German Car Forum

Well the new C-Class Premiered in Mühldorf today and I was up there checking them out. I didn't bother taking that many pictures since the place was crowded with visitors.

I finally got to try the rear seats of the C-Class. This was really perfect today because people would sit infront and try the drivers seat and I would quickly sneak into the back and see how I fitted. Well, I am 6'4" tall and I am sorry to report that the rear passenger compartment of the W204 C-Class is still pretty small. The rear of my head bumps against the ceiling and my legs barely fit - and the front seat wasn't even positioned all the way back too! If you're tall, forget it. Other than that, the rest of the car seemed perfectly fine. I am really diggin the Avantgarde version. Just sexy.


Classic: Not much to say here. This is the basic trim car designed for taxi, police and business fleet usage. What the car lacks on the outside, it somewhat makes up for on the inside. The interior is just as good as the Elegance or Avantgarde models, but less visually appealing (different steering wheel etc.). I didn't spend too much time in the base version.

Elegance: I'll skip the exterior (since it is nice) and go right to the interior. The wood trim adds a nice touch, but I felt that the Avantgarde version looked much better with the use of aluminum. By the way, I think the Elegance version can look really hot with the proper rims for example. Like this one:



Avantgarde: My favorite trim level. Visually, this version is just stunning. Sleek, dynamic, classy and conservative looking. I love it. The interior looks even better than the Elegance version with wood. I feel that the brushed aluminum has a nice sporty presence inside the W204 cockpit.

Here are the pictures. Feel free to ask questions!

PS: TESTDRIVES START NEXT WEEK (NOT THIS COMING WEEK)!!!


THESE PICTURES WERE TAKEN YESTERDAY AFTERNOON. I STOPPED BY THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY WERE PREPARING THE SHOWROOM FOR TODAY. SAW MY FIRST ELEGANCE W204 C-CLASS!









AVANTGARDE INTERIOR IN DETAIL













SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2007!!!

C220 CDI Avantgarde







C220 CDI Elegance with interior shots!

























C200 Kompressor CLASSIC with me and a crazy mime the dealership hired to apparently piss people off!











Another C220 CDI Avantgarde...








New Smart



Outside the dealership, they had this...


...and this! Bavarian Roast Chicken!!!


Hope you liked the pics!

I've just wanted to ask, how the presentation of the new C-Class was... Thanks for posting all these interesting stuff... Can't wait to visit the dealer on Monday...
I will contribute some pictures then.
edit: I want to give you some karma - but I am not allowed to do...

I hope our dealer will have some C-Classes with leather interior...

Thanks for the report bro. Love the exterior of the C-Class, Mercedes has gotten conservative + sporty figured out.

Nice write up again, Christian, thanks for that .

Surprise to see though, that was no AMG kitted W204's there!!

Bloody hell! Christian...you are on tall bugger!

How tall are you?

Thank you very much for the pics.

Christian, have you spoken to other people there? What are their opinions on W204? Do Opas & Omas like die neue C-Klasse?

Great photos.
If possible, please post a photo of a PALLADIUM colored car.

The AVANTGARDE interior looks really boring, dont' really like the black on black colour combination. How is the interior quality, does the silver trim feels like metal at all, and does all the interior buttons and nobs feel solid to use ?

So this is the new re-designed C-class. How many years did the prior generation C-class last? What year did that prior one start?

thanks

Once again making a huge contribution to the forum. Thank you Christian.

I still find the elegance with a good set of alloys more visually appealing than the avantgarde (it's just so elegant lol), though the avantgarde with the AMG package takes the cake.

One dissapointing aspect is that choosing the elegance means you miss out on the awesome new interior colour combinations being offered on the avantgarde.

Also, it seems like a lot of the electronic features will only be made available later on (distronic plus being a major one, Nightvision and also no word on a rear view camera just yet?). Obviously MB is scared shitless about poor reliability reports and is delaying these for the time being.

I am also interested to know - though Christian's previous comment was that the quality was really good, but not class-leading. I'm still quite sceptical.

The Avantgarde one is really hot from outside but the inside is not that great especially with absence of leather.

Great report Wimmer. Judging my the people in the pictures you seem to have been the youngest person at the dealer. Bad sign

This is not completely correct.
Nevertheless people at the age of 20 - 30 are very rare at Mercedes dealer. Maybe you can find them at the next Audi or BMW dealer...

The presentation started at 9:00 AM, I came around 10:00 AM because my mom's dishwasher broke down and she wanted me to try and fix it (as if I know how to fix that thing!?). The salesmen were always around to answer questions and try to make a sale. I talked to one of them, a Mr. Preuss, and asked him how the car drove. This guy, along with the other salesmen went to Spain and drove all versions of the new W204 C-Class: Classic, Elegance and Avantgarde and all current engine choices. This guy loved the Avantgarde version, naturally and praised the C220 CDI for spirited performance. It's got 170-hp now so it is pretty quick indeed. Overall, I just tended to walk around, take pics, check out the cars, and later have a beer with some Bavarian roast chicken.

You already Thanked me, so the karma won't work if you thanked a person and then want to give them karma. You need to spread some karma before it will work again on the person you thanked before.

Anytime.

I am also surprised that there was no C-Class with an AMG kit, especially when they had two Avantgarde C-Classes there. One of them could have at least been equipped with an AMG body kit. Either way, the regular Avantgarde looks really good. Wait until you see this thing in real life.

Anytime.

6'4" in height or 192 cm. Yep, I am a big son of a *****.

Hey Eni,

Yep, I spoke to a couple of people there. While I was checking out the dark grey C220 CDI Avantgarde, an elderly couple slid into the rear seats and they soon began talking to me. They own an 1998 E230 (W210) E-Class with almost every option and they said they'd never trade in that car for this current C-Class. I asked them why and they stated that it was roomy, comfortable and it has leather seats. I told them that the C-Class could be ordered with leather but they still kept insisting that their W210 E-Class was better. I think they were kind of senile.

An old man I met told me he owns a W203 C180 Kompressor and he likes the car, but he wants to upgrade to a W204 C-Class with a V6, probably C280. I told him that there will probably be a C230 (2.5 V6) and this sparked his interest even more. His reasons for the change from a 4-cylinder to a V6 was the fact that he found the C180 Kompressor to be a bit loud at higher speeds on the Autobahn. I've driven a C200 Kompressor (W203) on the Autobahn and it is pretty loud at 200 km/h+, even at 160-180 km/h.

Most people liked the Elegance version, from what I saw and heard. The local driving school boss was at hand to check out the Classic C200 Kompressor W204. He probably wants to replace the C200 CDI 6-speed Fahrschulwagen he currently has.

Most of the visitors were older people, but there were also many people in their late 20s and 30s, especially couples with children. A lot of people also stopped by for the "free food and beer" (you paid 0.50 cents for a beer and 2.00 Euros for half a chicken!) and were hardly interested in the C-Class.

Most people I overheard talking loved the exterior. I generally heard zero criticisms about this aspect of the car. What people didn't like was the small space at the rear and the " spartan interior". I heard a lot of people think the interior was lacking a little something. Most people compared the interior to that of the BMW 3-Series: both very spartan, according to them.

Got to go eat now. BRB ASAP.

No problem. If I find one, I will.

Many people thought the C-Class interior in general looks a little "spartan". I sort of agree. I love the design and the quality is top notch, but I do feel that Mercedes could have made it a bit more "lively". At the same time, darker interiors don't look that good to me and many people. I personally prefer lighter interiors like this one:



The materials are good and the interior looks and feels solid and well constructed. The dark plasticky looking material feels very soft and is a leather-like padded material (I suppose this has advantages in the event of a crash, just like when it first appeared on the W116 Mercedes S-Class in 1972). The cockpit feels premium and the buttons are pleasing to use overall, especially the A/C controls!

W203 C-Class: 2000-2007

W204 C-Class: 2007-201X

No problem, I have a lot of fun posting this stuff.

You need to see it in real life, and sit on the inside and feel the atmosphere etc. It's a quality interior for sure, but a little spartan as some people said. It lacks to lively visual effect you get with the Audi A4 interior, especially in darker tones. I think most people look to much at the huge soft plastic/leathery slab on top to examine the whole interior open mindedly.

LOL

Not really, see my post towards ENI. There were a lot of younger people (late 20s and 30s) there, but they were mostly in the back sitting down and enjoying the "free" beer and food.

It's true though, there were more old people there than younger buyers. I guess most of the younger buyers are waiting for the C-Class Sportcoupe - which has always been very popular here.