As you know I bought my w204 6 weeks ago and as I have now driven 2000 miles in it I thought I’d review it.
I started off by checking what I’d said on here about the w204 down the years before I owned one!
“25/07/2007 I said “I drove the new W204 today. This particular one is £35,000 due to memory seats, navigation, AMG everything, leather etc etc.
Impressions,
Exterior- Looks OK, has presence but not beauty, prefer my (w203)wheels to the double six spoke version.
Interior- Enjoyed the sat nav popping up automatically, and the memory steering wheel and seat movement, still think the steering wheel is horrid and the plastic on the dash is cheap looking. Felt like a Honda.
Driving- This was a sport but ride s harder than my AMG suspension but smooth with no roll at normal speeds, brakes are hyper sensitive and I'm not sure I like them, steering is so light you could steer using only "the force"!
Engine- C220CDI felt lively and quite quick but is noisy and a bit intrusive.
Overall- A nice car, especially if you haven’t had a Mercedes before, worth £35k? in my opinion no way!
01/03/2009 I said “I have driven the Audi A4, the Alfa 159 and the W204. The W204 felt the most solid and had the best ride. So out of my possible rivals the W204 sport is the only contender. The W204 is better built than the W203 and has a better ride and good levels of kit and at some point it will doubtless be my next car BUT it is not £14,000 better than my current W203 and therefore R2 stays for the time being. Thank you all for your input in this process! “
30/08/2012 I said I decided to not limit my search to only Mercedes because I’d driven 250,000 miles in C Classes and wondered what else was out there. I considered a Kenwood A4 but it was so bland, I considered several Alfas but they were fun but coarse and the build quality still isn’t in Mercedes league and so after months of test drives I ended up positively choosing to remain with Mercedes rather than just buying another one.
……Then one day I was at an independent MB dealer who let me take out various W204s back to back. I discovered that W204 Sports are much firmer than my old Avantgarde even though mine had AMG springs! I drive a fair few long journeys and I couldn’t cope with the Sport suspension every day. He then sent me out in a C350 (Petrol) Elegance which was wonderful. It had proper suspension and ride becoming a luxury car and was a very nice place to be. “
Review.
It’s interesting that some of my thoughts about the W204 have remained constant over the years.
Exterior
Excellent panel gaps, excellent paint quality, excellent practical design. Not a beautiful car but it has a stance and presence about it that I like. I now like the huge mirrors for their great practicality.
Interior
Comand/Linguatronic is wonderful and a big step forward from my w203 Comand APS. My car has the luxury leather 12 button steering wheel which I positively like. I’m sure the first one I drove in 2007 had a plastic horrible steering wheel. The seats are well made and comfortable. I’ll tell you how comfortable after a Scotland run! The dash board in general is well made; however, it does have occasional very minor rattles. The plastic along the door tops is too hard and cheap looking.
Ride
In my Elegance Spec car the ride is awesome a great place to travel long distances in. I found the Sport ride with 18inch wheels just too hard for everyday use, however, it too is capable of a smooth ride on good surfaces.
Handling
All w204 have adaptive shock absorbers as standard and some have the switchable version as an option. My standard car handles very nicely at anything short of reckless speeds. If pushed very hard it will lean and understeer slightly. I’m happy with the very high threshold of understeer and accept it as being necessary if want my ride quality.
Engine
C350 V6 petrol. I love the sound, I love the 0-60 in 6 and the top speed of 155mph. I like the 36mpg on a run I dislike the 14mpg on a thrash or in stationary traffic. I’ve averaged 25mpg so far; my C180k averaged 28mpg.
Summary
My w204 is a natural progression from my previous w202s and w203. All of my c classes have been excellent, reliable, and safe cars. The w204 builds on the previous models by being a bit better built, a bit safer, a bit better build quality. Overall I think the w204 is a great car in many ways. I still think some of the cabin plastics are hard but otherwise it’s been a good purchase. As Autocar said several decades ago when the w202 was launched "The C Class is a great car to drive and an even better one to own". I'd still have to agree!
What's the betting that my next car is a w205 even if I try an Alfa and an Audi first?
PS. When I bought my C350 Elegance, it was 1 of 103 in the UK but I noticed that this 1/4 the number dropped to 102. Presumably someone wrote one off or exported one.
I started off by checking what I’d said on here about the w204 down the years before I owned one!
“25/07/2007 I said “I drove the new W204 today. This particular one is £35,000 due to memory seats, navigation, AMG everything, leather etc etc.
Impressions,
Exterior- Looks OK, has presence but not beauty, prefer my (w203)wheels to the double six spoke version.
Interior- Enjoyed the sat nav popping up automatically, and the memory steering wheel and seat movement, still think the steering wheel is horrid and the plastic on the dash is cheap looking. Felt like a Honda.
Driving- This was a sport but ride s harder than my AMG suspension but smooth with no roll at normal speeds, brakes are hyper sensitive and I'm not sure I like them, steering is so light you could steer using only "the force"!
Engine- C220CDI felt lively and quite quick but is noisy and a bit intrusive.
Overall- A nice car, especially if you haven’t had a Mercedes before, worth £35k? in my opinion no way!
01/03/2009 I said “I have driven the Audi A4, the Alfa 159 and the W204. The W204 felt the most solid and had the best ride. So out of my possible rivals the W204 sport is the only contender. The W204 is better built than the W203 and has a better ride and good levels of kit and at some point it will doubtless be my next car BUT it is not £14,000 better than my current W203 and therefore R2 stays for the time being. Thank you all for your input in this process! “
30/08/2012 I said I decided to not limit my search to only Mercedes because I’d driven 250,000 miles in C Classes and wondered what else was out there. I considered a Kenwood A4 but it was so bland, I considered several Alfas but they were fun but coarse and the build quality still isn’t in Mercedes league and so after months of test drives I ended up positively choosing to remain with Mercedes rather than just buying another one.
……Then one day I was at an independent MB dealer who let me take out various W204s back to back. I discovered that W204 Sports are much firmer than my old Avantgarde even though mine had AMG springs! I drive a fair few long journeys and I couldn’t cope with the Sport suspension every day. He then sent me out in a C350 (Petrol) Elegance which was wonderful. It had proper suspension and ride becoming a luxury car and was a very nice place to be. “
Review.
It’s interesting that some of my thoughts about the W204 have remained constant over the years.
Exterior
Excellent panel gaps, excellent paint quality, excellent practical design. Not a beautiful car but it has a stance and presence about it that I like. I now like the huge mirrors for their great practicality.
Interior
Comand/Linguatronic is wonderful and a big step forward from my w203 Comand APS. My car has the luxury leather 12 button steering wheel which I positively like. I’m sure the first one I drove in 2007 had a plastic horrible steering wheel. The seats are well made and comfortable. I’ll tell you how comfortable after a Scotland run! The dash board in general is well made; however, it does have occasional very minor rattles. The plastic along the door tops is too hard and cheap looking.
Ride
In my Elegance Spec car the ride is awesome a great place to travel long distances in. I found the Sport ride with 18inch wheels just too hard for everyday use, however, it too is capable of a smooth ride on good surfaces.
Handling
All w204 have adaptive shock absorbers as standard and some have the switchable version as an option. My standard car handles very nicely at anything short of reckless speeds. If pushed very hard it will lean and understeer slightly. I’m happy with the very high threshold of understeer and accept it as being necessary if want my ride quality.
Engine
C350 V6 petrol. I love the sound, I love the 0-60 in 6 and the top speed of 155mph. I like the 36mpg on a run I dislike the 14mpg on a thrash or in stationary traffic. I’ve averaged 25mpg so far; my C180k averaged 28mpg.
Summary
My w204 is a natural progression from my previous w202s and w203. All of my c classes have been excellent, reliable, and safe cars. The w204 builds on the previous models by being a bit better built, a bit safer, a bit better build quality. Overall I think the w204 is a great car in many ways. I still think some of the cabin plastics are hard but otherwise it’s been a good purchase. As Autocar said several decades ago when the w202 was launched "The C Class is a great car to drive and an even better one to own". I'd still have to agree!
What's the betting that my next car is a w205 even if I try an Alfa and an Audi first?
PS. When I bought my C350 Elegance, it was 1 of 103 in the UK but I noticed that this 1/4 the number dropped to 102. Presumably someone wrote one off or exported one.
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