So last weeks (upgraded) hire car from Avis was a Mercedes C200 saloon in SE trim. Not unsurprisingly for a hire car, based on my recent experience, it was petrol. Very surprisingly for a C class it was a manual!
Initial thoughts were that it was a very smart darkish blue, and I quite like the shape, bar the slightly odd (pedestrian impact safety driven?) front shape. Everything was where an MB driver would expect it to be, though the switching of then main steering wheel stalk and the cruise control one (swapped over around 2013 I think) still irritates me as an owner of an older one!
It's performance took me by surprise; so much I actually stopped and googled it to see how much power it had!! I'd assumed a C200 would have around 150 bhp, but actually it had 184 and has a sub 8 second 0 to 70 time. Certainly felt quite brisk enough. As a result of odd flight timings I'd actually flown into Glasgow, even though I needed to be in Dundee, rather than the closer Edinburgh airport. But it's only another 30 miles or so, and in fact as the weather was so nice I took a detour to Loch Lomond, just because I could :) Refinement and comfort were both good, and the handling sweet enough.
The car was fitted with 17" wheels,and with not particularly low profile tyres, which looked a little odd but undoubtedly contributed to the comfort. Unlike the artico (plastic) seats which were unpleasant to the touch, and lacked both lumbar and thigh support (no seat base tilt adjustment unlike the higher spec models) The standard stereo connected to an iPhone 6 easily enough, and sounded pretty good. The standard MB audio knocks BMWs efforts into a cooked hat IME. Bluetooth phone connection was also straightforward, and the car also had a rather good reversing camera. No sat nav though, but using a phone connected to the car meant that the voice instructions muted the stereo at the appropriate times and was actually perfectly fine. Remind me why built in sat nav is a £2k option ;)
The biggest surprise of all though was the fuel economy. On a, fairly leisurely admittedly, journey from Glasgow to Dundee via Loch Lomund (some 140 odd miles) the trip computer reckoned it averaged a frankly unbelievable 47 mpg. Trundling around town and then a blast back to Edinburgh the following day took the total distance covered to a smidgen over 300 miles and a refill just outside the airport resulted in a calculated average fuel consumption over the whole rental of 43mpg. I barely top that in my 204 bhp diesel as an average! Brilliant! Though I don't know how much an auto would dent that?
The fact that I've not mentioned the gearbox until now is a measure of how little I missed it being an auto - a testament to the improvements in what used to be widely derided MB manual gearboxes I suppose, though the last manual RWD MB I had for any distance was a new C class in 2000...
Overall one of the most surprising hire cars I've had for a while. I expected a manual, bottom of the range c class to be slightly dull but in fact, bar the seats, one I'd be happy drive all the time.
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Must admit I used the "moved" cruise control stalk a few times in a vain attempt to indicate in the rented E class I had last week. It was a perfectly nice car but that, the stupid column mounted gear selector, the mildly underpowered engine, the stoppy starty nonsense and the missing spare tyre replaced by a tank full of wee just conspired to annoy me. And it was a saloon. What are they for anyway?
Apart from that it was lovely.
;-)
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Mine has a column mounted gearshift - seems second nature to me know, though I have had it over 3.5 years now... Ditto the stop start. Agree on the saloon point though, and a turbocharged petrol engine is definitely more refined than a diesel. A large capacity petrol engine would be better still though...
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Re the gear selector, I had to keep repeating to myself "Drive/down, Back/up, Park/push" if you see what I mean? Didn't want to have to keep looking at the thing while parking. Probably for Americans or something so it can be seen beyond their stomachs.
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This might be rather lazy, but it'll put itself into park if you just turn the ignition off :o
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Yeah, I discovered that eventually. That was irrationally enough, quite annoying too.
And another thing, it didn't do that clever little thing of putting one fog light on when you're doing a low speed tight turn which mine does. ( actually I don't think it had any front foggers ) There's a very dark tight turn I use a lot on to a narrow lane where that extra light identifying the ditch is pretty handy.
And the steering wheel was a bit thin and circular. I like my flat bottomed thick one. ( don't start Dave, just don't... )
And the stupid seven speed gearbox just hunted about a lot with the slightly breathless engine as well unlike my five speed which is just dandy.
Great car apart from those things though.
;-)
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I think the 'Inteligent Lighting System', which is what gives you the cornering lighting, is a cost option on most models now, unlike when ours were built. Things aren't what they used to be ;)
How were (I presume it had them...) the LED headlights compared to the xenons in ours?
Last edited by: PeterS on Mon 20 Apr 15 at 22:45
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Well it's certainly quite clever !
Incidentally, there was no wood in it either, just aluminium trim. Not quite right really is it, a bit too arriviste Munich rather than Stuttgart to be frank.
;-)
Edit - the headlights were ok actually. Not quite as good a range maybe but pretty good.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Mon 20 Apr 15 at 22:50
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No wood! How frightful! Mind you, mine doesn't just have any old wood... Optional 'Designo' burr walnut don'cha know :p. And before anyone says anything, the car had already been built and was on its way from Germany when I bought it... The C class had some brushed aluminium trim and some gloss black. The black looked Ok, though would have been much better with a lighter interior. The alumninium seemed okay in the C class, but I can see it looking out of place in a larger car... Once thing that has just come to me about the manual gear box, well gear shift actually, was that the gear know itself was horribly cheap. Far worse than that fitted yo the A class hire cars I got at times last year.
Possibly worth noting that in terms of single brand MB is now the one I've received most frequently from Avis in the last 12 months I think. The combined VAG brands top it, but as a single brand MB is in the lead. Read into that what you will! FWIW I think Ford is the one I've received least often, of the brands received at all, followed by Vauxhall. Hire fleets have gone all premium... Or premium has gone mainstream, in which case where does that leave the old mainstream? It's all getting complicated!
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I drive a 12-plate C Class auto, I had a 14-plate E250CDI auto as a courtesy car over Christmas, and I've delivered all flavours of C and E class (petrol, diesel, hybrid, auto, manual) at work this year.
The E had the LED headlights with no cornering function; most of my driving is in the countryside where they were abysmal - not even as good as halogens let alone HID units. Also in the Boxing Day snow I discovered the LEDs don't have headlight washers fitted; the falling snow quickly built up and blanked out the headlights altogether. Not much good when the A46 is down to a single lane in the snow and to stop and clear the snow would risk a(nother) rear-end shunt.
The satnav is a £499 add-on Peter, marketed as Becker Map Pilot. The £2k price tag is for the full COMAND system with a bigger screen and better hifi.
Quite a few people are taking the C200 petrol manual on lease, even those covering high mileage. Going by your write-up I'm not surprised.
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Ah yes, I'd forgotten about yeh Becker option. All you need I expect. I reckon it's probably the bargain of the range, though I'd go for a 'sport' model for the improved seats I think. It's nearly four grand less than the equivalnet diesel (the C220) - I've just looked! £28,850 list vs £32,560!!
Last edited by: PeterS on Mon 20 Apr 15 at 23:53
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With a further £5k+ discount from drivethedeal.com
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Mercedes Benz - Mercedes C Class - W205? - Runfer D'Hills
