StanNH

In September, 2014 I bought a 2015 C300 base in Iridium and MB-Tex, with the 18" five spoke wheels. By week one I had my first recall, by week two I had my second. I also had a horribly fit fuel filler door, a badly sagging sunroof liner, got locked out of the car repeatedly by a flaky Keyless Go system, had misaligned headlights, defective door LED's and, the final blow, a really bad case of bleeding MB-Tex material. All of this was within the first three months of what was turning out to be a very bad ownership experience. MB-USA sent an incomplete repair kit for the bleeding seats so, when I got my car back, the rear seats started bleeding again. That was enough, and both MB-USA and my dealer agreed it was time to get a new car. An equitable deal was arranged, a new car was ordered, and in April, 2015 I drove off with my current car, a C300 Sport in Palladium with a LEATHER interior, since I never wanted to look at another MB-Tex interior.







My VIN went from an early 2xxx to a car in the 61xxx range. The new car has been everything I had expected my first Mercedes to be. The fuel door fit is perfect, the sunshade is taut, panel fit is superb, and the leather seats are a welcome addition. I have not had a single recall or service campaign affect me. There have been some relatively minor issues, which have been easily resolved.

After about a month, the Keyless Go on the new car once again refused to recognize either fob. The doors would simply not unlock when trying to get into the car. A couple of times it also had to be started manually with the fob. This seemed to be getting worse as time went on, in spite of a change of batteries on both fobs. My dealer found a software update dealing with a "communications" issue in Keyless Go, and updated the software in July. I have not had a single issue since then, so I would say that was the fix.

I also experienced some difficulty when refueling the car, in that the gas pump would repeatedly shut off while filling. The dealer replaced the fuel vent valve and this has never happened again.

Neither my first C300 or my current one experienced excessive wind noise, which is not to say that these have been the quietest cars I've ever owned. There is a fairly high level of road and tire noise, and outside wind noise is obvious in cross winds. Wind does not, however, actually get past the seals. Over smooth pavement and in quiet conditions, the car is very quiet. Overall, it's better than some and not as good as others, so noise isolation is probably about average. At all times, a normal conversation can be carried on easily at normal levels.

Both my cars came with the Burmester audio system, one which I find very good. Oddly, my C300 Sport seems to be much bassier than the first car, so I have used less bass in the settings to find a tonal balance I like. Neither car had any of the vibrations that some have reported.

Ride comfort between the base with 18's and the Sport is actually similar. I expected the Sport to be harsher, but it's not. Neither car offers a particularly soft ride, and both feel quite firm although the Sport has a bit less body motion to it compared to the base. I like the seats in the Sport much better, and find the increased lateral support much to my liking. With the optional interior package, I now also have the ventilated seats and full memory on the passenger's seat as well. Initially I thought the ventilated seats were useless but, as the summer weather set in, I found they actually worked quite well.

Fuel mileage with both cars has been essentially identical, with up to 36 mpg on straight highway runs, and high 20's in local driving. I have not reset my computer since driving this car away, and it is still sitting at 29 mpg overall ... which is truly exceptional. That number will drop dramatically now that winter is quickly approaching.

So far this new C300 Sport has been one of the best and most reliable cars I've yet owned, and I've owned many fine vehicles over the years. I no longer have to spend much of my free time getting things sorted out at my dealer, I no longer am on a first name basis with my rep at MB-USA, and I have regained a modicum of respect for the design and engineering that have gone into this car. When this car works, it works really well.

For now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope my good luck with the car will continue on into the future.

MASSC450

Excellent write-up Stan (as usual), thank you!

My experience reliablity wise seems to have been even better with my late-built 2015 C300 Sport 4matic (knock on wood!). My only issues were a slight vibration that my wife picked up on (dealership replaced right rear tire), and the trunk lid spoiler was installed incorrectly (replaced at dealership as well). I've had no issues with wind noise (my C300 is WAY quieter than my wife's 2014 328i xDrive), my FOB always works & opens the doors, and my gas mileage is good...averaging about 27 mpg in mixed driving...most of that time in "Comfort" mode. Overall I'm still very pleased with the car.

Now with that said, I'm at the point now where I'm begining to identify the short comings of my C300, and I have to admit...begining to even think about a different brand of vehicle in a couple of years. Here is a list of things that are begining to bug me about my new 2015 Mercedes Benz C300:

1) No heated "Sport" steering wheel or heated rear seats (like a BMW 3 Series)

2) No permanent shut-off for the auto-engine shut-off "fuel saving" feature (like a BMW). I really loath this feature, especially in bumper to bumper traffic.

3) No remote start. I had high hopes that Mercedes was going to implement this for the 2015 model through mbrace...nothing so far. This is the main reason why I will not be renewing my mbrace account

4) No rear sensors / audible "beeps" with the rear view camara option. I wasn't about to pay an extra $970 for the parktronic feature when a lot of other car brands offer this standard together with their rear camaras (like a Jeep Grand Cherokee)

5) A thumping sound in the back when going over medium to large bumps. I think it might be the trunk floor cover...still investigating

6) mbrace free for only 6 months for the 2015 models. Mercedes now gives 5 years free for the 2016 model...why should I pay for it then? BMW's free service last 5 years too I believe

7) Slow 3G service. Come on Mercedes, even GM now has 4G...and BMW will too. In addition, BMW will have "over the air" updates for their vehicles as well. Slow 3G service is the main reason I did not even think about renewing the Mercedes Apps plan.

8) Comand disc player only plays standard DVDs. Who buys standard DVD's? All my movies are on BluRay

9) Passenger outside mirror does not dim like the driver's mirror does

mvw

All good points. I have had my 450 for a few weeks (coming from a 328), and love it but have a similar list of small things that bother me.

1) The info computer is horribly programmed. The BMW would switch to navigation automatically when you programmed a destination, but the Merc doesn't, which is annoying.

2) The phone button does nothing unless you first switch over the info screen to phone. On every other car I've driven, the phone button will automatically switch the screen to the phone directory and allow you to select options.

3) The heated steering wheel was almost a deal breaker for me living in Canada, but sucked it up and bought some nice gloves. We'll see how big an issue with is when temp drops to -20.

4) Re the rear beeps, not sure whether I have or not with the 450 as I've been super careful so far not to get close to anything, but yes, that would be very annoying is it didn't beep, particularly for the side rear where the camera may not have the best view.

Start/stop, I have to say, is much less annoying than on my BMW (which the dealer always "forgot" to permanently disable. When the BMW stopped the steering wheel would lock. When it stopped waiting to turn left that easily could have caused an accident as the car would start moving upon release of the brakes a fraction of a second before the wheel let you start turning. Also, the whole BMW would also shake and rattle when the engine came back on and was very intrusive, while the Merc seems a lot less intrusive and seamless, but that could be because of the engine difference between the diesel-y inline 4 in the 328 and the 6 in the 450.

Also, I have not yet had to program the nav manually - unlike my last BMW and my wife's infiniti, the voice recognition on this car seems to actually work. As does the foot swipe to open and close the trunk feature, which never worked once on my BMW in 3 years.

All in all, very happy, but whoever built out the interface for the info display and steering wheel functions should be fired.

Glyn M Ruck

Sorry ~ been traveling for 6 weeks with limited access. I'm delighted you are happy with your new car Stan. Happy motoring.

StanNH

Thanks, Glyn. Hope your trip was pleasure rather than business.

bartola

9 months and 14,000 miles

topsider

i get the vapor lock while refueling as well, next service ill mention that. my build is early like your first car, 47..

MASSC450

Yes I've had some nagging computer issues as well that I didn't mention, like when viewing the weather radar map...why does it always first display all of Northe America? Am I missing a feature where I can save my last view? Happens for NAV sometimes as well. There are other glitches & occassional button/screen freeze ups too. Mercedes could have done a better job with the whole system IMO.

Yes the C300's engine is smoother when restarting compared to my wife's 2014 328i...she has no issues though with the steering wheel locking up when the engine auto shuts off. What I did notice between the two vehicles when it comes to the auto engine start/stop feature is in addition to the engine auto restarting by lifting your foot off the brake pedal...the engine restarts in the BMW by slightly moving the steering wheel as well (even if your foot is still on the brake). I wish Mercedes impleted that feature too.

Hate to say it, but I'll be taking a HARD look at the 2017 328i when it comes out...especially since it will have a new 4 cylinder engine.

mvw

Well, nothing wrong with that - everyone has a different ideal feature set and no car will ever be perfect on all of them.

For me, though, the interior finishings and feel of the 328 was really, really bothering me. My wife's infiniti QX60(!) felt like a top of the line luxury vehicle when compared to all of the hard surfaces and plastic inside the 328, while the design elements of the C make it a really nice space to spend time in. Never drove the 300, so I also had the benefit of getting a much better drive. While I may have considered the 435 gran coupe if I couldn't get a good enough deal on the 450, I really didn't want that interior again.

Incidentally, though, as much of an issue I have with some of the C's computer issues, there were a few things on the 328 that were just laughable. The Nav in particular was notoriously untrustworthy. It probably couldn't find 10-15% of my destinations at all (I'm in Toronto so it isn't like there are a whole bunch of rural roads with no names) and there were times that it sent me blocks away from my actual destination. There was one time driving up north of the city that it told me I had arrived at my destination driving along a road with trees on both sides as far as the eye could see, and when I stopped to put the address in Google I was 15 miles away! got to the point when I was going somewhere new I would always double check on Google first to make sure my Nav was sending me to the right place.

Add to that things like the kick open trunk never worked once, the voice commands never once recognized my commands, I couldn't cycle through hard drive music from the steering wheel and a bunch of other little tech related issues, such that while the C isn't perfect on that front by any means, it isn't like the BMW was either.