Mercedes-Benz C220 vs Isuzu NPR

What's the difference?

This may well be just an update to the C-Class, but the changes made are significant in terms of technology and performance, and you’re paying hardly any extra money for it. A good all-rounder for dynamics, features, refinement and value.

The sweet spot in the range has to be the C 300. It’s less than $10K more than the entry grade C200, but gets a powerful 2.0-litre engine, leather seats, the extra advanced safety equipment, tinted windows and convenience features such as a power tailgate (on the wagon) and proximity unlocking.

A truck like the NPR (or any other truck, really) is never going to replace a dual-cab ute in terms of its duality. While the latter can tend to weekday chores and be quickly reconfigured for weekend fun, the light truck has no such facility. Nope, it’s a workhorse. Period.

You need a fair bit of real estate just to park the Isuzu overnight and it certainly won’t fit in the typical supermarket car space. It’s hardly sporty to drive, either, although the latest upgrades have made it more user friendly in a total sense and safer than ever before.

But what it does do that a dual-cab ute can’t often do, is tackle bigger, heavier jobs with a fair bit of bandwidth still up its sleeve. And if the nine-to-five side of things is where you need to be, then a vehicle like this has to be worth a look. And if you consistently find that you’re sailing close to the wind in terms of exceeding a ute’s legal payload, towing capacity or GCM, then the extra bigness of a light truck could make a huge difference.

That’s especially so given the price tag. Okay, you’re not buying a lot of high tech for your money, but you are getting some seriously stout engineering and an expectation that you won’t be working the thing to death anytime soon.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

Now, to spot the difference between the new and the old C-Class from the outside just look at the headlights – the shape of the fitting is the same, but the new standard headlights on the C 200, C 220 d and C 300 have an LED set-up which looks like teeth, while the optional units (standard on the C 43 and C 63 S) are also LED but with a tall staggered design. Tail-lights also keep the same shape but with a different LED pattern, too.

The front and rear bumpers have also been restyled for all grades and the C 43 and C 63 S have had their grilles updated, with the former getting a new twin-louvre design, while its big brother now has chrome vertical slats reminiscent of the grille worn by the 1952 Carrera Panamericana winning 300SL.

The AMG Line Exterior package is standard on the Coupe and Cabriolet, but if you option it on the sedan it will fit a sports body kit with AMG front spoiler and side skirts.

The C 43’s gloss black rear diffuser looks tough with the new quad exhaust and the car in wagon form wins my award for best looking of the C-Class bunch.

Cabins haven’t been overhauled but they have been updated with a 10.25-inch dash-top display for media and a 12.3-inch fully digital instrument cluster - both are standard across the range and make a big styling impact in the cockpit. Mercedes-AMG grades have their own sporty version of the virtual instrument cluster.

The layout of controls remains the same, but you can now option a new real wood veneer to the centre console with 'open-pore brown walnut' and 'open-pore black ash' being your choices.

The Artico upholstery in the C 200 looks and feels ‘plasticky’. I’d option the real leather which comes standard on the C 300.

New to the C 43 are the optional ‘Performance’ seats with integrated head restraints and standard on this grade is a new leather AMG steering wheel. Other cool cabin features are the stainless-steel pedals, the AMG floor mats and stitched dash (even if it is Artico upholstery).

All grades now come standard with the 64-colour ambient lighting system. You should see the system fading through the colours at night and with the right music the whole effect is amazing.

The C-Class comes in four body styles: Sedan, Coupe, Estate (wagon) and Cabriolet.

Exterior and interior dimensions stay the same, all variants measuring about 4.7m in length. That’s a good size; not too big or small, making parking and manoeuvring in tight spaces pretty fuss-free.

The C-Class is made in various parts of the world, but I can tell you the C 200 Sedan we get in Australia is made at Mercedes-Benz's East London plant on South Africa's east coast.

It can’t be easy to make a light truck look fashionable, but Isuzu has done a reasonable job of making the thing look, at least, current. The lighting has all been changed to LEDs now, and the bold, angular face the truck presents looks pretty modern.

But new tech has also forced some design changes. The bull-bar that is part of the Tradepack deal, for instance, has been redesigned with changes to the main hoop. That’s all to accommodate the radar units inside each headlight that inform the front cross-traffic warning system of anything in the way.

Also notable is the attention to detail of the optional (rather than the alloy tray seen here) Australian-made service body. With a choice of internal layouts, the flip-up sides reveal a proper workshop on wheels when configured that way.

It’s also nice to see that all the clips and catches on the drop-side tray can be easily replaced if damaged.

This depends on the body style, but being a mid-sized car practicality can be limited, but Mercedes-Benz has been clever with the way it has used the available space.

The boot, for example in the C 200 is 434 litres, which isn’t as big as the cargo space offered by the BMW 3 Series or the luggage capacity of the Audi A4. This is partly because the hybrid system uses space under the bonnet, so the car’s battery needs to go to the boot.

The C 300 doesn’t use the hybrid system and so the sedan in this grade has 455 litres of boot space.

Choosing the C 300 Coupe’s will reduce your luggage carrying ability to 380 litres and the C 300 Cabriolet’s cargo capacity varies from 360 litres with the roof up and 285 litres when it’s down and eating into the luggage area.

The Estate is the best luggage hauler but it’s still not enormous – the C 43 Estate that we test drove has a cargo capacity of 480 litres.

Legroom in the back of the C 43 Estate is good and at 191cm tall I can sit behind my driving position with about 20mm to spare thanks to the sculpted seat back.

Headroom is getting tight in the Estate and especially in the Sedan – well for me, anyway – and the optional sunroof will lower the ceiling height even further.

Up front space in the Sedan and Estate isn’t an issue with plenty of head-, leg- and shoulder room offered.

Storage throughout the Sedan and Estate is good with a large centre console storage bin, two cupholders up front and another two in the back along with a storage area in the fold down armrest, but all four door pockets are on the slimmer side. Still they can fit a small bottle of water, plus a wallet or purse.

That centre console bin houses two USB ports, and a 12-volt outlet can be found in the storage area under the climate controls – which also houses the optional wireless charging pad. Without the charging pad that small area is too tiny to place my iPhone8 Plus.

Rear headroom and legroom in the four-seater Coupe and Cabriolet is limited, but both get a pair of cupholders in the back and two more up front.

The new cabin Isuzu has brewed up certainly brings the truck into the present, but it’s still very much a light truck in some respects. As in, it’s still a pretty good climb inside, although there are steps and handles to make that easier. The steering column still gets in the way as you swing your left leg inside, though.

The plastic surfaces would still make a car interior designer cringe, and the floor is vinyl and the seats cloth. But the three-abreast seating arrangement makes sense and, should you choose the dual-cab N Series option, there’s actually seven seats in all.

Cabin storage has obviously been a priority for Isuzu, and there are three large, netted overhead bins above the top of the windscreen, as well as bins and buckets across the width of the lower dashboard. Interestingly, each door has just a single, slim pocket and no bottle storage.

The centre console addresses that somewhat with a pair of cup-holders and a pen slot, while there’s also a large bin behind the seat on the bulkhead. There’s also an interior light that wouldn’t look out of place in an industrial kitchen.

The dashboard is home to a pair of USB charge-ports in the centre and the truck stuff continues with a wand for the exhaust brake and a knob near the steering column for a fast-idle setting. It’s also nice to see that even though Isuzu has adopted keyless entry and start for the N Series, the starter button resembles a conventional key and is located right where it should be in the side of the steering column.

What’s missing? Mainly a vanity mirror on either side of the cabin and a physical volume knob for the stereo. Oh, and paddle shifters would be nice too, especially when towing.

Externally, the Tradepack option gets you an aluminium drop-side tray, sturdy ladder racks, a tow bar, bull bar, toolboxes fitted below the tray between the axles and even a wash station for after-work clean ups.

The tray is fitted in Australia (many of the Ready to Work body options are also made here) and the load floor is a vast expanse of alloy with the ability to cope with small, heavy objects thanks to its high-impact materials. But the usual drop-side tray caveats apply including a high loading height, rattling from the sides and the legal requirement to lash everything down before hitting the road.

Meantime, part of the overall appeal of the Isuzu line-up is that there are something like 40 different permutations of cabin width, wheelbase, GVM, overall length and driveline.

But here’s perhaps the N Series’ greatest trick when it comes to being practical: While it’s easy to dismiss the vehicle for being too big and unwieldy, many operators would possibly find that the extra payload and real estate in the cargo area means that they might not need to tow a trailer every time they venture on to a job site. At which point, the dual-cab ute with a tandem trailer starts to look less convenient, especially if there’s any reversing or squeezing on to a tight site involved.

Oh, and if tight spaces really are an issue, the N Series’ sub-10m turning circle makes a typical dual-cab’s 12.5 metre turning circle look ridiculously ungainly. And that’s before we get to that trailer.

Typically for a vehicle like this, a full-sized spare tyre is included.

Like the rest of the N Series line-up, the NPR Tradepack model we’ve chosen to review here is available in a range of cabin widths and wheelbases and even a choice of Gross Vehicle Mass. But first, let’s break down the badge. In Isuzu-speak, N stands for the smallest family in the light-truck line-up. As such, it can be driven on a normal car license in Australia.

The P stands for the GVM, in this case that license-friendly 4.5 tonnes, although you can opt for the higher, 6.5-tonne GVM at which point an endorsed license is required.

And, finally, R is Isuzu’s in-house code for a truck that is two-wheel-drive and uses conventional steel-spring suspension rather than air suspension.

Isuzu says the Tradepack option with its large tray and fittings is a very popular one, so that’s what we’ve concentrated on here. That pack equates to all the drop-side tray, racks and fittings, so it’s a comprehensive add-on. Of course, you can take your NPR as a bare cab-chassis, too, and save by swapping over the tray and fittings from your old truck.

Beyond the nuts and bolts stuff, the NPR includes LED lights all-round, heated and powered exterior mirrors (and they’re huge), keyless entry and start, cruise control, steering-wheel mounted controls, climate-control air-con, a suspension driver’s seat and a tilt and reach adjustable steering column. There’s also a 10.1 inch multimedia screen in the centre of the dashboard, digital radio, sat-nav and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.

The features that tell you this is still a truck and not a passenger car include the steel wheels, cloth seat trim and vinyl flooring.

As it sits, the NPR Tradepack costs $86,014 on the road, but that’s an all-up figure, and not one where you then have to arrange your own accessories and bits and pieces. It’s also within a few hundred dollars of the Ford Ranger Super Duty Super Cab which, perhaps not so coincidentally, has an identical GVM of 4000kg, GCM of 8000kg and slightly more towing capacity of 4500kg versus the NPR dual-clutch’s 4000kg.

The previous C 200’s 2.0-litre 135kW/300Nm four-cylinder petrol engine has been swapped for a 135kW/280Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol with what Benz calls a ‘mild hybrid’ function.

This isn’t a hybrid with an electric motor driving the wheels, it’s an electrical system which is able to provide an additional 10kW/160Nm when accelerating. Known as the 'EQ Boost', the system also allows the C 200 to coast at a constant speed if the driver takes their foot off the accelerator. The battery is then re-charged when braking.

The C 220 d offers a diesel alternative and its new 2.0-litre engine now makes 18kW more power at 143kW and the same 400Nm of torque.

The C 300’s 2.0-litre turbo four has had a 10kW increase, taking power to 190kW, while peak torque is still 370Nm.

Also getting a power bump is the C 43 and its 3.0-litre V6 petrol is now good for 287kW (up from 270kW) while torque stays at 520Nm. The C43 uses Mercedes-Benz’s '4Matic' all-wheel drive system, while every other grade, including the C 63 S, is rear-wheel drive.

The C 63 S still makes an impressive 375kW and 700Nm.

The C 200, C 220 d, C 300 and C 43 all use the same nine-speed automatic transmission, while the C 63 S uses a ‘AMG Speedshift 9G’ which is a nine-speed dual-clutch auto.

Believe it or not there’s actually a family connection between the 3.0-litre turbo diesel in the Isuzu NRL and the Isuzu D-Max dual-cab and MU-X SUV.

While the displacement of the D-Max remains, the unit in the light truck has been retuned to liberate more torque at lower engine speeds. In this case, that’s 129kW at 2860rpm and 430Nm of torque anywhere between 1450rpm and 2860rpm. That gives the engine great flexibility, but the transmission also plays a part.

That’s either a six-speed manual or a nine-speed dual-clutch unit. The latter has either manual or fully automatic shift modes, and it’s worth is backed up by the potential for lower fuel consumption thanks to the inherent efficiency in such a transmission as well as the three extra ratios.

Designed and made in-house at Isuzu, the brand says it’s confident the wet-clutch unit doesn’t carry the potential flaws of some other dual-clutch units we could name. That said, Isuzu has downgraded the towing capacity from 4.5 to four tonnes if the nine-speed is fitted.

And just like any good truck, there’s the provision for a power-take-off on the side of each transmission option, as well as an exhaust brake to help the mechanical brakes when fully laden.

Unlike many light trucks before it, the Isuzu doesn’t get stuck with a rigid front axle. Instead, you get a proper independent set-up with coil springs, while the rear end remains a live axle with leaf springs in the interests of carting lots of heavy stuff.

Fuel consumption obviously depends on the engine, but did you know the body type also affects mileage?

Mercedes-Benz says the C 200 Sedan uses 6.4L/100km over a combination of open and urban roads. The trip computer in our C 200 Sedan recorded 7.1L/100km after 254km of mainly country roads.

The C 200 Estate according to Mercedes-Benz will need 6.5L/100km, the C 200 Coupe uses 6.4L/100km and the C 200 Cabriolet will need 6.8L/100km.

Mercedes-Benz is yet to announce the C300’s fuel consumption figures.

The C 220 d Sedan is frugal with diesel fuel consumption being 4.7L/100km, while the Estate version needs 4.8L/100km.

Mercedes-Benz is yet to announce the C300’s fuel consumption figures.

The Mercedes-AMG cars are the thirstiest with the C 43 Sedan using 9.4L/100km, and the Estate will use 9.6L/100km. After 286km of country roads the trip computer in our C 43 Estate was reporting an average consumption of 10.3L/100km. The Coupe economy is 9.5L/100km and the Cabriolet needs 10.0L/100km.
 
The C 63 S Sedan puts it away at the rate of 10.4L/100km, and the Estate’s usage is 10.7L/100km, while the Coupe and Cabriolet’s fuel efficiency is yet to be announced.

This is a cursed subject in the truck segment, because there’s just no standard pattern of usage, nor a typical loading scenario. Some trucks will spend their whole lives heavily loaded going from red light to red light, others will be less burdened and driven between regional towns.

But what we can tell you is that unladen and driven sensibly, this truck should be able to return fuel consumption figures in the low teens per 100km. Throw the full payload and a trailer on the back and head for hilly country and you could easily double that and then some.

As such, the range from the 100-litre fuel tank is going to vary enormously, but should be somewhere between 500 and 800km.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the upgrade to this model has brought the Isuzus in line with Euro 6 emissions or their Japanese equivalent. So they now need AdBLue and there’s a 14-litre tank for that.

The Australian C-Class launch gave us the opportunity to drive the C 200 Sedan and C 43 Estate on a test route stretching from Melbourne's Tullamarine airport, roughly 300km north to Milawa in Victoria’s alpine region and back, with the conditions being dry and cool.

I knew the C 43 would be ridiculously fun, but you can’t eat your dessert first, right? So, I started in the C 200, which is far from just meat and three veg – it’s refined and enjoyable to drive.

Steering is well weighted and accurate, offering a better sense of connection to the road compared to some of its prestige rivals. The steering wheel itself felt good to hold, too – and this is on the base car.

The test car wasn’t without its options though and it did have the 'Dynamic Body Control Suspension' with its Comfort mode softening the dampers for a more compliant ride and the Sport setting for better handling.

And that ride was comfortable. The only disturbance to the serenity (we did go through Bonnie Doon) was a bit of wind noise created by what sounded like the wing mirrors.

Apart from that, the experience was serene – those seats up front are comfortable and supportive even after hours, the vision all-around is excellent and then there’s the engine, which is perfectly adequate.

Okay, 1.5 litres sounds small but the output is almost the same as the previous 2.0-litre and the 48 Volt EQ Boost hybrid system does provide just enough of a kick to get you away from the traffic lights or overtake without any discernible lag.

The hybrid system's coasting function is excellent – take your foot off the accelerator and your revs drop to zero but the car will maintain its speed. When you brake the battery is recharged so you’ll have the extra grunt again when you need it.

Now for dessert. Just idling the C 43 sounds sedate, but that’s with the exhaust note and engine in the Comfort setting. It means you can pull into your street at night or start it up early in the morning without waking the up the entire neighbourhood.

The C43 isn't as vicious as the V8 C 63 S, but that’s the appeal of it.

Or, to hell with them, the people next door are jerks anyway: put it in Sport and the twin-turbo petrol V6 snarls and crackles as you shift through the gears. It’s not as vicious as the V8 C 63 S, but that’s the appeal of the C 43 – it’s a milder form of wild that’s easier to live with, but still so much fun.

The back roads from Milawa to Mansfield were a great testing ground for the C 43 Estate with their hill-climbing bends and downward forest runs. Merc AMG claims the C 43 can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 4.7s, and while that’s more than half-a-second behind the C 63 S, it’s still plenty quick.

With fantastic turn-in, all-wheel drive offering superb traction and great grip from the Continental ContiSportContact rubber (225/40 R19s front, 255/35 R19 at the back), a smooth-shifting nine-speed, impressive brakes and that turbo V6 which pulled the car heroically out of corners, it was hard not to grin like an idiot.

Only my mouth hurt afterwards, not my body. There’s a line you’re not going to read in any other car review. Some sports cars have a ride so firm, and seats so hard, and driving positions with hip points so low, that I almost have to leave the vehicle on all fours.

But only my face hurt from smiling so much – you could pilot a car like the C 43 until it ran out of fuel from a full tank and still feel comfortable – which is almost what we did. How much fuel did it use? Keep reading to find out.

Actually climbing aboard the Isuzu is job one, and you’ll need the handles and step to do it safely. Then again, it’s probably no more testing than getting into a really low sports car in a degree of difficulty sense.

With that accomplished, you’re met with two things; the view out and the very un-car-like driving position. The first is fantastic for forward vision. And it’s not just the height advantage over other traffic. The cab-over-engine layout also means you’re almost at the very front of the truck, meaning you can see a lot more of what’s directly in front of you, even if it’s almost under your nose. Jumping back into a dual-cab ute for comparison emphasises the point enormously.

The driving position, meanwhile, might take more getting used to. The steering wheel is almost flat and you tend to sit pretty upright. Long-distance drivers will tell you this is actually great for long stints at the helm, and it honestly feels pretty natural after just a few minutes. But the steering column placement means there’s no chance of left-foot braking which some drivers (this one included) prefer.

Once you’re rolling, the dual-clutch transmission starts to feel pretty handy with short, sharp upshifts and a calibration that sees it keen to downshift on deceleration to help balance the vehicle, take the stress off the brakes and ensure that the engine is in its power band for when you next throttle on.

Speaking of which, the engine is not exactly overpowering, but it does produce the meat of its muscle in the right places, helped no end by having nine ratios to play with. And here’s an interesting point: The way the engine is installed in the NPR – and despite the fact that you’re sitting pretty much right on top of it – there’s less noise and vibration from the 3.0-litre than in an Isuzu D-Max ute. Obviously, low vibrations and less noise are factors in staving off driver fatigue, and clearly Isuzu knows how to achieve this.

Ride quality will vary hugely depending on what’s on board. We tried the NPR with a full load of gear on the tray, taking it almost to its payload limit. At that point, the ride was actually quite compliant, and the only odd sensation is that of having your backside right over the front axle.

The other mantra held dear by fleet managers is that the best way to reduce breakdowns is to take the driver out of the equation as much as possible. That explains the dual-clutch transmission, for one, but it also perhaps explains why the NPR is set up to be actually very easy and simple to drive. It’s definitely scarier to look at than to pilot. And that turning circle is something else!

You can absolutely thank OH&S legislation for the huge leaps in active and passive safety that vehicles like the Isuzu have made in recent years.

Although this class of vehicle is not required to be crash tested (and, therefore, there’s no safety star rating available) even a scant knowledge of physics suggests that sitting the passengers up high in a vehicle with a strong chassis is a very good start when it comes to crash safety.

Passive safety is also helped by an airbag for both driver and the two front-seat passengers in the case of the three-seat variant we’ve looked at here. But only the outboard passengers get a three-point seat-belt, and the centre position gets a simple lap-belt.

There are also side intrusion bars in the doors as per passenger-car best practice and the overhead storage space features a safety net. There are no side-curtain airbags, but again, that high seating position makes the N Series inherently safer for passengers in a typical side impact.

But it gets better with a long list of driver aids, most of them straight out of the current passenger-car playbook. Running changes to the vehicle over the years have seen the addition of autonomous emergency braking (AEB), anti-skid brakes, stability control, a driver attention monitor, a distance warning system for vehicles in front, brake-force distribution and lane departure warning.

New safety tech this time around includes front cross-traffic alert and braking, mis-acceleration (pedal-error) mitigation, traffic and speed-sign recognition, a distance warning system that also advises of the speed of the car in front and improvements to the rear camera system.

And yet, there’s probably more work to be done here. We’d like to see a standard 360-degree camera and tyre pressure monitoring as well. These are both available at extra cost right now, but really should be standard on a vehicle like this. Rear cross-traffic alert is also missing, but that’s more about standardising the sensors and their calibration on a huge range of rear-body designs, apparently.

There’s also an apparent tech gap to be bridged, too, and right now only the dual-clutch-equipped version gets the speed limiter and adaptive cruise control, while the conventional manual does not.

Isuzu is also making a big noise about the new electronic park brake which can be used in an emergency to bring the vehicle to a complete, controlled stop if necessary.

The C-Class is covered by Mercedes-Benz’s three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. We’re keen to see Mercedes-Benz move to longer warranty periods as is becoming the norm with mainstream brands, many of which are offering five year coverage.

Servicing is recommended at 25,000km/12-month intervals for the regular C-Class cars and the C 43. The C 63 S needs servicing every 20,000km or annually.

It’s great to see Mercedes-Benz offers capped price servicing. For example, the C 200 will cost you $396 at its first service, the second is $792 and the third is also $792.

Despite the hard life many trucks are destined to live, Isuzu offers a standard six-year/250,000km warranty on the cabin and chassis of this model. The rear RTW body (whatever form that takes) is covered for three years. There’s also a three-year warranty on genuine accessories provided they were installed by a certified fitter.

Service intervals are every 25,000km, 12 months or 5000 hours of operation, whichever comes first. There’s also six years of roadside assistance thrown in.

Isuzu offers a range of service agreements ranging from the basic package right up to a plan that covers everything including wiper blade replacement.

There are currently 84 Isuzu dealers or authorised service outlets around the country, including some pretty far flung spots, so service and parts should be less of a problem than for some other brands.

Mechanically, Isuzu has worked to reduce servicing times, including the use of sealed-for-life wheel bearings.