One year on, my thoughts about living with the W205 C class.

[Bonecho]

Next week marks the first anniversary of me taking delivery of my C200 Petrol automatic so I thought I would share my thoughts after only travelling 6100 miles in that first year.

First the good points.

I am quite happy with the fuel consumption for a 2 litre petrol. From day one it has averaged 34mpg for mixed driving and in the high 40’s when we go away on holiday. I can’t say it ever improved from when the car was new.

I still feel good every time I get in it and think the car looks classy both inside and outside.

With the petrol engine the car is very quiet and quick for me with a 0-60 in I think 7.6 seconds.

The car has been faultless with no returns to the dealership.

The bad points.

This car must have one of the worst sound systems I have ever heard in any car and I absolutely hate it with a passion. My son has just bought a Kia Pro Ceed and the sound system in that car is stunning by comparison to the almost twice the price C Class.

While the dial and swipe pad really looks good in the centre console I find it is a nightmare to use and it is soooo slow. Dialing in a post code or address takes forever while my sons cheap Kia has a qwerty keyboard built into the touch screen which is a joy to use.

Despite me carrying out 3 software updates of the sat nav the Garmin still doesn’t show motorway junction changes and new A road bypasses that were completed 2 years ago but my old portable Garmin with free for life map upgrades has been correct for the last 12 months. Why would that be I wonder?

The car is almost free from wind noise except when there is a strong cross wind. Then I hear buffeting on the front door pillar by my head. I don’t know if this is a characteristic of the car or I have a duff seal but without the cross wind on a windy day the car is fine.

Finally the fact that there is no provision to take a space saver spare wheel despite the fact that the hole under the boot carpet is deep enough but MB in their wisdom made the space square and not round. Yes I had a puncture after only 2000 miles but luckily I could get to a tyre centre which saved the day.

Conclusion

The car is clearly well engineered but I really find the CD player sound quality and particularly the DAB radio sound quality truly shocking which spoils the whole Mercedes experience. With the other bad points listed it does take the shine away but I still love the feeling of driving a Mercedes.

 

[uumode]

I have the same engine as you, my car about 10 mths old, I even get the same sort of MPG as you.

No faults really, in strong cross winds there is some noise, but that's the same with my other cars.

Fortunately I borrowed a demo C class for a day and a bit which had the standard sound system so I upgraded to burmester which comes with the COMAND sat nav.

My three main gripes with the car

1. the sat nav and it's weird voice instructions.
(Turn left is not turn left at the next junction for example, and 3 o'clock on the roundabout is turn left)

2. the piano black centre console is very prone to fine scratching, so have to polish them out now and again.

3. the automatic intermittent wipers sometimes aren't that intermittent and need a 'prod' to work

Minor gripe is there is no strong seal to the bottom of the doors and even in light rain, dirt manages to get into the inside door ledge, which is behind the door.


and nice to haves, the burmester stereo could be louder with a more powerful amp.

The remote online app, and mobile features could be combined, currently there are different and unique features on mobile and in the app, so you have to go to both... just combine them MB.

Mercedes stop and go pilot could move off by itself, instead of having to manually intervene by pressing the gas or moving the cruise lever in heavy traffic (maybe its UK law)

 

[Bonecho]

I did actually order a burmester. I think it was a £600 option at the time but the car went into the next build year so the burmester became part of a £3000 upgrade package and I wasn't paying £3000 for a sound system which came with other goodies I didn't really want.

I had long arguments with MB about giving me what I had ordered but they just said no. After living with this sound system where my flat screen TV even sounds better I am now wishing I spend the extra £3,000 but that was MB master plan all along.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

IMHO I think £3,000 for the premium plus pack is amazing value for the goodies you get.

Try adding those same options onto the 3 Series and see what they amount to.

Having said that I understand your point if you only wanted the BM upgrade.

Great OP by the way.

Ant.

 

[markjay]

I did actually order a burmester. I think it was a £600 option at the time but the car went into the next build year so the burmester became part of a £3000 upgrade package and I wasn't paying £3000 for a sound system which came with other goodies I didn't really want.

I had long arguments with MB about giving me what I had ordered but they just said no. After living with this sound system where my flat screen TV even sounds better I am now wishing I spend the extra £3,000 but that was MB master plan all along.

Surely comandonline.co.uk (or someone else local to you) can help with the sound system? Or do you prefer not to touch the interior while the car is under warranty?

 

[190]

If you can get into the engineering menu you may be able to improve the sound by adjusting the roll off filters and or equalizer settings. Different car but my Audio 20 sounds better with some of the grossly excessive bass filtered out.

 

[steve333]

I have the burmester sound system in my w205 and find it as good as the hk system I had in a previous w212, I agree the sat nav(garmin) is the worst I've had in a mercedes but that is the only thing that I dislike about the w205 in Amg guise,had mine 3 months but love the car,it's shape/interior are a vast improvement on previous c classes IMHO.

 

[Aletank]

If you want Burmester & Comand, Is it the Premium Plus pack you have to opt for ?
Doesn't Comand come with Burmester ?

 

[uumode]

If you want Burmester & Comand, Is it the Premium Plus pack you have to opt for ?
Doesn't Comand come with Burmester ?

Yes if you want both together it's the premium plus pack

If you only want the Burmester, you are still forced to get the premium plus pack

 

[Bonecho]

IMHO I think £3,000 for the premium plus pack is amazing value for the goodies you get.

I know where you are coming from but with a 6' 7" son the sun roof dropped the height of the interior too much. Also £3,000 added over 10% to what I paid for the car so I had to draw a line somewhere as I was already maxing out what I wanted to pay for a car.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

but with a 6' 7" son.

A Popemobile would have been better than a C Class.

 

[TripleD]

but with a 6' 7" son

Roof rack?