SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get at home.

Unlike most car reports, what you read in these pages will not be a faithful reproduction, albeit slightly reworded, of what appeared in the manufacturer's press release. We look for background material, user experience and whatever else we can find that's beyond the obvious. Our guiding rule is that you will be able to tell that the car was actually driven.

*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.

*Pre-owned: Our tests go back quite a few years, so if you are looking for something pre-owned, you might well find a report on it in here.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted are those ruling at the time the reports were written.


We drive the new C-Class; a 2014 Mercedes-Benz C250 Avantgarde

Trying too hard

Posted: 19 September 2014

I feel for used-car dealers when the latest crop of C-Class models starts finding its way into the second hand market. That’s because there isn’t just one with a choice of engines and accessories; there are four trim levels – Standard, Exclusive, Avantgarde and AMG. Then you can choose between having each trim level inside, outside or both. After that there’s six-speed manual or 7G-Tronic Plus. It will be a nightmare.

Luckily, my local M-B press fleet manager spared me that angst by delivering a C250. It had a few added toys (what Mercedes doesn’t?) but most of the basic choices are taken away. Standard C250s arrive only in Avantgarde with the autobox. Thank goodness. You can “supersize” that with AMG kit; inner, outer or both if you wish but that’s about it until the nice salesperson hauls out the options chart. Then it’s between your wishlist, your accountant and common sense.

Now in its fourth generation, the C-Class Mercedes has seen some changes. To begin with it is now almost half-aluminium; losing 70 kilograms of body mass and a further 30 elsewhere to tip the scales almost 100 kg lighter. There are some new engines too, with the introductory line-up including a 1600cc C180, two-litre C200 and C250 and the mandatory 2143cc diesel. The difference there is that it’s no longer a C200 CDI; it’s now a C220 CDI with 25 kilowatts and 40 Newton metres more get up and go.

Then, because we’re all getting bigger, the company made the car more spacious. After stretching its wheelbase 80 millimetres (now 2840 mm) they added 95 mm to its length and made it 40 mm wider. Longer, wider and lighter; now you’re getting it. A welcome side effect was that the boot grew by five litres, or just over an Imperial gallon. By now some of you are saying: “But that’s bigger than my old 1995 E-Class!” That’s partly true – the original E’s wheelbase was 7 mm shorter, it had narrower front and rear tracks, was slightly skinnier overall and stood 9 mm lower. But it was still 109 mm longer than the newest C.

The standard steel suspension is new too. A newly designed four-link front axle isolates each strut from its wheel location functions, allowing higher cornering forces and greater sensitivity to steering movements for a sporty, agile driving style. Changes to kingpin inclination and a smaller scrub radius minimise sensitivity to vibrations caused by tyre imbalances and fluctuations in braking force. Because its components are made of aluminium, they weigh about two kilograms less than a corresponding steel design, so enabling sensitive responses while contributing to high levels of efficiency. At the back end, the familiar five-link setup continues its good work.

Not mentioned earlier is that there are three versions – Comfort with selective damping that adjusts automatically to the road surface; Avantgarde with sportier settings and reactions and Sport that is the same, but lowered by 15 mm and given a more direct steering ratio. But my fleet guy got around those choices by specifying the optional Airmatic setup that provides controlled, continuously variable damping at front and rear, with excellent road roar and tyre vibration characteristics. The driver flicks a switch marked “agility” to choose between five damper characteristics: "Comfort", "ECO", "Sport" and "Sport Plus" while "Individual" allows the user to configure the vehicle for personal preferences.

Airmatic features all-round self-levelling for optimum ride comfort, controlling ride height automatically according to speed, and reducing highway fuel consumption by lowering the vehicle. This also makes handling safer. Furthermore, ground clearance can be increased at the push of a button using the ride-height adjustment switch on rough roads or awkward ramps.

Since neither the air suspension struts in front nor the free-standing air springs at the rear are responsible for wheel location or absorbing cornering forces, Airmatic offers a superbly comfortable drive with dynamic handling capabilities reminiscent of more expensive vehicles. During evasive manoeuvres the system adjusts, for instance, the damping forces to the vehicle's driving dynamics in fractions of a second. Nice, you say, but how much? For you; just R13 000.

There were other options and accessories, but you’re probably familiar with them all by now. The extensive list of standard- and safety equipment is well documented too, so let’s examine M-B’s claims regarding increased space and what it may or may not do for you.

Now measuring 480 litres, the boot is slightly bigger than previously but there are issues. The space is long, wide, fairly shallow but awkwardly shaped, making it difficult to pack as many hard and square items as you might like. The reinforcing beam across the top is still there too, stealing space. Back seat leg room is better than before, although the 1,85-metre test passenger complained that his head still touched the roof liner. On the other hand his feet became less tangled, on the way out, than they did with previous C-Class cars.

On the road, this C250 was very satisfying to drive with more than enough power to cover distance quickly or overtake safely, yet be docile in city traffic too. The 7G-Tronic box is always smooth, quick and in control of whatever its user needs doing, but with one reservation. The function that permits holding individual gears beyond the default few seconds allowed by the paddles is effectively missing. It’s apparently hidden deeply within the “agility - individual” menu. Please bring back the C-S-M button so I can find manual override again.

Choice is great and bigger is better, but I can’t help feeling that the new C-Class is trying too hard to be everyone’s universal choice. And that reselling merchants will simply mark them all down to entry-level values at trade-in time.

Test car from MBSA press fleet

The numbers
Price including CO2 tax and Airmatic: R517 549
Engine: 1991 cc, 16-valve, DOHC, four-cylinder
Power: 155 kW at 5500 rpm
Torque: 350 Nm between 1200 and 4000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 6,6 seconds
Maximum speed: 250 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 8,4 l/100 km
Tank: 66 litres
Boot: 480 litres
Warranty and maintenance: 6 years/100 000 km

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
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