What's the difference?
Do you know how many bones you have in your body? Stop counting, there are 207. And if say half those bones were replaced with different ones would you consider yourself to still be the same? Well that’s what Benz has done with the new C-Class – sort of. Of the roughly 13,000 parts which make up a C-Class car, 6500 of them have been modified or changed.
You don’t need to know every change to the new C-Class, but at the end of this review you will be across the differences that you can see, feel and hear.
Just a note before we start. The top-of-the-range Mercedes-AMG C63 S arrives in early 2019 and wasn’t available to drive at the Australian C-Class launch. That’s why we’ll focus on the other grades here - the C 200, C 220 d, C 300 and C 43. We’ll test drive and review the Australian C 63 S when it arrives – promise.
They're doing it again! Actually they've been doing it again for a bit now. It’s Mercedes-Benz Australia and plug-in hybrid tech.
The Ross and Rachel, or Jim and Pam of the premium automotive world.
It's been a will they, won't they for a while, and in the past Mercedes has dipped its proverbial plug into the electrons a few times and gotten cold feet.
But now it says it’s all in. There are others, the GLA and GLC SUVs, plus there’s the new C63 performance car, but this one feels like a bit of an arrival.
Yeah, the C-Class is no longer the Mercedes-Benz in terms of sales, but it might be the best way to make the most of a bit of battery power.
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.
Plug-in hybrids will probably not appeal to all buyers, but in the premium space they make sense.
Smooth electric driving paired with the potential for weekend trips outside the 100km-or-so range make the C350e a decent thing, let alone its price parity with the C300.
It still doesn’t top the charts for value or practicality, but even aside from the PHEV tech, the C350e remains a fun-to-drive sedan that holds its own in the executive space.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.