My dealer offered a free mid-service on my C400 which I got back in Sept 2014. I've put about 5k miles on it so I have had it long enough to get a good feel for it. Also my car has every option you can get so I thought it may benefit those on the fence. The loaner had some god option but I will comment on the ones I noticed different then mine

1. First thing is engine. I was surprised that the C300 was as peppy as it was, but definitely not like my C400. For an average driver probably plenty of power, but glad I have the bigger engine. The C400 definitely has more of a growl to it whereas the C300 sounds...well like a 4 cylinder. Definitely the fastest 4 cylinder I have driven though. The C300 does have a nice little burp in gear changes when flooring it though that the C400 doesn't have, but also doesn't need.
2. The one thing I definitely noticed was the standard sport suspension on the C300 felt more like Sport mode in the C400. Very stiff and capable, but I missed the smoothness of the Airmatic in Comfort mode. Again glad I got it
3. I really missed having my HUD as I pretty much never look at the speedometer for the speed and I found it distracting to not have it. And to think I almost didnt add that.
4. Also missed having the distronic, I forgot how much I really do use it, even though I didnt think I would.
5. Interior didnt feel as refined, the real leather and stitching is a big touch on the C400. The linden wood is nice, but the black open pore looks so much nicer to me.

Overall the C300 was still a very nice car but for the price different I love the C400 especially since it includes so much with it.

 

Everything other than #1 are options on the C300, so this is more an option comparison than a model comparison.

 

Yes I would agree. A lot of people are on the fence on the options. Although for what is included in the C400 and the engine, the price isnt significant.

 

We took our e350 in for service this past Friday (seat heaters and one of the cats replaced, love that CPO) and got a C300 luxury as a loaner. I have driven a few w205s and I really like them as well as anyone can I guess from a few 15 minute test drives, but never a luxury model. The dealer called and said they need to order a part and asked if they could keep the car over the weekend. Well, I finally got an extended test drive, man am I glad I scheduled the service for a Friday!

Now I have been somewhat focused on the c400 because I thought that I wanted premium and sport packages and IMO the relatively small price difference (I think it is just under $3k) is well worth it for the larger engine. However, I was truly impressed by the overall feel of the car. The suspension was not floaty like I expected. It was definitely firmer than our e350 luxury and pretty damn fun to drive, while also being very comfortable.

My memory must be slipping a bit because I remember some noticeable body roll in moderate to spirited driving in my recent test drives of base and sport c300/400s. More so of course on the base model. However, I didn't really notice that much roll on what I thought was supposed to be the softest suspension (not counting airmatic in comfort). I have a BMW e90 so I am familiar with a firm suspension. I am not saying that the loaner was comparable, but it wasn't a Camry that is for sure and it was definitely smoother. I also was impressed by the AWD, a much better implementation than on the several 2011/12 e350 4matics that I drove. Smooth, responsive, very grippy even on slick wet and lightly snowy roads, and not a hint of torque on the steering.

I also noticed that there is a significant difference in power delivery between sport and comfort agility control settings. More that I expected. I thought that the difference was only supposed to affect shift points, but it really felt like a totally different car when in comfort (I mostly used individual set to sport). In comfort it was not as responsive as I would like (this was expected because it had to downshift more often) but it also felt noticeably slower. Perhaps it is just because it is dumping out of each gear too soon, but I would have expected that it wouldn't do this when the throttle is opened up. In sport mode however, it was very responsive and quite fun to drive and fast enough for driving on public roads. Perhaps my memory was clouded by always driving the c400 last in my previous test drives.

Overall, the 3 days in a c300 luxury has got me thinking again whether a c400 is an absolute requirement for me - both in terms of power and whether I want the firmer less comfortable ride since it only comes with the sport suspension.... I suspect I will still opt for the larger engine, especially with the soon to arrive c450, but this experience has definitely got me thinking about it again.

 

Funny.. I actually found the HUD itself to be distracting, especially if there isn't a destination set on the navigation. There's too much text to the left side of the speedometer which more or less just tells me which direction I'm going in. Maybe it'll be more useful when giving turn-by-turn directions, but so far, I've just turned it off.

 

Great review ddeliber! You took the words right out of my mouth.
I was given a loaner Luxury W205 C300 this past Friday which I returned Monday morning so I also had some time to put it through its paces, and I came away very impressed with the Luxury model. Like you mentioned, in Sport and Sport+ mode its a totally different car and pulls quite hard compared to Comfort mode.

The car I had was Diamond Silver with Parktronic, MM, MB-Tex and the lighting package. I always preferred the Sport model but this Luxury version had me thinking again as the Luxury design has grown on me. I do however have a Sport model on order to be built in early March for April delivery so I am almost locked into that model but this past weekends excursion with the Luxury W205 has got me re-considering my order as I enjoyed the smoothness and the fact that it had a good Sporty feel when Sport+ mode is engaged.

By the way, I am in NYC and we had some cold mornings here and with the car outside overnight, and after it warmed up during the day I did not notice any bleeding of the MB-Tex. The cars production date is 08/14 so I guess not all pre Jan 5th cars are affected.

 

This is true unless you're leasing the car. The C400 has a lower residual value, couple that with the higher cost and the C300 is the way to go.

 

I was definitely expecting softer and less responsive/nimble/quick.

The one I had was the dark blue (lunar blue I think) which was actually quite nice up close but it just had Premium and the backup cam. I would have liked to have MM to see if it is worth the money vs the Garmin pilot.

It got below 10 F here in the Boston burbs twice and nothing shiny from the silk beige seats. However, I also liked the adjustable thigh extensions on the seats. I thought that they only came with the sports package another pleasant surprise. I didn't particularly care for the wheels though, I like both the base and sport wheels better, and I like the sports steering wheel better as well.

 

This is an old post, but I bumped it because it's the best review of a luxury model I've read anywhere on the Internet. Thank you.

 

Except for the grille, I believe the Luxury and base models are exactly the same.

 

Hi madmax , thanks for your review , what was your impression of the Diamond Silver ?
I have it on my c350 and love it , but I believe its a love it or hate it color ?

 

Apparently the base gets a different suspension- designated as 677/avantgarde--but it seems like this makes virtually no difference in how the car handles because the only thing different from the comfort suspension is 15 mm of ride height. Perhaps at its limits this makes a difference, but not during every day driving. I want to order a luxury with 18 inch wheels, and finding one of those to test drive on a dealer's lot is like searching in a haystack for a needle made out of gold.