Complete Guide on Buying a Mercedes-Benz C-Class

If you are looking to get into the world of luxury sedans, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class is one of the best starting points. It’s the entry-level car into the luxury sedan lineup of Mercedes-Benz, comes with a host of powertrain options that range from petrol to diesel, and is instantly recognisable as a premium car. Not just that, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class also looks distinctly like more expensive sedans from the Mercedes-Benz lineup, which only adds brownie points in its favour. So, what should you be looking at before you decide to go buy a new Mercedes-Benz C-Class?

Mercedes-Benz C-Class Specifications

Why you should consider the Mercedes-Benz C-Class

When it comes to picking the Mercedes-Benz C-Class over the rest of the luxury sedans in its segment, it has bits like design, technology and comfort that tilt the argument in its favour. These are traits that have been part of the Mercedes-Benz DNA for the longest time and in the current guise of the C-Class, they continue to help make it stand out amongst the competition. Add to all of this the fact that the Indian arm of Mercedes-Benz is quite proactive in bringing in the latest models of their vehicles, and it’s easy to understand why the C-Class almost becomes the de-facto choice in its segment.

Design

When you’re talking about Mercedes-Benz, design is one aspect that is pretty straight forward. The German carmaker has made a habit of lending its most premium designs seen on the most luxurious of its sedans, to its entry-level offerings as well. This not only gives the C-Class the appearance of a more luxurious car, but it also gives a sense of uniformity to the whole brand, and ultimately gives the C-Class an edge over its rivals. Not only that, Mercedes-Benz is very quick in updating the India lineup from its global product portfolio, so when you pick a Mercedes-Benz, more often than not you are picking the latest design that is also selling in global markets. This ensures that not only do you get the most recent design on a Mercedes-Benz, but the latest tech as well.

Technology

When it comes to the latest technology, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class is packed to the gills. To start things off, you have the two screens. One of them acts as the digital instrument cluster for the driver, whereas the other one is oriented vertically in the centre of the cabin. While these two screens control most of the cars functions, they also communicate with other Mercedes-Benz cars on the road to share information, a truly unique way of networking cars. The safety features onboard are top-notch with bits like seven airbags being standard across the entire range. Last but not the least, the C-Class also packs in ADAS features that lets it drive semi-autonomously, and this is a feature that works decently well on Indian roads.

Comfort

A comfortable ride is the true hallmark of any Mercedes-Benz and the C-Class does not disappoint in this regard. In fact, pick any powertrain, but the ride comfort on board stays mostly the same. Mercedes offers what they call selective damping on the C-Class, and what that essentially means is that the suspension of the C-Class can selectively tune the suspension according to the road characteristics. These changes happens hundreds of times in a second, meaning that any change in the road surface are quickly and efficiently registered by the onboard computer, which then accordingly adjusts the suspension characteristics. Ultimately, this kind of a suspension setup is not just good for comfort, but also aids in great handling as well.

Why you should not consider the Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Now while the Mercedes-Benz C-Class is a fantastic car and will please mostly everybody with its combination of design, technology and comfort, there are still some aspects that could end up deterring a buying decision. There’s not many things that the C-Class doesn’t do well, and in fact, there is nothing that it doesn’t do well enough. It’s just that at the price point which the C-Class exists, there are certain things that are simply better in some of its rivals such as driver engagement and the other one being its 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine.

Driver engagement

One of the areas where the C-Class won’t impress you all that much is driver engagement. Fundamentally, it’s a car that’s designed to ferry you around, and not a car that drips with feedback so you can have some fun behind the wheel. Ultimately, when tuning the C-Class, Mercedes-Benz engineers have erred on the side of comfort rather than driver engagement and that becomes apparent when you drive the C-Class back-to-back against one of its rivals like the BMW 3 Series Gran Limousine. That’s not to say that the C-Class is not quick, but driving the Mercedes sedan in a spirited fashion won’t leave you with a grin as big as its BMW counterpart.

Petrol engine

While driver engagement is one area that the C-Class falls short of, it’s the petrol engine of the Mercedes-Benz sedan that is really its Achilles heel. The 1.5-litre displacement of the turbo-petrol engine is where things start to go wrong. If you want to drive around in a sedate fashion, then the engine performs with no complaints. It is only when you step on the throttle demanding a little urgency from this engine that you are left wanting for more. The C-Class is a heavy car and when you ask the small displacement engine to hustle it, it ends up running out of breath. If you are going for the small petrol engine, we advise that you stick to the back seat and ask your chauffeur to simply drive you around at a leisurely pace.

Mercedes-Benz C-Class Variants

When it comes to the different variants of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, you don’t really have that many to choose from. The German carmaker has a habit of bundling its different powertrain options along with its variant names, so ultimately, when you are picking between variants, you are also picking between powertrains of the C-Class. As far as pricing goes, all three variants of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class are priced within lakhs of each other, meaning that picking a variant will all boil down to your requirements. One quick note, any variant that has the letter ‘d’ after it in the C-Class lineup means that it is a diesel variant.

Best Mercedes-Benz C-Class Variant to Buy

When it comes to picking the best Mercedes-Benz C-Class variant, it would hands down have to be the C 220d. This is the entry-level diesel offering, and is offered with a 2.0-litre diesel engine. While the higher diesel variant also gets a 2.0-litre engine, it’s tuned to make a lot more power and torque. Now coming back to the C 220d, our reason for calling it the best variant of the C Class is because of its all-around capabilities. When it comes to performance, it can really hustle the C-Class; it’s similarly equipped as the higher C 300d variant of the C-Class, and when it comes to price, it will end up saving you over Rs 5 lakh when comparing the on-road cost of the two variants.

Summary

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class is the best luxury car in its segment by a certain distance, but keep in mind that it is one of the most expensive ones as well. What it is offering is unparalleled comfort, a luxurious interior, and multiple powertrain options to suit your needs. The only real downside is the small petrol engine, and for those who live and breathe petrol, the handling won’t be the best. But as far as straight line performance goes, the top-spec C 300d variant has the potential to surprise you with its raw power. Ultimately, the C-Class is what most luxury car buyers in the segment are looking for.

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