First Impressions - rough start

[tray1664]

So it's been 3 weeks now since I picked up the car and after a couple of long runs thought I'd let you know how it's been.

Not a great start as about 20 miles out of the garage the engine warning light came on. Needless to say I wasn't best impressed and it put a bit of a damper on the occasion. Had to take it back into the garage on the monday - and needed a new accelerator pedal (something about the connection between the electric circuits) and also rear wash motor). It's a good job Mercs have great customer service to keep me happy or else there would have been a bit of a scene.

Easiest to put the good and the bad:

Negatives -
Size: for an estate I'm surprised how small it is. There is really minimal space in the rear seats and the boot is also pretty small. Luckily I do a lot of solo driving and daughter is only 2 months so no need of massive leg room.

Comfort: although fine on short runs I've found the seats pretty uncomfortable on anything over 2.5 hours. I think I've been spoilt by the volvo s80 as I could do an 8 hour session in that with no problems (I know you should take breaks - but I was young then!). The leather is a little hard but I think perhaps the cars just not been used that much by previous owners so will hopefully break in a bit more.

Visibility: Maybe I need to get used to the driving position but it is very low down, I also find that when reversing the rear parktronic sensors in the roof are not in the right position to see in the rear view mirror.

AutoBox: The automatic is one of the better ones I've driven, however I do find a bit of lag in the acceleration especially for overtaking. Again possibly spoilt by having a 24v cosworth Scorpio a few years back.

Positives-
Cruising: It's definitely a cruising machine and on the motorway has surprised me with the lack of road noise (for an estate). The limiting cruise control is also a nice touch especially in these days of tracking cameras.

Power: The 270 does have effortless power and is very reassuring to have. Just need to get used to the lag as mentioned above.

Storage: for the size I'm surprised how many little storage holes there are, nice to be able to store everything away to keep uncluttered.

Looks: It is without doubt a beautiful car. Every time I look at it or see others the same I do still admire it.

So in summary I'm happy for now. Would I buy another on replacement? Well my head says a V70 would have better space and comfort, but my heart says the c270 is prettier. Lets see who wins in a couple of years, but for now I'll enjoy it. Thanks to all those that have helped in previous posts.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

It is good to see a balanced view. Many pieces are either all gloom and doom, or overly eulogistic. Sadly, having had a pretty blameless experience with MB cars over the years, I err towards the latter.
The good news is that, the more you drive them, the better they get. There are lots of little things which have been thought through and engineered into the car. They don't shout at you, they don't have a button or a gauge - they are just there and they work for you all the time.
I too have had Volvos in the years when MB spec was sparse and prices were high, but I wouldn't go back.
It would be good to get your views again after a few months, then a year.

 

[tray1664]

You can definitely see the engineering at work. There are lots of nice little touches, the integrated cargo net with the load cover, the cooled centre compartment. The nice feel to the switches and especially the indicator stalk (surprisng what a difference this makes). The auto lights (great when going into car parks) and auto wipers. Slightly comfier seats and a bit more rear room and I'd happy as larry - maybe I'll save for that E Class - Though I'm a bit of a traditionalist so the newer models with the biog front grills are a bit "bling" for my taste.

 

[oldcro]

What car are we talking about?

 

[hawk20]

What car are we talking about?

He shows it bottom left.

 

[The German Flower Pot]

i too have a soft spot for volvo's

to this day i still think about buying a c70 t5 coupe

looks lovly but dash is awful

 

[tray1664]

That's the main thing that put me off another volvo, the interiors are so crap. And that's the issue with most cars these days, the bit you spend most time looking at and interacting with is normally the bit that's crappy and plastic.

 

[Ashley H]

With you 100% Tray1664. Interior is extremely important and it's still a particular weakness of Japanese cars, in my view, and I personally don't like the black/grey woody stuff they often put in MBs (Avantgarde trim?) these days.

 

[oldcro]

He shows it bottom left.

Ah! yes I see it now, I thought the article was referring to a new car i.e. a W204 model. Obviously it must have been a previous model (probably mentioned somewhere and I missed that too) as there is no C270 in the W204 range, they are C280's.

 

[tray1664]

To be honest I get confused with this model numbering thing - I think mines a w201 - someone did mention it when I was getting advice on here pre-purchase.

I am finding I like the car more as I drive it. the switches and dials do feel right. I find the menu system a little more complicated than it needs to be and not easy to lay out. You have to mess about to get a lot of the standard info I'd like to be able to see - outside temp, range, mpg etc. But these are small things I'll probably get used to.

Manufacturers seem to forget that it can be the smallest thing that can niggle you - especially when you spend a lot of money on a car. One of the first cars I owned was an old mondeo which I paid 3k for and sold for 1k after doing 150k miles in and it cost nothing to run and although basic I still have great affection for that car. The Volvo was 14k and I never had the same feeling of value for money even though it was a much better car from simple things like bulbs blowing every week or 2.

 

[outsmartsmart]

As an ex-Volvo V70 and XC70 owner 7 times over the size thing is missed but the depth of quality in the Merc' is far superior.

The Merc' is my own car after 17 years of having two company cars, both changed every 4-6 months. All my research just kept pointing towards the Merc' and I don't regret it one bit (I didn't even really like Merc's in general before owning one).

I too find the C class too small about 10% of the time and was looking for E class estates also but they would have been too big 90% of the time. In the end the 'right' C class came along first.

Enjoy your car