Well I haven't had much of a chance to drive it during the week, which is a shame, but I've done a few journeys with the family, and finally one tonight on my own. Hope others may find it interesting/amusing .. I struggled to find a huge amount out about C55s when I was considering one!
Family driving
==========
Comfortable, luxurious and generally pleasant. I'm still not a huge auto fan - even with it in C mode, it still changes down too often for my liking when you just want a little poke of torque. Have tried manual mode and it's obviously better in that respect, but sometimes it's hard to remember to change gear, particularly when you slow down a bit (eg. high revs in 1st gear before "D'oh!"). Weird that ... never forgot in a manual
"Energetic" driving
==============
Once during the day in the dry, but not on my own, so really straight line flooring it and stomping on the brakes to get a feel of what it can do. Found it hard to handle in manual mode with ESP off for quick launches and the gear changes a bit slow compared to S mode. Why can't it be as quick!? Road surface wasn't very sticky however. Brakes effective and stable. ABS excellent only really cut in when I pushed silly hard, so glad to see it doesn't nanny too much. Brake dust terrible!! I wonder if they're OEM pads or not .. had to have a serious wash after!
Tonight on damp roads I let it rip a bit more with ESP off on my own, so a bit more involved in corners. Wow is all I can say ... got my attention a few times! It's very, very easy to waggle the rear end if you get on the pedal coming out of a corner, that's for sure! Put ESP back on to avoid the ditches and tried some open fast corners in M and S modes. I have to say, S scares me a little .. during one double lefter, I lifted to half throttle coming into the first corner, then came off a little more, dabbed the brakes and entered the second, followed by picking up the throttle again on the way out (ie. not completely flooring it). The box changed down to 2nd on me before I was straight and put on a serious power slide, which me and the ESP between us put a rapid halt to, but scared the Bejesus outta me all the same! Keeping it in manual seems safer and more satisfactory for normal roads where a redline gear change isn't crucial. I like control. I also prefer the control to come from me and not the car!
Back onto normal roads and into C mode almost seemed a relief after that .. a bit of adrenaline pumping
Think I need a track day to really push it so I can understand its limits a bit better. For now, a healthy respect of fast in, slow out until straight seems to be the way to go!
General comments
==============
COMAND - grrr .. what for a touch screen! I'm getting used to it, but it's a little ... idiosyncratic! The wheel controls for the dash display take some getting used to too, but getting there.
Seats very comfy if you spend a while getting the position right. And saved. And saved with both keys if you set that menu item Heated seat seems to only work on the back, not the bottom .. unsure if this is standard or not.
Digital climate blows nice and cold, but needs setting down to about 17C to be effective on hot days as it seems to settle down a little too quickly when in full auto mode. With all the vents open, the power can be a little low even when on full fan. My passenger side vent is broken and doesn't move the fins - hoping this is just something skipped off a mounting rather than snapped and can be fixed at next service.
Auto lights and wipers - effective and do what they say on the tin. Night time display is just lovely .. sophisticated and understated. Daytime dash display is FAR too dim in strong sunlight and the dim up, dim down thingy doesn't seem to do anything at all (another thing to get checked!).
Stereo is pleasant, but the audio not refined enough for audiophiles out there and the speakers distort at relatively modest volumes with high bass (never an issue with SHMBO acceptable volumes!!).
SatNav actually looks really nice in just map mode. However, as a long time TomTom user, it is just DREADFUL! Why can't I put in just a full postcode and not limit it to the first characters followed by 3 more screens of detail that I may not know!? Why can't it tell me how many miles and how much time is left? Why can't I find a route summary to see which daft way it may have chosen to take (running both side by side, it disagreed with the TomTom about 2 or 3 times a journey ... and in the wrong IMHO!). Why can't I say the road 50m ahead is blocked and ask for a new route? Why can't the silly bint pronounce "roundabout" properly!? Ok .. that's endearing me a little to her and making me smile now!
Cruise control .. umm .. haven't used it yet, so not sure! Set it to a limit of 20mph accidently and computer said no to the pedal once it got there! Effective, but odd I assume you can actually set it to cruise at a set speed too and take your foot off?
Park and handbrake .. scary. Insists on rolling back about 6 inches to bite, which is truly terrifying when you park on your driveway in the normal manner (that is to say, inch accurate!). Will it/won't it moment aside, it seems to hold just fine! Is this caused by wear/slack on something or is it normal?
Can't think of anything else. Oh .. a SIM card in the phone makes it work as .. a phone. Ahem. Nice, but not much to say on that
Would love to hear from other owners to see if they share any of the above praise/concern, etc.! So far, definitely happy with the purchase. Haven't got above 20mpg yet mind you ...........
Family driving
==========
Comfortable, luxurious and generally pleasant. I'm still not a huge auto fan - even with it in C mode, it still changes down too often for my liking when you just want a little poke of torque. Have tried manual mode and it's obviously better in that respect, but sometimes it's hard to remember to change gear, particularly when you slow down a bit (eg. high revs in 1st gear before "D'oh!"). Weird that ... never forgot in a manual
"Energetic" driving
==============
Once during the day in the dry, but not on my own, so really straight line flooring it and stomping on the brakes to get a feel of what it can do. Found it hard to handle in manual mode with ESP off for quick launches and the gear changes a bit slow compared to S mode. Why can't it be as quick!? Road surface wasn't very sticky however. Brakes effective and stable. ABS excellent only really cut in when I pushed silly hard, so glad to see it doesn't nanny too much. Brake dust terrible!! I wonder if they're OEM pads or not .. had to have a serious wash after!
Tonight on damp roads I let it rip a bit more with ESP off on my own, so a bit more involved in corners. Wow is all I can say ... got my attention a few times! It's very, very easy to waggle the rear end if you get on the pedal coming out of a corner, that's for sure! Put ESP back on to avoid the ditches and tried some open fast corners in M and S modes. I have to say, S scares me a little .. during one double lefter, I lifted to half throttle coming into the first corner, then came off a little more, dabbed the brakes and entered the second, followed by picking up the throttle again on the way out (ie. not completely flooring it). The box changed down to 2nd on me before I was straight and put on a serious power slide, which me and the ESP between us put a rapid halt to, but scared the Bejesus outta me all the same! Keeping it in manual seems safer and more satisfactory for normal roads where a redline gear change isn't crucial. I like control. I also prefer the control to come from me and not the car!
Back onto normal roads and into C mode almost seemed a relief after that .. a bit of adrenaline pumping
Think I need a track day to really push it so I can understand its limits a bit better. For now, a healthy respect of fast in, slow out until straight seems to be the way to go!
General comments
==============
COMAND - grrr .. what for a touch screen! I'm getting used to it, but it's a little ... idiosyncratic! The wheel controls for the dash display take some getting used to too, but getting there.
Seats very comfy if you spend a while getting the position right. And saved. And saved with both keys if you set that menu item Heated seat seems to only work on the back, not the bottom .. unsure if this is standard or not.
Digital climate blows nice and cold, but needs setting down to about 17C to be effective on hot days as it seems to settle down a little too quickly when in full auto mode. With all the vents open, the power can be a little low even when on full fan. My passenger side vent is broken and doesn't move the fins - hoping this is just something skipped off a mounting rather than snapped and can be fixed at next service.
Auto lights and wipers - effective and do what they say on the tin. Night time display is just lovely .. sophisticated and understated. Daytime dash display is FAR too dim in strong sunlight and the dim up, dim down thingy doesn't seem to do anything at all (another thing to get checked!).
Stereo is pleasant, but the audio not refined enough for audiophiles out there and the speakers distort at relatively modest volumes with high bass (never an issue with SHMBO acceptable volumes!!).
SatNav actually looks really nice in just map mode. However, as a long time TomTom user, it is just DREADFUL! Why can't I put in just a full postcode and not limit it to the first characters followed by 3 more screens of detail that I may not know!? Why can't it tell me how many miles and how much time is left? Why can't I find a route summary to see which daft way it may have chosen to take (running both side by side, it disagreed with the TomTom about 2 or 3 times a journey ... and in the wrong IMHO!). Why can't I say the road 50m ahead is blocked and ask for a new route? Why can't the silly bint pronounce "roundabout" properly!? Ok .. that's endearing me a little to her and making me smile now!
Cruise control .. umm .. haven't used it yet, so not sure! Set it to a limit of 20mph accidently and computer said no to the pedal once it got there! Effective, but odd
I assume you can actually set it to cruise at a set speed too and take your foot off?Park and handbrake .. scary. Insists on rolling back about 6 inches to bite, which is truly terrifying when you park on your driveway in the normal manner (that is to say, inch accurate!). Will it/won't it moment aside, it seems to hold just fine! Is this caused by wear/slack on something or is it normal?
Can't think of anything else. Oh .. a SIM card in the phone makes it work as .. a phone. Ahem. Nice, but not much to say on that
Would love to hear from other owners to see if they share any of the above praise/concern, etc.! So far, definitely happy with the purchase. Haven't got above 20mpg yet mind you ...........
