Baby S steps up
Launched in 2014, the C-Class resembled a smaller version of the S-Class. Post its midlife facelift, Mercedes has overhauled more than half its parts to get it up-to-date with its counterparts
The C-Class has, over the last 10 years, become the bestselling Mercedes and the company has to ensure that it remains one of the first choices in its segment. Since 2014, the automotive world has seen rapid advances in areas like autonomous driving features, assistance systems, electronics and of course the ever-tightening emission norms. Thus, even though this is just a midlife facelift, Mercedes has changed almost 6,500 components in the car and over 80 per cent of the electronics in the facelifted car are new. What is also interesting is that Mercedes is globally launching four body versions at the same time and the news for India is that Mercedes will initially launch the C200 and the C300d sedans along with the C43 AMG sedan before the festive season, later this year. They will then follow that up by more engine variants including the C300 and the C220d and then launch both the coupe and the convertible body types, with the C300 engine. In keeping with the launch strategy for India and the changes, we drove the C200 petrol engine car and the C43 AMG sedan and here’s what we thought.
On the outside, the sedan looks nearly the same as before. There are some changes to the front bumper, the grille varies depending on the trim line selected and so does the insert on the lower lip of the front bumper. There is also now an additional all-LED headlight option available. While the earlier
LED high performance headlamps have been redesigned there’s also an option now of multi-beam headlamps with 84 LEDs. These have an ultra range high beam that lights up a distance of 650m ahead and its intensity is the maximum permissible under European law. The entire C-Class range now also has more colours and new alloys. In the rear, the lower part of the bumper has new geometry and exhaust tail pipes and there are new tail lamps as well depending on the model, trim and engine variant of the car.
Changes to more than half the parts of the car are apparent on the inside and under the skin of the car. First and foremost is that the C-Class gets the keyless-go starting function and the start-stop button is in a new design – something that Mercedes calls ‘turbine look.’ The seats are new and come with a multicontour seat package that allows for adjustment of side bolsters and lumbar support by a pneumatic pump, which also massages the lower back by inflating and deflating air chambers. A fully digital instrument panel is
also now available with a 12.3-inch display that can give three looks–a progressive design, a classic one and a sport one. The energising comfort control also makes its way from the S-Class to the C-Class and combines the functions of air conditioning, seats, lighting, fragrance and music moods for different wellness set ups. The steering wheel is also all-new with tactile sensors and metallic finish controls;
ALMOST 6,500 COMPONENTS IN THE CAR AND OVER 80 PER CENT OF THE ELECTRONICS HAVE CHANGED