Mercedes cars - what a disappointment!

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Globalti

Legendary Member
We've been hiring cars regularly from Enterprise recently and have been upgraded to an A class and today, a C class. The A class was horrible, it had a ghastly bling interior with a digital display like a tart's boudoir and a weird fault where something seemed to grab the front OS wheel causing the car to falter and swerve with a graunching noise. We couldn't understand the controls or switch off the display. The engine and gearbox were good though. Today we have a C class, which is less vulgar but has a highly tuned 1500cc petrol engine so driving it is like walking a greyhound on amphetamines. Neither car has a feel of quality, the paintwork is poor and the finishing around the edges of the bodywork is crap. The C class has lots of road noise from the rear and the gearbox and handbrake are illogical and not intuitive at all.

What a massive disappointment. I can only assume Mercedes have dumbed their cars down for the PCP buyer and are making them somewhere like Romania or Bulgaria.
 

Slick

Guru
Was the weird fault lane control that takes steps to correct your road position if your drifting?
 

I like Skol

A Minging Manc...
I have lusted after a powerful diesel C class for a long time after loving the perfection of Merc vans. I finally almost realised my dream when I test drove a C350cdi 2012 model in 2015. What a massive disappointment, loads of power and a super gearbox, but that was it. Unintelligible controls and felt like being sat in a squalid, dark bathtub, not a nice place to be.
I was so upset, in theory it should have been the best regular car in the world, but Mercedes had turned it into the ultimate post-coital disappointment. Modern cars are not what they should be. I think Homer Simpson has a hand in their design....
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
The flat TFT dash, that is a display is a massive issue. It's OK having the extra's on it, but not speed/revs as the sun bounces off - main information should be easy to see....
 

RussellZero

Wannabe Stravati
Seems to be a common theme - been a BMW owner for 15 years and just switched to a 2013 Merc E class 350D, I found BMWs have all become bland and the same, so to get some variety gone for a different brand! You have to go for high specs to get something that feels nice or slightly different.
 

Oldfentiger

Veteran
Location
Pendle, Lancs
Mrs OFT has been driving a C220d for the last 3 years and she absolutely loathes it, mainly because she finds the seat excruciating on any trips longer than an hour. Only 12 months left on the lease, so she’s looking at the company car list for her next choice.
Front runner at the moment is the Mazda CX-5 Sport Nav + Auto.
Loaded with useful toys, and will pull our caravan with ease (and it’s comfortable).
I had one of these when they first appeared and loved it.
She won’t entertain BMW because of the knobs that sell them, and the cocks that drive them.
 
OP
OP
Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
Interesting comments. Maybe I've been spoiled by spending the last 12 years or so driving Passat estates, the B6, the B7 and now the B8 with wonderful DSG. The car pootles along on tickover and you can pull away smoothly with bags of power and no screaming revs, the interior is sober, simple and intuitive and you sit high with a light cabin and plenty of glass around you. There's good reason why it's the best selling mid-sized saloon and popular with taxi drivers.
 

Dec66

A gentlemanly pootler, these days
Location
West Wickham
I have a two year old C200D estate, with the Premium pack, and I love it to bits.

I find the interior is a lovely place to be.

So there.

(You're right about the A class though, I drove one of those and didn't like it at all)
 
OP
OP
Globalti

Globalti

Legendary Member
Mrs OFT..... won’t entertain BMW because of the knobs that sell them, and the cocks that drive them.

So true. I'd be mortified to be seen driving a BMW although my Dad had a 2002 back in the 70s. Nobody knew what they were then.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom