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Stylish luxury in a diesel
Despite the fact that the global automotive market continues its steady march towards an SUV future, Mercedes Benz continues to buck the trend of killing off sedan offerings in favour of bulky high riders and this does make us eternally happy. Luxury sedans continue to be a segment that the germans excel at and when it comes to the inimitable C-Class
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The C220d AMG line comes to us courtesy of the plant in East London, and our test mule had been specced to the hilt with a full gamut of interior and exterior options ticked. We spent a few days on the highways and byways of Johannesburg with this fashionista and this is what we found.
Styling
At first glance the C220d in this Graphite grey Metallic paintwork is very understated, there is nothing shouty to grab your attention. Upon further inspection, you will start to see small tidbits that give hint to what lies below. LED lighting front and rear along with 19" wheels and a cheeky AMG lip on the front bumper and micro boot spoiler are all small additions that let you know this is not a bog standard C-Class
The front grille is also one of those design items that when you look closer comes alive with its tiny Mercedes stars making up the positive element of the grille face. A solid bar across the face breaks up the design and adds a further sporty look to the grille.
Small annoyances are the fake vents and exhaust exits that don't do anything as the vents go nowhere and the exhaust actually dumps down under the vehicle. From a styling perspective they look right but are rather pointless dalliances but to each their own. As a package the design works well and although its rather unremarkable its still exudes an air of luxury performance that is the essence of C-Class
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Space & Interior
As mentioned before this particular model has been hit with the options stick and features a striking Cognac/Black Artico leather interior with grey ash woodgrain trim and Night package that has mood lighting. This model has the Premium Package that has electrically controlled comfort sports seats and heat-insulating privacy glass to shield passengers from prying eyes.
The boot is shallow but very deep and takes 455l of packing space and the rear seats can be dropped from the boot to increase load-carrying capability. Rear passengers have ample legroom behind both front seats. and despite the sloping room and panoramic sunroof, headroom is not compromised.
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Comfort & Convenience
The interior of the C200d is very comfortable with supple leather seating and ample shoulder room. When it comes to convenience pride of place is the massive infotainment screen that contains the MBUX system that is wireless Apple Car Play and Android Auto compatible and employs the Mercedes Me application. There is not an abundance of USB charging points but you will find a 12v out and USB-C inside the centre console.
The curved driver's display is equipped with augmented reality navigation as well as the output display for the Drive Modes and vehicle telemetry. If we had one niggle it would be the total adoption of haptic buttons with no actual knobs or sliders to control any of the convenience features such as audio and climate control
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Performance
The C220d is powered by a mild hybrid system consisting of a 2.0l turbocharged 4-cylinder diesel engine mated to a 9-speed G Tronic auto transmission and a 48V electric starter generator system. Power output sits at 147kW and 440Nm with an additional 15kW of electric boost on demand.
This equates to a 0-100km/h of 7.3 seconds and a limited top speed of 245km/h top speed. The engine is rather quiet but the performance is neck-breaking if you aren't expecting it. The transmission shifts seamlessly resulting in an effortless drive that is very enjoyable.
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Fuel Economy
With this being a diesel you can expect low consumption figures and Mercedes claims lows of 4.7l/100km for the C200d. During our test, we made no attempt to save fuel and drove with abandon resulting in a high of 6.7l/100km which is still low enough to make the C220d a great buy for cash-strapped consumers and massive fuel bills.
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Safety
The C220d gets a 5-star Euro NCAP rating and is equipped with the latest driver safety systems such as ABS, EBD, TSC, blind spot monitoring, Hill Assist and 6 airbags, as well as ISOfix in the rear for the young ones.
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Price
Sadly as we have seen over the last decade, the price of motor vehicles has skyrocketed worldwide. The C class which used to be the entry-level of the luxury market brand is now touching a million rand. Comparatively, it is still great value for money when taking into consideration its competitors
| Model | Price (incl. VAT) |
| Mercedes-Benz C200d AMG Line | R 950 956 |
| Mercedes-Benz C220d AvantGarde | R 954 749 |
| Mercedes-Benz C220d AMG Line | R 1 008 749 |
| Mercedes-Benz C300 Cabriolet AMG Line | R 1 175 681 |
Competitors
The usual German suspects will fall into the lineup here, The 320d BMW M Sport, and the Audi A4 35 TDi come to mind and unfortunately not much else as the disel sedan has been branded a no go by so many other automakers.
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Verdict
The C220d is a great car, it's comfortable, well-equipped, and has all the performance you will ever need. However it's a sedan, it's diesel, and it's very understated which will relegate this to the use of corporate executives. The price is also going to be a sticking point as consumers are having a tough time accepting a million rand price tag on a vehicle these days.
We can say though that it will continue to sell as there will always be die-hard C-Class buyers out there who just cant stomach the thought of another SUV.
