that has much less padding than my previous C350 so every time you lean your elbow there it moves and creaks!!

Oh, and yes, reverting back to the ECO mode every time you start the car is a terrible annoyance that reminds me of all the things wrong with this car. Also, related to that: why doesn't the agility select stay in the mode you previously selected when your re-start the car??? You should have the option to keep it in one mode all the time - again, tone down the rest of redundant/useless tech and give us this!!

I could go on, but I will leave it there - those are my major gripes.

jolt8631

Not happy then...

Fortunately, you seem to be in a minority.

Pete1968

wow.. having a car on order - i sure hope this is not how the average owner feels after 1 month.

abstractls

I guess to each their own. I much prefer this over the older one and don't have any of these complaints. I have had mine over a month and am loving it. I WOULD like if they made it so it remembered your last agility select, but it's not really that much of an annoyance to me that I care.

Yogibara

Some serious annoyances. I wonder if the eco/personal settings issues can be addressed with a patch? As far as quality of the parts, i'll be test driving one of these cars this week so I'll get a first-hand perspective.

Pete1968

Perhaps the manual says something about driving a while before using Sport+ ?

Many high performance cars with forced induction and quick-shift gearbox function, has a safety function where you can't select race mode unless the systems are at operating temperature.