C-Class (W205) [Official] Mercedes-Benz C-Class (W205)

[W201]

That's a lovely review Betty.

It is a bit disappointing that safety systems are irritating, hope that Benz will keep fine-tuning them in the future.
Did the seats have leg extension? I wonder how would that impact driving position.
Now, about your conclusion: if it was your own money, you would opt for the 3 Series?

 

[Amat46]

Good review Betty. The W205 is an immensely capable car. I wonder how amazing it is going to be when it gets the new I4's & I6's and the 9G transmission.

 

[Rolf]

Thanks Betty that was a great review a pity to hear about the problems or bugs you had with the safety systems and also the rattling sound but I agree with you that the W205 is a wonderful car, so how do you rate it against the 320d?

 

[lukeswiss]

Betty, I'm guessing the car wasn't fitted with the proper radar based cruised control/distronic ?

 

[Betty Swollocks]

Did the seats have leg extension? I wonder how would that impact driving position.
Now, about your conclusion: if it was your own money, you would opt for the 3 Series?

Yes, the seats were partially electric and there was a leg extension.

I would have the 3 Series. There are few little niggles with the C-Class, that I've explained, and even Audi's have a few little things that I don't like, such as the sound system that ALWAYS comes back on even if you've turned it off before stopping the ignition, and the way the cruise control works. With BMWs, there is literally nothing that annoys me.

Thanks Betty that was a great review a pity to hear about the problems or bugs you had with the safety systems and also the rattling sound but I agree with you that the W205 is a wonderful car, so how do you rate it against the 320d?

The 320d is a superb car, and as I say above, it's just the couple of little niggles that spoil the Merc. Looks wise I'd say the C-Class is slightly ahead. Also, the iDrive is easier to use than the MB system, but maybe that's because I'm used to it. I didn't particularly like the touchpad in the C-Class.

Betty, I'm guessing the car wasn't fitted with the proper radar based cruised control/distronic ?

No. It just had the basic cruise control, although I have used the radar system in the W221 S-Class and found it to be very good.

 

[-=Hot|Ice=-]

Has anyone seen Brilliant Blue in person? I really like the color. Lunar Blue seems like its very dark. I want a color like the Le Mans Blue on my M3.

 

[Zafiro]

I'm with Betty. I've also driven both cars and I also prefer the 3-series but it's all personal. Both are superb cars so whatever you choose, you'll be pleased.

 

[Kots]

Some new info, regarding the wheel alignment procedures for the w204,

The rear camber is still not adjustable as previews gens,

But we see another similarity between the w205 and w222 s class, the front camber and caster are no longer adjustable by the use of the special bolt kit, but rather by a special correction bearing.

This is gonna get the cost of adjusting camber-caster even higher.

And the nominal height values from the factory

 

[kiki voinea]

As I have current tehnical problems with my W222 ( 4 until now) I asked an service manager at my local MB about the W205...

He said that is the best selling Mercedes until now . They are exporting from Germany a lot . Like if you are on Autobahn you will see 10 W205 truck trailers and 1 BMW...

BUT he also said that they have a lot of problems...

They had a lot of costumers that came with an noisy fuel pump . And other minor problems , but general problems...

This is sad !

I don't know why Mercedes still have this small problems in 2014

My car has almost 5 months and already had an ambient light failure ( blue color ) , and other problems

 

[Merc1]

They're pumping them out too fast!

M

 

[NTT]

Yep, send them out and deal with problems as they arise. Not a good idea.

 

[dtd]

They're pumping them out too fast!

M

I would wait 6 to 9 months at least to make sure they sort out all the kinks before getting in this $50K commitment.
dtd

 

[tennmb]

Dissapointing news. MB needs to focus on making long term ownership easy and the camber, caster issue is a concern, among other things.
Oddly, i also noticed a rattle in the driver's door while driving one of ours.
We only have the 4matic versions until the first of the year. One thing that is odd is the suspension looks like it is jacked up. The previous C had that nice low look with not much clearance between the tire and wheel well, and gives it a very tight look. These look as if they had the suspension raised. Very odd?

Looking at the photo Betty provided, this does not seem to be the case. Either something to do with 4-matic or with Euro specs. I don't know, but it doesn't look right.

One thing I can say for sure is that air suspension is a waste and not needed on a C. Hell, you don't even have it on an E at this time. Perhaps these caster issues are related to having this, I don't know. We won't be ordering any with AS for sure.

 

[Wolfgang]

Looking at the photo Betty provided, this does not seem to be the case. Either something to do with 4-matic or with Euro specs. I don't know, but it doesn't look right.

Great we have all those alignment specs. They reveal Betty's test ride may be about 21 to 23mm front/rear lower than a US spec 4MATIC C with std susp.

And looks like the C 63 AMG will be the lowest riding US spec C.

And for folks who like to ride higher, there's the rough road option, 29mm to 33mm elevated frt/rear.

 

[Giannis]

This lack of suspension angles configuring room is annoying to me.

It certainly won't make a difference to most, but I personally dived into this field a couple of months ago. I did some reading, some calculations that proved to be wrong and then I had a meeting with a mechanical engineer with great experience on the field of suspension tuning and decided to alter the camber angle of my front suspension.

Dare I say that the difference is vast. Getting into a bend fast and with the gas pedal fully depressed, when the limit is approached the rear end will loose traction first which results in a very sweet and controllable skid. With the factory settings and in similar conditions I would have experienced mild to heavy understeer first. In order to see the rear end slide, I'd have to resort to more complicated input on the steering wheel.

Such freedom to play with your suspension is a nice thing.

 

[Kots]

Tennmb...

I couldnt agree more with you on the first statement, the "jacked up" look was the first thing I noticed on all versions of the w205, even the AMG line seems considerably higher than its predecessor, I even asked about this at my dealer,
The looks of a lower car has always been one of the strongest points for all of my previous car purchases.

This among other reasons is why I decided and ordered my W205 with the airmatic suspension, It provides more flexibility if I decide to lower the car in case I don't like the looks of it.
Other reasons include the better ride comfort on long trips since in my country the roads are BAD. And I do have some extensive experience on test driving cars with airmatic and standard suspension, while I dont have anything bad to point for mercedes standard suspension, I feel that airmatic is more suitable for me on the long-term.

As to the camber-caster adjustments, here is my personal experience:

I have been working for several years as a wheel alignment technician at a shop that has to do mostly with luxury cars (but not limited to) and we have been doing also the wheel alignment jobs for our local Mercedes Dealer.

Wheel alignment on a mercedes vehicle requires a procedure that variates from other cars, one of the most important thing is checking the ride height using a special tool called ROMESS that costs a fortune and its only used to measure the inclination angle of the front lower control arms and rear axles, then these values are inputed in the wheel alignment software and computes the correct angles of camber and caster for each wheel.

Camber and Caster are then adjusted by the use of the adjusting bolts as most of you know, these bolts can provide
A minimal variation of about +-0,25 degree, and this is fixed, either -0,25 or +0,25 from the initial value.

The technician does not have the ability to set these values to the exact specs he wants.

All these take time and also you have the cost of the bolts which makes a proper wheel alignment service considerably expensive for the owner.

A long post I know but my point is that now with the new method of adjusting these values that requires removal of the lower control arm and replacing the bearing with the new adjusting one (which I bet my arms its gonna cost more than the bolt kits) its gonna take the costs of wheel alignment to new heights,

It justs seems to me that dealerships are always looking for ways to get more money from the after service

 

[Wolfgang]

From the press event at the Mercedes factory in Alabama today.

Photo credits: Alabama Business News

Press release: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...ng-tuscaloosa-plant-capacities-274138951.html

 

[Betty Swollocks]

I've updated the fuel consumption thread here:

http://www.germancarforum.com/community/threads/the-fuel-consumption-thread.49066/page-4#post-710783


The 120 km/h (74 mph) cruise figures were:

55.9 mpg

5.05 l/100km

 

[Kots]

I called my dealer this morning asking to add intelligent light system to my order, not that its gonna be of much use to me since I mostly drive during daytime, but I just liked the look of the headlights better than the standard Led system.

anyway, I just received a call from the dealer saying that the changes window closed yesterday and no further changes can be made on my order

Does anyone know how long before production does the changes window closes?

 

[ThroughandThrough]

I called my dealer this morning asking to add intelligent light system to my order, not that its gonna be of much use to me since I mostly drive during daytime, but I just liked the look of the headlights better than the standard Led system.

anyway, I just received a call from the dealer saying that the changes window closed yesterday and no further changes can be made on my order

Does anyone know how long before production does the changes window closes?

No I don't, but I would be SO disappointed!!!

The headlights are my favorite part of the car!

I have standard headlights on my W204 and they're horrible compared to the upgraded lights on my W212.