Crankster

My 2016 C300 AMG line was in the shop for the fuse recall and the broken pano roof. The loaner was a 17 with 1200 miles on the clock. My dealer options them in the mid point between the min and max, so this car was pretty nice. I did notice the ride was much smother than my sport even with the car sitting on 18s. What I did not like was the way the car looked from the profile, it seems to sit unusually high to me. Secondly it does have more body roll going into the twisties. My dealer threw in a full detail for taking so long with the repair!

My conclusion is that I prefer the sport suspension and looks over the non-sport model.

ManiacGT

Not being funny but could you share a bit more, that post is tiny as a sharing experience goes and tells I us very little.

Crankster

There were not enough other things different that made much of an impression on me. It did have the easy open boot and the ambient lighting with the Merc star for the puddle light. These I determined I would not lose any sleep over not having.

drkstvrr

TBH the non sport W205 looks like sh*t, especially stock on 17, super large wheel well and sitting all tucked in, the sports model is indiscernible to the untrained eye but its a night and day difference.

gfmohn

A spectre is haunting the C300 forums in MBWorld. Some talk about it in hushed tones; most consider it bad luck to admit that it exists. That spectre is described in two words: "family sedan."

mcbc220

All the base-spec German cars in this segment are headed that way IMO. A base 3 series is the same. Affordable leases have made it easy for people who don’t like traditional hallmarks of luxury (heavy steering with good feel, for example) to get into these cars, and the cars have been watered down appropriately. Meanwhile, fuel economy means the cars have to be lighter, and that generally means they feel less solid and special. You increasingly have to go to a specialty or premium model to get the experience that used to be available on the base trim.

gfmohn

Thank you. I will post the rest of the comment I made in a thread on a similar subject.


In the U.S., "family sedan" is almost a contradiction in terms. Almost everyone who has "family" needs gets an SUV or a crossover. In Germany, the market for C300s is prosperous, middle-class families. Mercedes marketing executives instruct the company engineers to design cars like the C300 accordingly.

My wife is German, so I have a lot of experience driving in Germany. German drivers are fast and decisive. But even BMW drivers do not drive in an even slightly spirited manner without having an obviously hot sedan under them. My wife's brother calls all Mercedes "Berlin taxis" (as do many others). He did so even when he owned a Mercedes himself. (Both he and my wife were born and raised in Berlin.)

Several stereotypes of the German Mercedes driver are well-known. In addition to the aforementioned taxi, there is the businessman ruling the autobahn in an S-class and the young executive in a motorcycle jacket driving his SL or AMG in Razer (racer) style. However, there is another, much less exciting stereotype. That is the retired schoolteacher WEARING A FEDORA HAT driving a 20-year-old diesel MB down a Landstrasse (rural road) at exactly the 70 km (45 mph) speed limit. Mercedes builds cars for those drivers too.