Test Drive: 2007 Mercedes-Benz C350 Luxury Sedan

Asleep at the Wheel

The Good

Excellent standard features
Fit and finish
Lounge-chair-comfy seats

The Bad

Vinyl seats? In a Mercedes?

Peering in the windows of C Series models at a closed dealer on a Sunday afternoon, I was impressed with the interior. And once I found an unlocked model and climbed in, I was even more impressed. Refinement describes it well. Everything feels nice, from the door panels to the steering wheel to the radio controls.

Sticky Vinyl

But instead of sliding behind the wheel, I sort of skidded as my jeans stuck to the seat. On closer inspection, the seats are made of a rubbery-feeling textured vinyl. Yes, vinyl. They call it MB-Tex, but I call it vinyl. It actually feels pretty nice – vinyls have come a long way since my 1966 Mustang, but still… in a Mercedes? And a day later on my brief test drive with the A/C cranking on a cool day, my back started sweating, so maybe vinyl hasn’t come such a long way. Leather is an option, but only the inserts – the center parts of the seat. If you choose that option, you end up with textured bolsters and a smooth center insert. But maybe less back sweat.

Aside from the vinyl, the seats are super comfortable. They’re cushy for a car and supportive. They offer manual lumbar support (both front seats) and 10-way power adjustments. My favorite part: the headrests are power adjusted. My other favorite part: the seats adjust really, really low, which is great for us short leggers.

The seat controls are located on the door. I couldn’t even find them until Chris pointed them out. They’re far forward on the door so you wouldn’t accidentally lower your seat while putting your arm on the windowsill, but I still prefer them on the seat – I just don’t want to look at them, not matter how nicely they’re designed. The memory controls (3 settings) are right next to them.

Lots of Memory

Memory is available for the driver’s seat and even includes the steering wheel position. Yes, the steering wheel is adjusted electronically. I believe it’s the first car I’ve driven with that particular feature. Chris was really excited about the memory passenger seat. So many cars we’ve looked at don’t even offer power passenger seats that the memory option is a nice touch.

The brake pedal was apparently positioned by an engineer with really long feet. I drive with my heel resting on the floor and press the pedals with the ball of my foot. But the brake pedal in the C350 is either really high or really short; either way I was braking with my toes. It was a fairly odd sensation and I wondered if I slammed on the brakes barefoot would I break all my toes? (Women’s shoes can be hard to drive in, so I do drive barefooted occasionally – better than slipping off the brake at a stoplight.)

I chose to drive the C350 because the C350 Sport does 0-60 in than 6.1 seconds (according the their brochure) and that’s the kind of ride I’m looking for. Especially compared to the C230 Sport, which does it in a whoppingly slow 8.5 seconds (automatic version). I drove the Luxury model because they didn’t have a 350 Sport, but they have the same engine so the numbers should be similar. Main differences between the Luxury and the Sport models include different ground effects, different steering wheels, transmission choices, and the Sport model is lower and has a sportier suspension.

Turning out of the Mercedes parking lot presented a conundrum: How to signal a turn? There are two stalks on the left side of the steering wheel, similar in size to each other. I actually came to a stop and then had to think about how to signal right. Not exactly intuitive, even when I’m used to having two stalks in my Audi . But that was the only time I had problems with it, although I never figured out if the second stalk was lights or windshield wipers or cruise control.

Acceleration was very nice and merging with traffic was no problem, even on the upward grade of the freeway onramp. Visibility was excellent (and thank you Mercedes for putting the window stickers in the rear windows – I’ve never understood dealers that put them in the front). I had some trouble getting the side mirrors adjusted properly and they seemed almost too small, but I’m sure a little more time spent adjusting them would fix that. The inside rearview mirror, however, felt like it was in my face – way too close to my head. I’m not sure if I’d get used to that or not.

The ride was smooth and quiet. The saleswoman had a very quiet voice and I had no trouble at all conversing with her. I think my Audi is very quiet, but after driving the Mercedes I was surprised by the road noise in my car.

Compared to the Lincoln I drove a few weeks ago, the Mercedes has a very shallow dashboard, which is fine with me. The incredibly deep Lincoln dash made me feel isolated from the road and even shorter than normal. I could see over the dash, but I felt sort of like a kid at a big dinner table. No such problem in the Mercedes.

The radio controls are simple to use. The power button is right where you’d expect it and large enough to have no problems using it while driving. The sound is very nice too, at least with the local radio stations. I prefer to test with my own CDs, but forgot to take one with me (and I don’t like to submit salesmen to my music unless I’m ready to buy the car – I like it loud and thumping). A six-disc changer is available and is placed in the glove box. I prefer having it built directly into the dash, but the glove box is better than the trunk. I still wouldn’t be able to change the CDs while driving, though, since I can’t reach over that far.

The rear seat has plenty of legroom and is pretty comfortable. It also has air vents. The seats didn’t fold down in the model I drove, but the saleswoman said it was an option, albeit one she didn’t see often. The trunk was roomy, but I wasn't inspired to crawl inside it like I was the Chrysler 300.

Style wise, the Mercedes doesn’t do a whole lot for me. It’s a nice looking car for sure, especially the Sport version with the AMG-designed ground effects, but it doesn’t stand out in a crowd, especially not in it’s standard color range of silvers, greys, and whites. It is available in a really sharp red, however, that ups the style quotient quite a bit. I suppose most people don’t buy a Mercedes to stand out in a crowd in a flashy way, so it makes sense that it’s nice looking but conservative.

I felt the same about driving it – it was a very nice ride, but not exciting. But then again, if I wanted exciting, I wouldn’t have sold my Mustang that tended to fishtail, only started when it felt like it, and smelled of mildew. The Mercedes was nice enough that it’s staying on my list of Possibles, and when I take Chris with me to test drive it again, we’ll be sure to drive a Sport model, even one of the small-engined versions, so we can see if the Sport package and it’s lowered stance and sportier suspension is more of the excitement we’re looking for.

MSRP: $39,375
From: Mercedes-Benz’s website, manual transmission and MB-Tex interior.

Overall Impression

Nice, mature, adult car. Would make a better long term companion than one night stand.