2017 Mercedes-Benz C300 4Matic Coupe Review - Yes, Mercedes-Benz Still Builds Coupes With Two Doors

A fixed roof, seats for two or perhaps four in a squeeze, and two doors. 

THE GOOD + Turbo torque + Classy exterior + Classier interior + Sporty when prompted + Burmester audio is amazing

THE BAD – Sunroof sounds unhealthy – Centre screen looks cheap – Unintuitive shifter is silly – No keyless access? – Blanked-out buttons?

Two doors.

Two. Doors.

The definition of the automotive coupe, or coupé if your French sensibilities prefer, has been commandeered over the last dozen years by the very company that builds the car pictured here. 

Spun off from the E-Class sedan, the CLS sedan was and is labelled as a coupe by Mercedes-Benz because of its coupe-like styling. But the CLS has four passenger doors. 

The concept has flown even further from the roost with so-called SUV coupes: the BMW X6 and X4 and Mercedes-Benz's GLE and GLC Coupes, all of which feature four full passenger doors and a rear liftgate. 

Real coupes nevertheless forge on. Real coupes continue to project an aura of joie de vivre, of carpe diem, of bon viveur the likes of which no sedan, not even a sedan with excessive fastbackness, can ever dream of replicating. 

Which brings us to this real coupe: the 2017 Mercedes-Benz C300 4Matic.

WHAT IS IT?
Mercedes-Benz has been selling the C-Class, a successor to your circa-1990 divorce lawyer's Mercedes-Benz 190E, since the fourth-quarter of 1993. Alongside the second and third C-Class sedans, Mercedes-Benz marketed a coupe called the CLK which sat closer to the E-Class in Mercedes-Benz's lineup. The C-Class nameplate also spawned its own coupe derivative during the third generation's run. Now, in concert with the fourth-generation Alabama-built C-Class sedan we originally tested in November 2014, Mercedes-Benz has launched yet another coupe. 

2017 MERCEDES-BENZ C300 4MATIC COUPE Base Price: $50,175 * As-Tested Price: $57,715 * Colour: Brilliant Blue Assembly: Tuscaloosa, Alabama Drive Type: all-wheel-drive Transmission: 7-speed automatic Engine: 2.0L turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4 Horsepower: 241 @ 5500 rpm Torque: 273 lb-ft @ 1300 rpm Curb Weight: 3770 pounds Length: 184.5 inches Width: 71.3 inches Height: 55.3 inches Wheelbase: 111.8 inches Tires: Continental ProContact GX SSR Tire Size: 245/40R18 Passenger Volume: 2237 litres Cargo Volume: 297 litres EPA City: 23 mpg EPA Hwy: 30 mpg NRCAN OEE City: 10.4 L/100km NRCAN OEE Hwy: 8.0 L/100km Observed: 23.5 mpg Observed: 10.0 L/100km * Canadian dollars, includes $2075 in fees.

To begin its run, the 2017 C-Class Coupe will be sold as the Mercedes-Benz C300 and Mercedes-AMG C43, both with 4Matic all-wheel drive, and as the full-bore rear-wheel drive AMG C63 and AMG C63 S. The AMG-badged cars are fitted with, respectively, a twin-turbo 362-horsepower V6 (mated to a 9-speed automatic) and a twin-turbo 4.0L 503-horsepower V8 joined to a 7-speed AMG Speedshift 7-speed automatic. 

Our test car, however, held under its hood a modest 2.0L turbocharged inline four-cylinder producing 241 horsepower and a substantial 273 lb-ft of torque just off idle at 1300 rpm. The 7-speed automatic is standard equipment. 

Added to our 2017 C300 4Matic: $250 dark ash wood open-pore trim, $890 brilliant blue metallic paint, a $1000 Burmester surround sound system, and two packages worth a total of $5400. 

The $3400 premium package adds navigation, LED lighting, and a rearview camera. 

The $2000 sport package adds more leather to the dashboard, some AMG styling elements inside and out, and 18-inch wheels.

HOW BIG IS IT?
In Canada, there will soon be four C-Class bodystyles. The traditional sedan has already been joined by this coupe, which will also spawn a convertible variant. There'll also soon be a wagon that Mercedes-Benz won't be selling in the United States. Compared with its sedan donor car, the coupe version of this fourth-generation W205 Mercedes-Benz C-Class rides on the same wheelbase, is identically long and wide, but is 1.5 inches shorter at the roof 

Compared with the segment standard bearer from BMW, the 428i xDrive, the C300 4Matic is a hair under two inches longer, half an inch slimmer across the hips, half an inch taller, and rides on a wheelbase that stretches 1.2 inches farther. The 4-Series' trunk, however, is a substantial 50% larger, and official specs say the BMW's interior is 14% bigger, as well.

DOES IT WORK?
Not in the way that many other recently introduced Mercedes-Benzes also fail to work. The 2017 Mercedes-Benz C300 4Matic Coupe has the same tacked-on screen that looks and feels cheaper than a cut-price iPad rival. The shifter is a silly little column-mounted stalk that doesn't make much sense from a usability standpoint and would be mocked for Korean cheapness if installed in a Hyundai Accent. One key quality concern crept up, as well, because the C300's sunroof sounded like it was crunching gravel when opening or closing. As a result, we opened – and closed – the sunroof just the once. 

All Photo Credits: Timothy Cain ©www.GoodCarBadCar.net

Mercedes-Benz's well-done door-mounted seat controls are joined by the heated seat button and a blanked-out switch for, at this price point, necessary ventilated seats. And Mercedes-Benz still demands big money for options that should be standard equipment. Even at $57,715, you'll need to pull a key fob from your pocket to unlock the C300's doors; you'll need to insert and twist that key to start the car. You don't need to do that in a $25,855 Kia Forte Koup, which knows you've approached and needs only a single finger prod to ignite. Mercedes-Benz Canada demands $6400 in options on top of the C300's $50,175 base price in order to gain hands-free access. 

For Mercedes-Benz in 2016, this list of complaints is nothing new.

Nor is praise for the C300's torque-rich 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder new. Appreciation for the C300's otherwise elegant and classy interior? Par for the course. Indeed, the interior is further strengthened by our test car's stunning saddle brown leather draped over superb seats. The ride and handling balance? Spot on, and Mercedes-Benz scores a bigger victory here because the Agility Select's Dynamic button dramatically alters the character of the car. 

Hasty throttle response and quick shifts with weighty controls provide a far more sporting experience in the Sport+ setting than you'd expect having only encountered the C300 Coupe in Normal mode, while the dull responses in Eco mode are perfect if Oma Müller is squeezed into the back seat. 

The power figures produced by the 2.0L turbo aren't jaw-dropping on paper, but the C300's plentiful torque is available so far down the rev range that you're never left out of the meat of the powerband. As an overtaking machine on a rural two-lane, the 2017 C300 Coupe is more capable than 241 horsepower lead you to believe. It would be nice if the 7-speed automatic was a more cooperative partner when you most want to forget a transmission is necessary: around town or driving home from the grocery store. Fortunately, it's far more willing when you demand greater performance.

Two doors definitely makes a coupe, but the removal of a sedan's rear apertures does not make automatically make a sports car. If you want crazy performance, look elsewhere in the Mercedes-Benz lineup; perhaps elsewhere in the C-Class lineup. Instead, the C300 4Matic Coupe works well as a comfortable and refined cruiser with sporting potential.

IS ANYONE BUYING IT?
Mercedes-Benz does not break down U.S. or Canadian sales figures by bodystyle. The overall C-Class lineup is currently Canada's top-selling premium vehicle line, though volume is down 17% this year. 

In the United States, the C-Class family ranks first among premium cars; second (behind the Lexus RX) among premium vehicle sales in 2016's first-half.

---

Historical Monthly & Yearly Mercedes-Benz C-Class Sales Figures
2016 Mercedes-Benz GLC300 4Matic Driven Review
2016 Honda Civic Coupe Touring 1.5T Driven Review
2016 Lexus RC350 F Sport Driven Review

---

Using U.S. inventory as a rough guide, approximately 17% of the C-Classes in stock at the moment are coupes. If that ratio holds true for sales volume, Mercedes-Benz USA would have sold 6300 C-Class Coupes in the first-half of 2016. Lexus sold 5292 RCs during the same period; Audi sold 4334 A5s as they ready the current car's replacement. BMW, with a much more extensive 4-Series lineup (including a definition-ignoring four-door Gran Coupe) produced 19,276 first-half sales.

SHOULD I BUY SOMETHING ELSE INSTEAD?
There are a handful of interesting options lined up directly against the C-Class Coupe. BMW's 4-Series is the most obvious. The Audi A5 has proven to be a popular choice since launching in 2007. There are Japanese competitors from Lexus (RC) and Infiniti (Q60), the latter of which will be all-new shortly, along with a new Audi A5.

We would also suggest a downsized alternative from BMW if performance is a key component of your choice. With all-wheel drive, the BMW M235i is less expensive than this C300 4Matic. 

HOW MUCH SHOULD I PAY?
With $7540 in options, our Mercedes-Benz-supplied test car was specified awkwardly. It's a $57,715 Mercedes-Benz coupe with no keyless access, no pushbutton start, and no cooled seats – only the button which should operate the cooled seats. Skip the special paint, open-pore dark ash wood trim, and Burmester audio and it's more tenable at $55,575, but we think the C300 4Matic is likely best at either its base price of $50,175 or slathered with even more options to become a true luxury coupe.

We'd consider keeping the $2000 sport package and the $3400 premium package, adding the $1000 Burmester hi-fi, and selecting the $3000 premium plus package for a grand total of $59,575, a whisker under $60K.

---

---

WHAT'S THE VERDICT?
In a maket that's gone crazy for vehicles such as Mercedes-Benz's own GLE-Class SUV, the top-selling premium brand utility vehicle in Canada, relatively impractical coupes with snug rear seats and tight trunks are far out of the mainstream.

Yet with premium price tags and the ability to share platforms with sedans and crossovers, numerous luxury automakers continue to fight for a relative handful of sales in this coupe category. Is the Mercedes-Benz C300 4Matic Coupe better than the BMW 428i, Audi A5 2.0T, and Lexus RC300? 

Yes. And no. 

We're not hedging. But the cars are markedly different. Mercedes-Benz nailed the C300 Coupe's elegance quotient, crafting a $57,715 car that feels like it should cost $67,715. Upgrading a few key interior components, installing a transmission that's happier at low revs, and improving the options list would serve to clarify the C-Class Coupe's position in the luxury coupe hierarchy.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook. The C300 was supplied by Mercedes-Benz Canada's press office.

2015 Mercedes-Benz GLA250 4Matic Review - Mercedes-Benz Makes A Better CLA, And It's Called The GLA

OK, so where does this fit?

For consumers who prefer names like Accord, Cruze, Explorer, and Camry, the Mercedes-Benz family tree is about to become even more complicated as the automaker prepares to relaunch a number of products with new names. But the first GLA-Class, the vehicle you see here, will continue to be called the GLA. It's the entry point to Mercedes-Benz's utility vehicle lineup. 

THE GOOD • Hatchback flexibility • Simple control layout • Three-pointed star image • Ride quality • Great fuel economy

THE BAD • Some interior bits are a letdown • Too much vibration in cabin • Laggy transmission • It's quite a bit of money • Annoying column shifter

There's the upper-crust, militaristic G-Class, also known as the Geländewagen. 

Then there's the GL-Class, a three-row challenger that serves as the more mainstream flagship for the brand's SUVs and crossovers. 

The M-Class, which you've seen badged as the ML for nearly two decades, will soon be called the GLE. There will be a version of it, a GLE Coupe, to take on BMW's X6.

In 2009, Mercedes-Benz began selling the GLK, the company's Audi Q5 and BMW X3 challenger. 

Below that, you'll find the GLA, seen here in GLA250 4Matic form.

The GLA's foundation is really the CLA sedan, a car Mercedes-Benz actually prefers to call a four-door coupe. Although elevated, detrunked, and behatched, the GLA uses the CLA's underpinnings and powertrain. 

2015 MERCEDES-BENZ GLA250 4MATIC Base Price: $39,275 * As-Tested Price: $45,275 * Drive Type: all-wheel-drive Transmission: 7-speed direct shift gearbox Engine: 2.0L SOHC 16-valve turbocharged I-4 Horsepower: 208 @ 5500 rpm Torque: 258 lb-ft @ 1250 rpm Curb Weight: 3428 pounds Length: 173.9 inches Width: 71.0 inches Height: 60.0 inches Wheelbase: 106.3 inches Tires: Dunlop Winter Sport 4D Tire Size: 215/55R18 Cargo Volume: 487 litres Max. Cargo Volume: 1235 litres EPA City: 24 MPG EPA Highway: 32 MPG NRCAN OEE City: 9.8 L/100km NRCAN OEE Hwy: 7.4 L/100km Observed: 27.7 mpg Observed: 8.5 L/100km * Canadian dollars, includes $2075 in fees.

The CLA, in turn, is a sedan version of the A-Class (not sold in North America) that takes on Volkswagen's Golf as a premium alternative in Europe. 

In Canada, the GLA joins the B-Class as another hatchback entry point to the Mercedes-Benz brand. 

Yet while the B-Class is more of an upmarket Toyota Matrix-style car with front-wheel-drive and optional all-wheel-drive, the GLA wants to be viewed as a BMW X1 and Audi Q3 crossover rival and comes standard in Canada with 4Matic all-wheel-drive. 

C-A-R
We could argue for days, on both sides of the debate, whether the GLA and its cohorts are true crossovers, let alone genuine SUVs. The GLA is, rather obviously, very much a hatchback version of a sedan. 

But not so visible on our black test car is the black cladding around the wheelarches. 

Fundamental crossover styling cue nummer eins? Check.

And you don't need a ruler to see that the GLA rides higher than its donor car, although a ruler will determine that the GLA250's ground clearance, 8.1 inches according to Mercedes-Benz, is both 3.2 inches greater than the GLA45 AMG's and 4.2 inches greater than the CLA250's. 

Is it really just a hatchback? Sure, albeit a tall one. But since the car is marketed as a small luxury crossover and perceived by the target market as such, we'll give Mercedes-Benz the benefit of the doubt.

All Photo Credits: Timothy Cain ©www.GoodCarBadCar.net
Click Any Image For A Larger View

INSIDE
If you're familiar with the Mercedes-Benz CLA (or our reviews of the CLA250 and CLA250 4Matic), you'll be familiar with the interior layout of the GLA250 4Matic. It's a stylish cabin - the air vents are very cool, for example – but many high quality bits are cancelled out by great swathes of matte black plastic that are simply too chintzy for the Mercedes-Benz badge. 

Our car was optioned up with a $4000 premium package (automatic climate control, blind spot monitoring, active park assist, navigation, and a panoramic sunroof) as well as a $2000 premium plus package which added a power tailgate, among other features. With these packages, the Mercedes-Benz GLA250 passes the luxury test even if the feel of the cabin comes up far short of the brand's own C-Class. 

Without the extra $6000 worth of amenities, the GLA wouldn't feel remotely worthy of its luxury pretensions inside. Not with a small, silly screen perched atop the dash like a car with one wheel halfway up the curb; not with enough vibration coming through the cabin in a too-high gear to turn the regular seats into massaging chairs.

But if the GLA is identical to the CLA up front, it's a very different story as you move toward the back of the car. Because the GLA's roof doesn't plunge toward the trunk line, getting into the rear seat is easier, and spending time back there doesn't feel as claustrophobic. Neither the CLA nor GLA are limo-like, but I've had three lanky adult males in back who coped without complaint.

It's behind the rear headrests that the situation is so dramatically altered, of course. Rather than the CLA's 371-litre trunk, the GLA has a 487-litre cargo hold, one that's more suitably shaped and more easily accessible. (Plus, the GLA's cargo area can be expanded to 1235 litres with the seats folded.) They, whoever they are, say North American car buyers aren't keen on luxury hatchbacks and wagons. But once into a luxury crossover... my, but isn't that wide open hatch a blessing.

POWERING
If a car's forward motivation related only to its engine, a far greater number of cars would be honoured with substantial praise. But there's a transmission involved to, you see. The GLA250's turbocharged 2.0L four-cylinder produces a pleasant 208 horsepower and a truly impressive 258 lb-ft of torque. It's a terrific powerplant. 

The 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox, on the other hand, is not so deserving of our applause. Particularly when the GLA is in Eco mode, the transmission hangs on to gears too long and slurs shifts annoyingly. Once at a steady speed, the 7-speed shuffles around between fifth and sixth and seventh, aimlessly searching for the right gear in that moment. 

Manual mode, in which you'll use the paddle shifters to cycle between gears, is fine, but not something you'll do during routine driving. 

Sport mode is best, but it's too aggressive and theoretically inefficient (often holding a lower gear, on alert for a forthcoming prod of the throttle) for a run to the shops with your mother-in-law. Alas, there is no Normal setting.

The transmission isn't bad, not in the sense that it stands in opposition to the impressive 2.0L turbo four-cylinder. But it does periodically stand in the way.

HANDLING
Fortunately, while the GLA carries over both the good and the bad of the CLA's powertrain, the crossover version doesn't suffer from the CLA's poor ride quality. The GLA250 4Matic lopes along admirably, firm but not crass; levelheaded rather than edgy. Naturally, it doesn't grip like the CLA in corners – it is riding noticeably higher, and our test car was still on its winter tires.

The steering lacks the CLA's sharpness, and the body roll alerts you to the fact that this Mercedes-Benz is tuned more for comfort than athleticism. Yet removing the CLA's key dynamic fault is a core part of the GLA's appeal, and the GLA250 4Matic manages to provide a semblance of fun on a twisty road with greater maturity if the road gets rough.

PRICING
Mercedes-Benz Canada has priced the GLA250 4Matic just below $40,000, but our test car rang in at $45,275 with fees. With all-wheel-drive, a similarly equipped CLA250 4Matic sedan is $1000 less dear. 

A BMW X1 is in the same region, except that it's more powerful in xDrive28i form and can be significantly more powerful (300 horsepower) in xDrive35i trim for less money than our GLA250 4Matic tester. The Audi Q3's advertised base price is slightly less costly than both because it's available without Quattro all-wheel-drive. And there is another GLA, the aforementioned GLA45 AMG. It's obscene in more ways than one and not at all elevated. But it certainly elevates the mercury on the hot hatch-ometer.

SELLING
The GLA therefore leaves us with divided opinions. It's quick, but the transmission's awkwardness leaves too much fun on the table. It's nicely equipped, but not built to the standards of the last Mercedes-Benz we drove, the C400 4Matic. Its design isn't as controversial as the CLA's, but many bystanders told me they were confused as to what the GLA actually is. It's relatively affordable, but when properly outfitted, it's as expensive as far roomier and more pleasant on-road vehicles like the Hyundai Santa Fe XL we drove recently. 

---

Historical Monthly & Yearly Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class Sales Figures
2015 Mercedes-Benz C400 4Matic Driven Review
2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA240 4Matic Driven Review
2014 Audi SQ5 Driven Review
2014 Acura MDX Driven Review

---

Hyundai? Or Ford, or GMC, or Honda, or even Toyota? There's no comparison, of course, not just because of the size of similarly priced and equipped vehicles from mainstream brands but because of the badge. And that Mercedes-Benz badge is a powerful one. In May, Mercedes-Benz reported its best month of Canadian sales in the company's history.

Regardless of how good or bad or, in actuality, moderately decent the GLA was going to be, we always knew this little Benz crossover would be a hit. Canadians have acquired more than 2000 since the GLA arrived last September. Indeed, the most recent month of reported sales, May, was the GLA's best month yet with 312 sales. Expect a few hundred more sales in June, and July, and August, and, well, you get the idea. The GLA is good enough to be successful, just not good enough to be great.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.

2015 Mercedes-Benz C400 4Matic Review - An Actual Luxury Car

We use a lot of terminology in our quest to classify automobiles which actively pursue thicker portions of your pocketbook.

No matter how many E-Class Benzes ply their trade as German taxicabs, we still allow the S-Class’s high-class image to rub off on the CLA in order to call the entry-level Mercedes sedan an “entry-luxury” car. A 3-Series without leather, lacking a six-cylinder, can still be called a luxury sports sedan. Lexus’s CT200h uses a Prius powertrain, but hey, it’s a Lexus, so it must be “premium” right?

THE GOOD • Good ol' fashioned luxury • It's very fast • It's very quiet • Stunning exterior • Beautiful cabin

THE BAD • 7-speed not perfected • Steering is too relaxed • E-Class-like money • Bigger - still small - rear seat • Convoluted cabin

Upscale. High-end. Executive. Premium. Luxury. The words, commandeered by the manufacturers themselves, have lost so much of their meaning because we have lost our ability to place any faith in words which too often turn out to be nothing more than marketing catch-phrases.

But words don’t matter. Forget the words. Ignore the words. Discard the words. Do whatever you have to render the traditional classifying terms null and void.

---

• 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 4Matic Driven Review
• 2015 Porsche Macan S Driven Review

---

Doing so will help you accept the idea that the new W205 2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class, tested here in C400 4Matic form, is an honest-to-goodness, legitimate luxury car. Not because it wears a three-pointed star on its key fob, steering wheel, trunk lid, grille, and bonnet, but because it positions you in “the state of great comfort and extravagant living.”

It starts with bank vault-like door closures, but it’s the high-quality interior that truly positions the new C-Class as a cut above its traditional rivals. If not for its size, power output, and pricing scheme, the C-Class wouldn’t really come across as a 3-Series rival in 2015. 

All the common touchpoints and the places you’ll never touch will cause you to think the C-Class is too nice, too luxurious, to be lumped in with the ATS, IS, Q50, and even the A4.

2015 MERCEDES-BENZ C400 4MATIC Base Price * (CAD): $53,475 As-Tested Price * (CAD): $57,975 Engine: 3.0L DOHC 24-valve twin-turbo V6 Transmission: 7-speed automatic Horsepower: 329 @ 5250 rpm Torque: 354 lb-ft @ 1600 rpm Curb Weight: 3693 pounds Drive Type: all-wheel-drive Length: 184.5 inches Width: 71.3 inches Height: 56.8 inches Wheelbase: 111.8 inches Tires: Continental ProContact GX SSR Tire Size (Front): 225/45R18 Tire Size (Rear): 245/40R18 Cargo Volume: 357 litres EPA City: 21 mpg EPA Highway: 29 mpg NRCAN OEE City: 11.1 L/100km NRCAN OEE Hwy: 8.4 L/100km Observed: 22.6 mpg Observed: 10.4 L/100km * includes $2075 destination charge C300 4Matic base price: $45,075 MPG fuel economy ratings from the Environmental Protection Agency. L/100km ratings from the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency's new 5-cycle testing for MY2015 vehicles.

More than the materials themselves, it’s the narrow tolerances, the snug fits, the silent operation of moving parts, the unusually tactile way in which vents open and move, the snickety-snicking of the volume control wheel, muted accent lighting, and the perfectly weighted forward and backward motion of the Agility Select rocker.

Piano black finishes across the central part of the cabin are a big mistake, but not a mistake an actual C-Class buyer must live with – there are choices. The perched central screen is a big no-no from a stylistic perspective, as well. Yet it looks better here than in the CLA250 4Matic we reviewed recently, in part because of its size; in part because of the spectacular cabin in which it resides. Tacked on the dash, the C-Class’s screen does keep your eyes closer to the road, but there’s plenty of convoluted interior mechanics to distract and disturb a driver.

Besides speech recognition, theoretically a wonderful solution but comically ineffective in this C400, many controls can be operated with conventional buttons mounted below the touch screen, or a touchpad, or Mercedes-Benz’s better-known control knob, which is partially hidden by the touchpad. Seat controls, in typical Mercedes-Benz fashion, are located up on the door. The cruise control stalk is hidden away behind the steering wheel, mounted too close to the power tilt and telescoping wand. Wiper options, which are surprisingly limited, are on the same stalk one uses to operate signals. Then on the other side of the wheel, the shifter is a column-mounted unit but not a straightforward column shifter in the manner of nearly all column mounted shifters in the history of column mounted shifters.

But the C-Class is a luxury car, both nominally and in reality, and thus a little complication goes a long way to convincing us that this isn’t an intuitive Hyundai Genesis. Goodness no, that would be a crying shame. No, go and accidentally swipe that touch pad when you meant to pres it, fly past Pop2K and The Pulse and The Blend and Love and Elvis in your attempts to access SiriusXM’s 90s on 9. Because Steal My Sunshine.

All Photo Credits: Timothy Cain ©www.GoodCarBadCar.net
Click Any Of These Images For A Larger Slideshow View

The C-Class is also a bigger car than it used to be: nearly four inches longer than the old car on a wheelbase that’s three inches longer than the W204 car. This provides slight numerical differences in interior space – 1.8 inches more legroom in the rear; 1.6% more cargo capacity – but the difference, in reality, is more stark. It’s ten inches shorter, bumper to bumper, than an Acura TLX and doesn’t feel nearly as spacious, but the C400’s rear seat is more usable than the rear seat in the slightly longer Lexus IS. Capacious? No, but usable. Particularly for front seat occupants actual comfort is downright, dare I say it, luxurious.

Although it’s a bigger car than the old C-Class, it’s also marginally lighter. This C400, lacking any extra performance options, feels decidedly compact to drive and park (not that you’d want to use Active Park Assist, which is prone to mistakes and is slower at parking than you are) and would feel rather tossable if not for the slow-to-react steering. Brake feel and performance is top-notch stuff for a non-performance-branded German sedan, perhaps even for an AMG car.

Ride quality is properly firm and unflustered almost all the time but then, suddenly, bizarrely crashy when the coastal Atlantic pavement deteriorates and the low-profile rubber (225/45R18 front, 245/40R18 rear Continental ProContact GX SSR) pays its price. But aside from those rare moments which likely won’t even be encountered where road conditions aren’t dreadful, it’s a calm car. Better yet, the C400’s optional air suspension likely makes for both an improved ride and superior handling.

---

• 2014 Audi S4 Driven Review
• Historical Monthly & Yearly Mercedes-Benz C-Class Sales Figures

---

The new C may be a return to form for a brand that didn’t use to perpetually chase BMW-like sporting credentials. Yet while the C400 4Matic isn’t a sports sedan in the sense that Audi’s S4 or a BMW 335i Sport is a sports sedan, it’s a very athletic car with hugely impressive engine specs. The artificially aspirated V6 sends none of its vibrations into the cabin, but it can come across a bit gruff for, say, lovers of inline-sixes. 

This fresh-off-the-line car landed in my driveway early on its tenure with fewer than 1200 kilometres/800 miles on its odometer, but the 3.0L twin-turbo V6’s 329 horsepower (at 5250 rpm, and 354 lb-ft of torque at 1600 rpm) felt like ponies well versed in CrossFit, Pilates, hot yoga, and spinning. This is a fast car.

Switch the C400’s Agility selector into Sport+ and those horses behave more like a pack of large, untrained, on-leash puppies furiously pulling their way to the dog park. Eco, Comfort, and Sport are all better options unless you plan to aggressively drive down a great road.

With all of these modes used intermittently, in a mix of city and highway driving, the C400 4Matic Mercedes-Benz Canada loaned to us for a week in November returned 10.4 L/100km, a real achievement for a green engine with 329 horsepower, an often heavy right foot, and mandatory all-wheel-drive.

And again, though the C400 4Matic is poised and balanced through corners, though it accelerates like a supercar of 15 or 20 years ago, and though it brakes remarkably well, this isn’t necessarily the keen driver’s choice. Its 7-speed automatic transmission doesn’t shift swiftly enough and its intelligence is countered by a reluctance to play. It’s a lot like the guy who says he likes 90s music, but when Waterfalls comes on, he won’t turn up the C400’s optional Burmester sound system, a sound system which deserves to be jacked for all manner of music, whether it’s TLC or CCR.

It’s abundantly clear that Mercedes-Benz crafted a luxury car with athletic ability, rather than an All-American athlete with nice finishes in prominent places. (On that note, the C-Class uses its high-grade materials in all corners of the cabin. And it is thoroughly American by one standard: new Cs are built in Alabama with the ML and GL.) They won’t market it that way, of course, because even older buyers who remember Mercedes-Benz at its best feel the need to associate “sport” with the period of youth they’re trying so desperately to remember, assisted by ginkgo biloba, pickleball, and inappropriate use of leggings.

Regardless of which supplements its owner ingests, which sport they play, and how they dress, the new C-Class will nevertheless be a true luxury car, in an authentic use of the phrase. And with an as-tested Canadian price of $57,975, it better be.