Estate of the nation!
A new look for an old standard, and who better than Mercedes?
AFTER months of hoisting myself upwards into SUVs and crossovers, how nice it was to get into a car that holds just as much cargo (bye, bye, 6ft Christmas tree), but saves you the bother of taking out a rope and crampons.
I know the world has gone SUV mad, and I understand the attraction (not least the driving position that allows you see more clearly what’s up ahead), but I’m getting just a little bored with them.
Like the MPV craze of the early Noughties (remember that, when everyone wanted a living room on wheels?), the Me Too element has taken a feverish grip and had a massively disruptive effect on the market for standard saloons and estates.
In my book, that’s a pity. Buying an estate car used to be a sign that you had reconciled yourself to death, and would await it in boring comfort with only a muddy wet Labrador in the boot for company.
At least, that was the case in Ireland and the UK, though never so on the continent. Mainland Europeans are nothing if not practical and because they can drive everywhere – from Amsterdam to the Alps to ski, from Munich to Malaga for summer sun – what they need is practicality and space. Here, traditionally, around a fifth of model variants sold were estates, but over there, four-fifths were the larger model.
Few make them better than MercedesBenz, and the new C-Class Estate is no exception. My test car came in a deep metallic blue, not a colour I ever much cared for but it worked here.
The car hasn’t been redesigned as such, but it comes with new headlights, new bumpers and new wheels. In this AMG Line trim, those wheels are 19-inch twin-spoke alloys that didn’t do much either for the looks or the ride quality, so I would have been perfectly happy with smaller ones.
Visually, it’s an enticing package. The only slightly blingier estate I actually love is the Hyundai i40; that one exempted, I prefer them to look timeless and classy, and Mercedes achieves both those qualities effortlessly. Like a good watch, you get the feeling you could hand this down over generations.
Inside, the upholstery is fake leather, and in this AMG it also runs across the dashboard and the door beltline. Options on my car included a 10.25-inch screen instead of the standard seven-inch display, and a parking camera package and MB navigation system. There’s also detailing in black ash, which adds a soothing feel to the darkness and mitigates it to make it all feel clubby.
The emphasis is on comfort, with multiadjustable heated seats (the front extension can leave a gap, though, and it proved excellent at collecting the crumbs from dashboard dining!).
Standard equipment on AMG Line trim includes LED headlights, keyless entry and ignition, folding rear seat backrests, multifunction steering wheel, parking camera, AMG sports pedals, stowage package, roof lining in black fabric, bodystyling with front apron, sporty air intakes and chrome trim, diamond radiator grille with pins and integrated Mercedes star, sports suspension, twin-tailpipe exhaust system, perforated front brake discs and front-brake callipers with Mercedes-Benz lettering, and the Easy-Pack electric tailgate.
I used the latter a lot – my central heating packed in over Christmas and was fixed only yesterday, so I’ve been hefting logs and coal from the local supermarket for a fortnight. The good news is that I finally got one of those app-controlled on/off and timer systems, and now can turn on the heating from anywhere in the world and never need return to a cold house again.
As for ride and handling, well, the 2.0-litre diesel engine is a familiar one, and it’s workaday rather than sparkling, offering 150hp and a 0-100kph sprint of 8.4 seconds. There’s nothing wrong with it but it’s not thrilling either, though it is quiet.
There are selectable drive modes, including Sport, Eco and Comfort. The whole point of an estate is the latter, so that’s pretty much where I left it. Where the car scores very highly is on the transmission – the 9G-TRONIC automatic is brilliantly precise, and you never feel anything in the way of lag as it changes up.
The C-Class estate line-up starts at €39,630 for the 1.6-litre 129hp petrol version, and that’s incredibly good value. At €45,710 without the added bells and whistles I mentioned earlier, the 2.0-litre AMG Line is not a deal-breaker either, and certainly looks a bit more aggressive and athletic.
Just as well when the person driving it actually is neither.