It took a while to find the optimum Mercedes-Benz C-Class when we first tried it in the UK. Executive cars, even compact ones, these days come with such a plethora of different options – passive dampers, adaptive ones, sports suspension, coil or air springs, etc – that finding the idea set-up isn’t easy. Especially when you throw so many different wheel and tyre sizes at it too.
Updated Mercedes-Benz C-Class to introduce new four-cylinder engines
So news that there’s going to be an additional option to the air suspension might not make life easier, but in a mid-life facelift there are bound to be subtle chassis changes too, to keep the C-Class competitive. A more comfort-oriented set-up than, say, a BMW 3 Series always seems to me to suit the kind of character a Mercedes should have. And it’s an approach that seems to really suit the Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
Elsewhere, the interior and tech enhancements sound like good news. Audi, BMW and even Jaguar Land Rover are all making improvements to their communications systems, and the best Mercedes systems are, for my money, still some of the better ones on the market, so this will, I suppose, keep them up there.
What hasn’t struck me as in need of desperate improvement are the engines. Here’s an area where no car maker, least of all one with the invention and reputation of Mercedes-Benz, can bear to leave things alone.
Sure, the exterior isn’t much changed, but the raft of improvements beneath the skin ought to raise the C-Class a few notches further up a class ladder on which it was already staying pretty competitive.
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I’m amazed
to hear that you like their comms system - by which I have assumed you mean the entire infotainment. I have driven three different, newish mercs over the last two years and I’ve found the whole system unintuitive and illogically designed. Audi’s is much better but, and perhaps it’s just my BMW bias, the iDrive is the one for me. Also, when will Merceces recognise that its full-beam function is too easy to leave on hence why 50% of mercs on the road at any one time have them on?
I'm amazed...
I'm not sure that any are significantly better than the other - some just take a little longer to learn. After a few weeks with a new car it all becomes second nature.
What's the issue with full beam? My merc is exactly the same as my old BMW - push stick forward for full beam. I think the modern high beam assist stuff is more likely to be causing a problem so I just disable that in the menu and, I guess, that feature will cause similar problems with all manufacturers that use it - e.g. it's not just a Mercedes problem.
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Raft - as well as meaning a
Raft - as well as meaning a floaty thing also means a large number or a lot. Therefore it can be read as: 'a large number of improvements'. Makes perfect sense to me.
Any chance of the UK getting
Any chance of the UK getting the proper "big Merc" grille rather than the chavvy "pretend it's a coupe" big badge item?