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The C300 coupe; a Mercedes through and through

By Craig And Deanne Conover - Daily Herald - | May 21, 2017
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There are times in our lives, when the experience of life is far more important that actually knowing all about what we might be getting ourselves into. Experiencing the new Mercedes C300 Coupe would definitely be one of those times, knowing too much about this great new machine might in fact deter some from taking the time to have the experience or driving it, instead of just having the knowledge of how the vehicle should perform.

At first glance the C300 on paper does not necessarily look like the kind of coupe that could perform up to the standards some have come to expect from a vehicle with sleek, sexy lines and a look that exerts a need for speed and comes from Mercedes. To those we would say forget what you have seen on that paper, get out and live the experience that this fine new Mercedes has to offer.

Go to the Mercedes dealership, take a test drive, we would bet that you, like us… will fall in love with this fine new machine, not only does it exude speed from the outside, but it is also packed full of luxury inside that will keep you wanting to spend more and more time driving, if for no other reason than to just enjoy the experience, it really is worth it!

On paper the new C300 would not be exceptionally quick at the smaller 4 cylinder turbocharged power plant produces 241 horsepower and 273 pd.-ft. of torque to propel the 3770 pound vehicle. This horsepower number is not tops in the class where the Audi A4 get 252 hp, the BMW 340i hits 320 ponies, but the Mercedes is so well engineered that it gets to 60 in under 6 seconds. Again quite a feat as it also comes in over 300 pounds heavier that than said competition.

Okay a couple of notable features here are that the C300 comes with equipped with a couple of different drive modes that of course Craig had to engage almost every time we were out in the coupe. There is eco, comfort, sport and sport+, we couldn’t really figure out the need for the eco setting, we could only assume there were those that would want to achieve better gas mileage at the expense of all the fun.

Sport and Sport+ made for a much more engaging drive as the suspension would tighten up and the 7- speed transmission would hold in lower gears for longer, both when accelerating and down shift quicker when coming back down from higher speeds. It was all as we would have expected from those that have made some of the finest German automobiles in the world. It was however, the experience that kept coming back to remind us how much fun we were having in a vehicle equipped with only a 2 liter engine and some great engineering.

Having a smaller engine did help on the gas mileage side as we were able to get 26.5 mpg average for the week that included 2 tanks of gas, yes there is that experience thing again, we just kept wanting more.

This new version of the C300 sports a much smoother body all around, with curves in all the right places that give it a very modern look. There are no hard edges to reach out and overpower the rest of the body, the sleekness sets it apart and exudes even more luxury in the Mercedes. Up front the coupe takes on a more traditional Mercedes look with the sleek teardrop headlights, and of course the iconic emblem inset into the grill, letting everyone know that we were having a great experience.

During the week we got all kinds of comments no matter where we were, grocery store, gas station or just stopped at a light, folks would recognize the icon that we were driving and let us know how much they appreciated the design. So give the designers a thumbs up for being able to add a fine new look to the C300 but still keep enough of the original DNA in the vehicle that every could still identify will it.

For this, and the fact that the C300 had the kind of acceleration that Deanne really enjoyed, it was hard for her to part with the icon and the experience at the end of the week. Even though there were times she pretended that taking the Mercedes to work was too pretentious, deep down she really enjoyed the looks, power and comfort that came in the coupe.

Inside the experience continued no matter where we looked or touched, the engineer had already been there adding elements that continued to impress us with that luxurious sporty feel. The coupe that we drove came with upgraded saddle brown leather seating surfaces that are hand fitted to each seat; yes they were very comfortable indeed.

We love the way Mercedes takes advantage of what they call the seat belt presenter as it pushes forward the seat belt on both sides, if a person is seated and the engine engaged. Having driven other small coupe like vehicles it can be a struggle to find the belt behind oneself as they can often find places to hide, not with this system they are right there ready every time!

Both the driver and passenger seats came with a memory function to put these seats that were adjustable in so many different ways back to that perfect spot we had found on another day. These would be very handy if anyone else ever took the C300 for a ride as adjusting the seats was again part of the experience, they were both also heated.

Of course there were many other extras that had been added to our test drive vehicle, including blind spot monitoring, keyless entry and start, a premium Brumester sound system, power folding mirrors, power trunk closure, a huge 8.4 inch high resolution screen with voice control, that allowed us to keep our eyes on the road and still stay connected to the vehicle and our phones.

A heads up display was also a nice additional feature that kept us informed, not only of our speed, but which direction we were traveling in, and also what road we were currently on, and the speed limit. We always love a vehicle equipped with this feature and the Mercedes world $990 doesn’t seem like that much to have this great technology added!

A couple of cool features that come standard on the C300 are rain sensing wipers which we took advantage of most every day as it seems our week was during the rainy season, if we really have one here in Utah.

A panoramic sunroof that took up most all of the roof was also a standard feature that would make the coupe almost feel like a top down vehicle when it in the open position. A dual zone climate control and paddle shifters rounded out the standard features, again making the driving experience even that much better.

The experience of driving the new C300 coupe is one that needs to be taken care of in person, just looking at stats and trying to figure out the essence of this vehicle is not enough. It becomes part of oneself and is a great, relatively inexpensive way to get into the luxury coupe market, see one today at Mercedes of Lindon, 530 South Lindon Park Drive, Lindon, Phone (801) 222-4400.

Base Price: $44,650

Price as Driven: $57,975

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