Well, GB expressed interest so I thought I'd write a quick report on my day with a C220 CDI while my LEC was being serviced.
First impression was that it was black - and dirty. It had probably only been out for one day with a previous customer, but it was covered in beige dust and road muck to the point where the service man had to apologize for the state it was in. Inside was perfectly clean, but the appeal of black cars escapes me, especially now that the whole me-too world has one.
Getting comfortable was easy enough, despite having to pull the seat adjuster lever for myself - full electric adjustment with memory is the single best gizmo in the LEC. The flat-bottomed wheel is odd, but perhaps the logic is that it enables it to sit comfortably low without impeding access; once you're in your thighs are either side, not directly below, so turning it is not a problem. Still looks a bit try-too-hard to me, though – like the rest of the ‘AMG Sport’ fancy dress – big wheels, skirts and a 1990s-retro lip spoiler on the boot lid. And no MB star on the bonnet – apparently the yoof market prefers a big one on the grille; I don’t.
Getting comfortable would not be so easy for anyone behind me, though. Before getting in (and moving the seat back) I’d put my laptop bag on the floor behind my seat, but realized after a bit of poking about that I could connect my iPod to the socket in the armrest compartment if I had the right cable. The cable, of course, was in my bag, but the bag was now so tightly wedged in that I had to slide my seat forward again and get out of the car to retrieve the cable from the bag. Wouldn’t do for every day, then.
But how was it for just the one day? Really not bad at all. I was prepared for a jiggling, jarring ride on account of the big wheels, but it was surprisingly civilized; firmer than the E, certainly, but not the point of discomfort. Less refined was the engine – essentially the same as the one in my E, but the quality and quantity of noise permeating the cabin even at town speeds would be enough to put me right off.
All I did with it was tootle along the M4 towards Heathrow (including a detour to the hard shoulder to avoid the white 5-series that tried to join me in my lane without looking first) but it seemed to do that pretty much as expected. No problems with visibility, nor with acceleration when the traffic allowed. The transmission has the C and S modes I’m used to, with the option of a paddle-controlled M mode too that I didn’t really get to try out but would find useful in the E – there are times when I still think “I want third for this bit” and the E’s box requires two touches where one ought to do.
What I’ve not yet mentioned was how it was to use, rather than merely drive. I didn’t get to read the manual, of course, and the key functions were familiar enough from other MBs, but the multi-coloured instrument panel and computer display were too much to work out without it. I couldn’t find a display that would show me the MPG for the current trip, although it must be in there somewhere. I did stumble on a mode that popped up a speed sign every time the limit changed, which might be useful if I didn’t have a windscreen to look out through, and several other displays that displayed amounts of detail that were dangerously distracting. And, though the iPod connected easily – and sounded very good, I thought, better than the system in the E – I had to settle for what it thought I ought to be listening to, including a Mendelssohn chamber work and a (very funny) three-year-old episode of R4’s Look Away Now, because I couldn’t find a way to make any selections of my own.
The route and the traffic (and having to do a day’s work in between) meant I didn’t really do any ‘proper’ driving, but it did feel pleasantly well-sorted in the way I so appreciate about my old, and similarly-sized, S60. Would I buy one? Probably not, because the S60’s eventual replacement will be something a size smaller. But it was a more than acceptable courtesy car – certainly preferable to the A160 they gave me last time.
|
