niche232

So I finally took delivery of my new C250 this week (ordered in July) and have done a lot of driving in the past few days... freeway, twisty stuff, city and sh*tty!

It's Palladium Silver with Cranberry Red leather. AMG pack (interior and exterior), Comand pack (incl Burmester hifi) and Vision pack (panoramic roof, HUD. In Australia pretty well everything else except the perfumery and AIRMATIC is standard on the 250.

So here are my thoughts:

- I'd heard reports that AMG without AIRMATIC was extremely hard, even uncomfortable at times. Thankfully, not true. It is firm, but perfectly manageable. I chose not to opt for AIRMATIC as I thought it just sounded like something really expensive to go wrong when warranty hit T+1

- The car overall handles beautifully. In sport mode the steering is perfect, the car changes direction without fuss and is grippy as anything. The new BMW 328i might have a (slight) edge here, but when you look at the whole package including interiors and technology, the C250 just blows it away.

- The car looks sensational, especially with the 19" black/silver AMG rims. The headlights seem to get almost as much attention as the rest of the car!

- From an interior perspective, there's nothing like it. I came from an Audi A4 which I think was the previous class benchmark for interiors. This leaves it for dead. The open pore black ash with red leather, silver switchgear and stitched Artico dash is extremely tactile... everyone who sits in it spends the first 10 minutes just touching stuff.

- The 'tacked on' ipad-y screen bothered me a little at first, but within 72 hours I'd forgotten about it.

- The driver assistance stuff around self-steering, self-braking, self-accelerating and self-parking seems to work perfectly. It also completely freaks me out and I won't use it except to show off to friends.

- The COMAND interface is extremely comprehensive and relatively easy to navigate, but I must say everything seems to take just that one extra click or turn than it instinctively should. Everything's there and findable, it just takes more effort than it should. There genuinely isn't a dedicated button to move forward one audio track, for instance, unless you're in the audio screen already.

- The car is plenty powerful enough for me, and extremely flexible in how it applies that power. There is, however, still a little bit of turbo lag at the low end.

- I've already had to reboot Audio20/COMAND once when it seized up whilst reading a 64GB SD card. Thankfully that process is simple and takes about 20 seconds (although re-reading such a large card takes a while)

Any questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer!

kanaka

Thanks for the update and report I have ordered the same spec car but in white red interior, arrives feb Glad to hear your comments on aromatic as I had also heard reports about to firm ride etc I opted not to get it I am in brisbane where are you

natman316

Agree with the evaluation of the command. Too many layers in the menus now and makes things more complicated than it should be

Croc

Envious here, as mine is still couple months away.

Would love to see some Picts, as mine is also in palladium silver!

And want to know real world fuel consumption and Internet connectivity.

Cheers.

niche232

Hi.., I'm in Sydney

notabenex

Could you please make some video with acceleration? 0-100kmh, 60-120kmh 40 - 150 kmh for example.. just on your phone and post it!

THANKS

niche232

Will post some pics over the weekend if I get a chance. The first couple of weeks of ownership is probably not a great time to assess fuel consumption, as I've been actively looking for specific places to drive. If I try to average out my commute and standard driving, it'd be around 9L/100km, but I live relatively close to the city, and don't do any highway driving as part of the commute.

Internet connectivity is an interesting one. The first time it connects it takes quite a while as it establishes a data connection with the phone (doesn't seem to do it automatically when BT connects). After that it's much quicker. I'm not sure though there's an awful lot I would regularly use the Internet connection for. I can see the usefulness for specific things like street view or POIs, but most of the functionality I wouldn't use on the move, and if I'm stopped by the side of the road then the phone itself now much easier and quicker. Might change my tune on this one over time though.

Nuk

niche232 It's great to hear that you the love the new C250. I have ordered the same car but as Bluetech Estate Polar White version with all the options as you have, the only other thing I added was the "Seat Comfort Pack".
I placed my order in Aug 14 but my car is not due to arrive in Oz late Jan 15.
After hearing what you have to say, I'm glad I picked the options that I did. I really want my New C250 S205 now.

MURF

I have been waiting for delivery of a C Class Estate S205 with Jan 2105 Build date.
Found that I could put the VIN into Vin Tracker site and it gave me the ship (Carmen..a car carrier) it is coming on, leaving Bremerhaven in February. Using a ship tracker site I have followed the ship to UK, East coast U.S, through the Panama Canal, to Auckland, then Brisbane and today 20/03/15 it is off Port Macquarie on its way to Port Kembla where my vehicle will be off-loaded. Anyone who is expecting German built Mercedes for April delivery in Australia will probably find that their car is enjoying the world tour with mine.

Carsy

I will ask my son who is a pilot in Port Kembla , if he is on duty , to bring it in very gently. Precious cargo

MURF

Thanks Carsy. Your son's careful piloting is much appreciated. It should reach Port Kembla tomorrow.

StanNH

This has nothing to do with the W205, but I spent a couple of weeks in January, 2014 touring around Australia. Granted, I was only there as a tourist, but I thought Australia was perhaps the friendliest and most interesting place I've ever visited.

Starting at the Australian Open in Melbourne, and experiencing the record heat wave, I went on to Port Douglas and two days of diving the Great Barrier Reef, a few days touring the Outback and the obligatory visit to Ayer's Rock, then a week in Sydney where I met up with a fellow Porsche enthusiast I knew from a Porsche forum we both frequent. (He tried to get me some track time, but we ran out of time.) Bondi Beach, the Blue Mountains, a slew of fantastic restaurants, and lots of truly open and welcoming people ... I left with nothing but positive feelings about Australia and its people.

Well ... lobster (AKA lobbie) was really expensive!

Croc

Glad you like Australia, it is in deed a great place and I wouldn't live any where else.

Not sure which days you experienced "record heat wave" during the Australia Open, but we had the coldest summer in 10 years.

http://m.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-weather-city-records-its-coldest-january-in-10-years-20150202-133jyc.html

StanNH

I think the cold wave might have been better. I came from frigid temperatures here and walked right into this:

"14-17 January 2014 Melbourne records 4 consecutive days of temperatures exceeding 41 degrees, 2 of which the temperature exceeded 43 degrees"

"Soaring temperatures have halted matches at the Australian Open tennis tournament, as a report warns that the country will see hotter heatwaves.
Melbourne, where the tournament is held, is seeing a third consecutive day of heat above 40C, with temperatures of 41.7C (107F) on Thursday."

This year, we've also experienced record or near record cold here, with matching amounts of snow. When we were in Australia, the Outback was actually cooler than Melbourne.

Croc

I miss read your post and thought you visited this year. Ops!

Last year was abit of a shocker but not unusual for summer. We have had the mildest weather this summer, which meant the open wasn't as interesting.

You would also have enjoyed much better exchange rate if you visited this year.

StanNH

I may have to come back then.