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It looks like my time with my August build 2015 C300 has finally come to an end. As much as I appreciated the design of this car, I had become totally frustrated with its sloppy assembly and never ending returns for service. Since I first bought it in September, 2014, the car has been in for numerous issues. First the steering recall, then the tire recall and subsequent replacement of the two front tires, the replacement of a very badly fit fuel door cover, the repair of paint damage to the fender when that repair was done, an emissions campaign, an alignment issue, a defective door LED, a badly sagging sunroof shade, a misaligned rear bumper cover, and …. finally … the bleeding MB-Tex mess.
The final straw for me was getting the car back from the MB-Tex repair and finding parts of my rear seat covered with that mess again the next day. Apparently, MB-USA did not send all the parts needed for the repair and told my dealer they weren’t needed. That’s when I called my dealer and said I’ve had it with the car. They asked me to order a new car, and said they would come up with an acceptable deal for me when it arrived. It has arrived.
The C300 Sport I ordered to replace my C300 base has an MSRP over $4,000 more than the previous car. I knew I would be responsible for that. Because of factory incentives and greater discounts now being offered, the depreciation on my old C300 was pretty bad. I took a $5,000 hit on that. To help, MB-USA is giving me their two year/75,000 mile warranty extension, as well as a $250 service credit. That’s worth $2,500, so it does help mitigate the depreciation. Good or bad, it’s the best deal I was able to work out after many weeks of working with both MB-USA and my dealer. The car never came close to qualifying for Lemon Law status, which here requires 3 failed attempts at a warranty repair and/or 30 cumulative business days out of service. In any case ….
I now have my new C300 Sport Palladium, with Premium and Multimedia, BLIS, and the Interior Package with black leather seats and the open pore Black Ash trim.. I did not want to go another round with MB-Tex, as good as it may actually be. So, the big question for me going into this is; “How do the two cars compare?”
My C300 had the base suspension with the 18” 5 spoke wheels. I’ve read complaints about how harsh the sport suspension was, and only had a chance to test drive one several months ago for a short time, so I was a bit concerned about ride quality. Some claim that the sport without Airmatic is very uncomfortable, but I did not want to order Airmatic. Well, to be honest, I can’t feel much difference between the base with 18’s and the sport with 18’s. The ride is certainly firm, but there’s enough compliance to make it comfortable on anything but the worst road surfaces. Both setups thump over pavement breaks but that, I think, is more a function of the RFT tires than anything else. So, for me anyway, the sport suspension is just fine as it is … firm but reasonably comfortable. The surprise is that it really is not much firmer than the base with the same rubber. I have not yet pushed it as far as handling, but I do expect it to feel more planted when hustling through corners.
One of the few things I really did not like about my original C300 was the steering feel. It may have just been that car, but the steering felt very light … too light. I was hoping that the Sport model improved the steering weighting, and it did. The steering on my C300 Sport is significantly heavier than what I had before … and right in the range that I consider ideal. I can feel more through the wheel, and it is just a better steering system. Interestingly, the steering on a C300 Luxury loaner that I had felt heavier than my C300, so that may have just been a quirk of that car.
The leather seats feel really good and, with the Sport Package, offer improved side bolsters. These seats do keep you in place; much more than the standard seats. The drawback is that they can feel restrictive, especially for the more robust amongst us. I never had ventilated seats before and, I must admit, they do feel good and are effective. With the Interior Package, you also get memory for the passenger’s seat … which includes a working power headrest. No more dummy button on the door … it now works.
I was really bothered by the loose and sagging sunroof shade on my first C300. It looked awful and had developed many obvious wrinkles. There is no fix that my dealer knew of. The shade on the new car is taut, and shows no looseness at all. That was a relief. The fuel filler door on my first car stuck way out when I first got it; and poorly fit fuel covers were a problem on many early builds. This one fits perfectly. Rear bumper covers … we all know about the issues there. The new car is not perfect here, and there is still a small step where the cover meets the panels. It’s not nearly as bad as I’ve seen, but it is not a perfect fit. The alignment of the brake lights to the covers is perfect, so I told my dealer to just leave it alone. It’s a slight misalignment, so I’m not sure I’ll even ask them to shim it when it’s in for service.
Now to the dreaded wind noise problem. My first C300 did not have a wind noise issue, but I was worried about it. On the trip home, I had the car up to 80 mph and at no time heard any wind noise at all. Some road and tire noise, but nothing out of the ordinary. Road noise was very dependent on the road surface, with some stretches of seemingly smooth roads sounding loud, while other surfaces were whisper quiet. Even over rough pavement, there was not a single rattle or squeak.
I was surprised to hear a dramatic difference in the sound of the Burmester sound system. This system has much more bass than my old one. I had used +2 to +3 as a bass setting before. Now, that range is unacceptable and I had to drop it into the -2 to -4 range to get bass response that wasn’t painfully loud. Weird.
All else is good. In general, the car feels very tight and appears to be a big step up in quality control. I did notice a small straight line pressed into the Ash trim on the console, about an inch long, that looks like it was put there during installation. No one else would ever notice it, but that’s about the only assembly defect I could find … and it’s too small to bother with. The interior trim pieces line up very well, and exterior fit and finish are spot on ... with the continuing exception of that minor bumper cover fit problem.
The car does sit lower with the Sport suspension. I didn’t think I would really notice it, but it is apparent and it looks better. I also noticed that the Auto Start/Stop button has moved from the right side of the console to the left side. I have no idea why.
I’ll add to this thread as I put more miles on and have a chance to take some pictures. Right now, my wife took off with the car and will be gone all day. I should be able to post some pictures by Sunday or Monday … assuming it’s not raining or snowing.
Congrats! I have been following your saga, and, while I haven't had quite as many problems as you, I do plan an trading my C400 in late summer/early fall for a 2016 C450. I will definitely be playing up all of my warranty repairs with my dealer in the hopes of getting a good deal, and it will be the third car from them in two years, so I think it will work out.
Originally Posted by StanNH
It looks like my time with my August build 2015 C300 has finally come to an end. As much as I appreciated the design of this car, I had become totally frustrated with its sloppy assembly and never ending returns for service. Since I first bought it in September, 2014, the car has been in for numerous issues. First the steering recall, then the tire recall and subsequent replacement of the two front tires, the replacement of a very badly fit fuel door cover, the repair of paint damage to the fender when that repair was done, an emissions campaign, an alignment issue, a defective door LED, a badly sagging sunroof shade, a misaligned rear bumper cover, and …. finally … the bleeding MB-Tex mess.
The final straw for me was getting the car back from the MB-Tex repair and finding parts of my rear seat covered with that mess again the next day. Apparently, MB-USA did not send all the parts needed for the repair and told my dealer they weren’t needed. That’s when I called my dealer and said I’ve had it with the car. They asked me to order a new car, and said they would come up with an acceptable deal for me when it arrived. It has arrived.
The C300 Sport I ordered to replace my C300 base has an MSRP over $4,000 more than the previous car. I knew I would be responsible for that. Because of factory incentives and greater discounts now being offered, the depreciation on my old C300 was pretty bad. I took a $5,000 hit on that. To help, MB-USA is giving me their two year/75,000 mile warranty extension, as well as a $250 service credit. That’s worth $2,500, so it does help mitigate the depreciation. Good or bad, it’s the best deal I was able to work out after many weeks of working with both MB-USA and my dealer. The car never came close to qualifying for Lemon Law status, which here requires 3 failed attempts at a warranty repair and/or 30 cumulative business days out of service. In any case ….
I now have my new C300 Sport Palladium, with Premium and Multimedia, BLIS, and the Interior Package with black leather seats and the open pore Black Ash trim.. I did not want to go another round with MB-Tex, as good as it may actually be. So, the big question for me going into this is; “How do the two cars compare?”
My C300 had the base suspension with the 18” 5 spoke wheels. I’ve read complaints about how harsh the sport suspension was, and only had a chance to test drive one several months ago for a short time, so I was a bit concerned about ride quality. Some claim that the sport without Airmatic is very uncomfortable, but I did not want to order Airmatic. Well, to be honest, I can’t feel much difference between the base with 18’s and the sport with 18’s. The ride is certainly firm, but there’s enough compliance to make it comfortable on anything but the worst road surfaces. Both setups thump over pavement breaks but that, I think, is more a function of the RFT tires than anything else. So, for me anyway, the sport suspension is just fine as it is … firm but reasonably comfortable. The surprise is that it really is not much firmer than the base with the same rubber. I have not yet pushed it as far as handling, but I do expect it to feel more planted when hustling through corners.
One of the few things I really did not like about my original C300 was the steering feel. It may have just been that car, but the steering felt very light … too light. I was hoping that the Sport model improved the steering weighting, and it did. The steering on my C300 Sport is significantly heavier than what I had before … and right in the range that I consider ideal. I can feel more through the wheel, and it is just a better steering system. Interestingly, the steering on a C300 Luxury loaner that I had felt heavier than my C300, so that may have just been a quirk of that car.
The leather seats feel really good and, with the Sport Package, offer improved side bolsters. These seats do keep you in place; much more than the standard seats. The drawback is that they can feel restrictive, especially for the more robust amongst us. I never had ventilated seats before and, I must admit, they do feel good and are effective. With the Interior Package, you also get memory for the passenger’s seat … which includes a working power headrest. No more dummy button on the door … it now works.
I was really bothered by the loose and sagging sunroof shade on my first C300. It looked awful and had developed many obvious wrinkles. There is no fix that my dealer knew of. The shade on the new car is taut, and shows no looseness at all. That was a relief. The fuel filler door on my first car stuck way out when I first got it; and poorly fit fuel covers were a problem on many early builds. This one fits perfectly. Rear bumper covers … we all know about the issues there. The new car is not perfect here, and there is still a small step where the cover meets the panels. It’s not nearly as bad as I’ve seen, but it is not a perfect fit. The alignment of the brake lights to the covers is perfect, so I told my dealer to just leave it alone. It’s a slight misalignment, so I’m not sure I’ll even ask them to shim it when it’s in for service.
Now to the dreaded wind noise problem. My first C300 did not have a wind noise issue, but I was worried about it. On the trip home, I had the car up to 80 mph and at no time heard any wind noise at all. Some road and tire noise, but nothing out of the ordinary. Road noise was very dependent on the road surface, with some stretches of seemingly smooth roads sounding loud, while other surfaces were whisper quiet. Even over rough pavement, there was not a single rattle or squeak.
I was surprised to hear a dramatic difference in the sound of the Burmester sound system. This system has much more bass than my old one. I had used +2 to +3 as a bass setting before. Now, that range is unacceptable and I had to drop it into the -2 to -4 range to get bass response that wasn’t painfully loud. Weird.
All else is good. In general, the car feels very tight and appears to be a big step up in quality control. I did notice a small straight line pressed into the Ash trim on the console, about an inch long, that looks like it was put there during installation. No one else would ever notice it, but that’s about the only assembly defect I could find … and it’s too small to bother with. The interior trim pieces line up very well, and exterior fit and finish are spot on ... with the continuing exception of that minor bumper cover fit problem.
The car does sit lower with the Sport suspension. I didn’t think I would really notice it, but it is apparent and it looks better. I also noticed that the Auto Start/Stop button has moved from the right side of the console to the left side. I have no idea why.
I’ll add to this thread as I put more miles on and have a chance to take some pictures. Right now, my wife took off with the car and will be gone all day. I should be able to post some pictures by Sunday or Monday … assuming it’s not raining or snowing.
Congrats! I have been following your saga, and, while I haven't had quite as many problems as you, I do plan an trading my C400 in late summer/early fall for a 2016 C450. I will definitely be playing up all of my warranty repairs with my dealer in the hopes of getting a good deal, and it will be the third car from them in two years, so I think it will work out.
Realistically, I think you may be able to get service coupons from MB-USA as a goodwill gesture, but probably not much more than that. The dealers don't want to take in a trade they'll lose money on, but they can offer a hefty discount on your new car to help out.
To me, it looks like the QC at Vance is tightening up. I could see it, and I could feel it in the new car. Everything looks right, and everything feels right ... and I went over every square inch of this car looking for defects. Aside from that minor bumper alignment issue, it's about as close to perfect as any car I've owned. Things should only get better for the 2016 model year, so you should wind up with a really good car.
I just hope my positive reaction to the new C300 continues for a long time. I like the folks at my dealer's service department, but I've seen enough of them for now.
Great review Stan am glad things are looking better with the new car. Nice car by the way, am expecting mine in early June same color with the Sport package.
Thanks for another nice review Stan. The new Merc looks beautiful and it's good to hear that the Alabama plant seems to be getting its act together. Enjoy!
Stan, congrats. Can you please take detailed, close up pictures of the area around the drivers side view mirror, including the seals? Maybe from yours, we can figure out what causes the wind noise. Thanks.
My car has no wind noise. As requested, here are two pictures showing the fitment of the driver's side mirror.
This is what a correct fit looks like for the fuel filler door. My previous car's fuel door was so bad it had to be replaced.
The open pore Black Ash looks great, and the grain lines up perfectly.
The rear bumper is a good fit, but there is still a slight step at the joints. The lights fit well, so I plan on leaving it alone.
The more heavily bolstered leather sport seats.
The car sits a bit lower than the base or luxury versions.
The interior layout, with flat bottom steering wheel and stitching.
The Sport Package door panel ... showing the ventilated seat controls next to heated seat controls.
These aren't my "artsy" shots, just a few pictures to show some details. So far, I have only positive things to say about the build quality and the features of the Sport Package.
Nice looking car Stan. You optioned your's (color wise) exactly like mine except I went for the red/black leather. The sport exterior package looks so much better (aggressive) than the base and especially the luxury which has the very dated (IMHO) venetian blind looking grill. I get a lot of compliments on and questions about my car.
Nice looking car Stan. You optioned your's (color wise) exactly like mine except I went for the red/black leather. The sport exterior package looks so much better (aggressive) than the base and especially the luxury which has the very dated (IMHO) venetian blind looking grill. I get a lot of compliments on and questions about my car.
Red was my first choice, but I was over-ruled by a higher authority.
Just filled it up for the first time with 440 miles on it. The computer said 28.7, but my calculator gave me a result of 29.79 mpg (US.) That's with about 75% highway and 25% local driving in Comfort mode.
Hey Stan, great write up and glad you stayed in the family! In your write up you said the button for the auto start/ stop is now on the left side versus the right? Could you take a pic of the layout when you get opportunity. Seems like it makes more sense on the left side too as that would be the same side as agility select versus radio volume. also in one of your pics it looks like MB changed the radio on button from saying "ON" to the "Power Symbol"
Interesting little change.
04-11-2015, 10:43 AM
....... Not bad at all
