Review: Mercedes gives new C-Class a luxury upgrade, including price
Mercedes-Benz had a simple plan for its new C-Class compact sedan: Do everything the full-size S-Class does, but in a smaller package for less money.
Many automakers derive smaller cars from the styling and research and development cues from their flagship. Why have a high-dollar jewel at the top of the lineup if you can’t leverage its appeal for higher-volume cars?
The all-new 2015 C300 recreates the aplomb of its big brother better than anything else in its hotly-contested segment. Its handling and style won’t raise your pulse like a few of its more conspicuous peers. But Mercedes has diligently crafted the segment’s new high-water mark for luxury.
It’s not cheap, starting at $39,325. Our loaded test car, with 4Matic all-wheel drive, clocked in at $58,005. Options included a Burmester sound system, 8.4-inch navigation screen, 19-inch AMG wheels, sport suspension, cooled seats, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist and a panoramic moon roof. (AWD models are on sale now; rear-wheel-drive versions arrive in January.)
In 2016, Mercedes plans a cheaper turbo-diesel C250. Also on the horizon are a plug-in hybrid model and a fire-breathing C63 AMG — using the same 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 as Mercedes’ all-new AMG GT sports car.
The standard engine is a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, making 241 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque, mated to a seven-speed automatic transmission. Zero-to-60 mph takes 6.5 seconds.
This engine and transmission are a wonderful match, delivering plenty of composed power.
The Environmental Protection Agency rated our test car at 24 miles per gallon in the city and 31 mpg on the highway. During a week of mostly city driving, we averaged 22.5 mpg.
The best feature on the car is what Mercedes calls Agility Select. A fancy name for a feature on countless cars, Agility Select offers four driving modes to suit the pilot’s mood — Comfort, Eco, Sport and Sport Plus.
Each mode tweaks items such as transmission shift points, throttle response and steering feel. In Eco and Comfort, there’s a flicker of engine lag under initial acceleration. Thankfully, this disappears entirely in the sport modes.
Sport Plus unleashes an intoxicating growl from the tuned exhaust during upshifts; it’ll have you stomping the gas on your way home from work.
When the roads get curvy, our all-wheel-drive C300 felt more lively than its predecessor, though you’ll get more thrill from a BMW 3 Series or Cadillac ATS. Part of the newfound friskiness in the C-Class comes from weight savings; Mercedes shaved 154 pounds by increasing the amount of aluminum in the car to nearly 50% from 10%
This weight loss is impressive considering the 2015 C-Class is 3.7 inches longer and 1.6 inches wider than before. Rear legroom is up nearly two inches, but tall passengers are still tight on headroom and legroom back there.
Passengers of any size will relish the cabin’s flawless fit and finish. The quality of materials, precision assembly and graceful styling put competitors on notice.
The only meaningful flaw in the C-Class cabin is some perplexing redundancy in the controls. Mercedes introduced a new touch-sensitive controller on the center console for the stereo and navigation system. It replaces a rotary knob that used to do the same thing in the same place. Except Mercedes left the rotary knob there. This made it confusing to know which gadget to reach for and when. And simple functions such as skipping songs required more thinking than should be necessary.
Outside, the classic lines of the C-Class strike a contrast to more aggressively styled competitors such as the Lexus IS. Highlights include jeweled headlights, LED taillights, scalloped door panels and exhaust tips integrated into the rear bumper.
The price for all this excellence is ambitious. Add the larger V-6 engine in the C400 and it blows past $60,000. That could hurt Mercedes’ prospects with compact sport sedan buyers, the largest U.S. luxury segment. The C-Class has been the perennial runner-up for years, trailing BMW’s 3 Series by a large margin.
The average price of a C-Class sold over the last five years is $39,031, according to data from Edmunds.com. Mercedes expects this new generation to average around $45,000.
One culprit for the price jump is Mercedes’ smaller CLA. That new entry-level sedan went on sale last year and created a cheaper gateway to the brand. With this low-cost angle covered, Mercedes chose to move the new C-Class up a notch in terms of refinement and cost.
“I don’t know if my mom would be able to tell the difference between the new C-Class and an S-Class,” said Dave Sullivan, manager of product analysis at AutoPacific. For Mercedes, “that’s either a good problem or a bad problem.”
For C-Class owners, that’s a good problem.
david.undercoffler@latimes.com
Twitter @latimes_driven
