If it were time to refresh your luxury car, and you are a loyal Mercedes supporter, don't miss out the all new C-Class W205, which resembled a mini S-Class. All initial batch of few hundreds units has been snapped up since last year, and the next CKD unit will only be made available in May 2015, after the implementation of the GST. Thus, no test drive unit is available, and even after the CKD, dealers might be slow in getting their demo car due to high demand of the car. When someone were rich enough, and preferred a luxury sedan, test driving is not important since one could simply spend over a quarter million, just to show off their latest addition to the garage. Don't like it, just give it to the wife, or girlfried or even the mistress! What is a quarter million anyway!
Finally, the 1.8-litre CGI engine went into history list and been replaced with a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine, which produces 184hp/300Nm, giving fans of the C-Class a more powerful machine. Even now, government agency would be able to use their allowance to get this car as the rule called for any car with at least 2-litre engine. 7-speed 7G-Tronic Plus transmission is standard for the W205. If one need a more powerful C Class, one need to get the C250 Exclusive trim, which uses a different tune of the same engine, producing 208hp/350Nm of power. However, the C250 Exclusive uses the standard front grille with the 3-pointed start mounted on the engine cover, which make it look so...Mercedes. But the C-Class should be for the younger executive who will prefer sportier grille of the C200 Avantgarde trim. Mercedes should get rid of the traditional grille, though it has the Active Louvres (Airpanel), which closes when the car is in park position and opens while on the move. This feature in fact improves the aerodynamics of the car and ease the engine warmup time! A cool feature, which means expensive maintenance in the long run!
Looking inside the W205, one could notice the luxurious of the C250 Exclusive, which use wood and leather trim on the dashboard and door panel, while the C200 Avantgarde is a plain piano black. It also immediate give the age of the owner of the car, where mostly > 45 will or might still consider the C250 and anyone < 45 should want the sportier C200. There are a long list of additional item in the C250, which is asking for RM316k and C200 for RM286k, both in CBU. When CKD units arrive, with the elimination of sales tax and introduction of GST, there could be a drop of about RM15k - RM20k in the pricing structure. For more detail in the specifications, here is the link. The free standing display on all new generation of Mercedes could be standout, love hate environment. I would think most would prefer a more integrated display into the dashboard that could be stow when not needed. Wonder how it is last or work with our strong sunlight? The touch sensitive controller makes the car feels higher class.
Some Mercedes' fans are still wondering whether the mini S is worth their consideration, just because when one is design to be so similar to the big brother, it loses its uniqueness, especially when the big brother target market is for the big bosses of certain age group. The lookalike of the W205 C-Class will now only means it looks old as well. Well, some would always think otherwise, and some don't even care what the W205 provides, what it has, but it is time for a refreshment after having the old W204 for the past 6-7 years.
The rear of both model looks very similar, though the C250 Exclusive is better off with the visible tail pipes chrome lining. The C200 goes with hidden tailpipes, which reduce the aggressiveness of the front it has.
This round, the C-Class is finally not a strip down basic Benz, but one that is fully loaded with features, for them be related to the comfort or safety departments. It has improves vastly and the only car in this segment to run with full LEDs! Sedan is still not my choice of car now, for me, I would want the A250!
