Multimedia system

★★★★☆

Mercedes’ 11.9in MBUX touchscreen infotainment system for the C-class is a version of the multimedia set-up first seen on the new S-class. It’s packed with all the right features, although several testers remarked that it wasn’t as intuitive to use as they had expected, and didn’t like the way its raked screen angle made smudgy finger marks more obvious during daylight hours.

There is no separate haptic input device, and using the system while occasionally glancing away from the road is made harder by all the necessary menu swiping and scrolling. The alternative is to use the car’s steering-wheel thumb consoles to move a cursor around, which works fairly well, but it’s still too easy to brush these touch-sensitive pads inadvertently as you pass your hands around the wheel.

Mercedes’ natural speech recognition is supposed to make usability easier, and in some cases does so quite well, but there are certain quick-fire functions that deserve a top-level button or shortcut on the screen and don’t get one. Wireless smartphone mirroring and device charging are included for no extra cost.