Mercedes-Benz C-Class long term review (W206, 2022–)

In the last decade, Mercedes-Benz has made a significant success of its position in the Australian market. A sales juggernaut, the Stuttgart brand sits comfortably ahead of arch-rivals Audi and BMW in local sales charts.

There’s significant hype around the three-pointed star. It is universally seen as a status symbol, and the brand has made leaps to move with shifting views of luxury in Australia, with a focus on athleticism, extroverted styling, and multi-coloured interior lighting effects: certainly things regarded as luxury by some, but not all.

Mercedes-Benz cars are often backed up by strong engineering. Take the W206-generation C-Class that arrived in Australia in 2021. The new C remains a hallmark product for Mercedes-Benz with a focus on rear-wheel drive and quality interior appointments.

The latest C-Class has rated highly at each encounter with Chasing Cars – in particular its podium finish and receipt of a coveted Gold Star at our 2022 Car of the Year award scheme.

It needs to be good: the G20-chassis BMW 3 Series that landed in 2018 won us, and many other road testers, over with its sublime, supple demeanour, superb engines, and continued offer of a station wagon variant—a body style Mercedes-Benz has very sadly abandoned in Australia with its latest C-Class.

However, Mercedes-Benz’s staggering volume growth in Australia has had its costs. The marque of 2022 differs remarkably from its positioning in the earlier part of the 2000s.

It can be seen that traditional three-pointed star luxury has been relegated in favour of lower entry prices and a focus on youthful premiumness – revolving in a significant way around the AMG label that has been incredibly successful in motorsport, and in producing extroverted sports cars.

Case in point: in Australia, buyers seeking a comfort-spec Mercedes-Benz sedan, sans-AMG package, with anything other than a four-cylinder engine have just one choice: the S-Class, priced from $243,890.

Sacred cows have faded: the only six-cylinder E-Class is an AMG. Comfort-orientated, big-engine ‘Benzes continue to be sold abroad, but not here. Even the traditional bonnet star has been stripped from every model bar the S-Class.

But the brand hasn’t totally abandoned traditional buyers. While the bonnet gun-sight is history, there are some green shoots: take the C-Class Edition C that Chasing Cars editor Tom Baker is running for the next six months, until March 2023.

Why it’s here

After being dethroned by the circa-2018 BMW 3 Series, has the W206-generation C-Class reclaimed the model’s crown as supreme midsize luxury sedan? We’ve nabbed a tasteful Edition C variant of the entry-level C200 engine to find out over six months.

In this long term review

• Welcome to the fleet
• Month 2: quiet achievement
• Month 3 and onward: still to come – please check back soon
• Verdict: expected in April 2023

How we specified our long term C-Class

• C200 model ($78,900 before on-road costs)
• Edition C package (no cost option)
• Selenite grey metallic paint (no cost option)
• Beige ARTICO interior upholstery (no cost option)
• Silver grey diamond-pattern interior trim (no cost option)
• 18-inch multi-spoke bi-colour alloy wheels (standard with the Edition C package)
• Vision package: $4100

Navigate this long-term Mercedes-Benz C200 review

For the next six months and 10,000km production editor Tom Baker will be putting ‘his’ C200 to the test to discover what it’s really like to live with day to day. 

• Month 1: Welcome to the fleet
• Month 2: quiet achievement

Month 2: quiet achievement

This month: November 2022
Kilometres this month: 1200km
Running costs: $180 (fuel)

Now that we’ve effectively broken-in our long-term C200 Edition C, one thing has become particularly clear: no midsize luxury car does ‘premium’ like the Mercedes-Benz C-Class – and Benz’s own, cheaper models – the A- and CLA-Class – don’t get especially close.

What we’re actually talking about here is waft: that quality of being gently conveyed with few disturbances from the outside world, or really any feel of anything at all, most of the time. It’s a characteristic mostly associated with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class – and this new W206-gen is perhaps the most S-Class-like C-Class ever.

That said, the C-Class has always acted like a kid-brother to the Sonder-(highest)-klasse. The first-generation W201 was nicknamed the Baby Benz. That moniker disappeared from common parlance around the turn of the century, but both the styling and driving dynamics of the C-Class historically follow S-Class priorities rather than attempting to ape a 3 Series.

In that way, the previous-gen W205 was an aberration. Overtly sportier than any C-Class that had preceded it, it sold strongly but wasn’t that highly regarded by Mercedes diehards – while the Alfa Romeo Giulia, Jaguar XE and especially BMW’s new-for-2018 3 Series upgrade were all better driver’s cars anyway.

So we are enjoying the fact that Mercedes-Benz chose to relax the W206’s goals back to what it does best: wafting about the ‘burbs, taking the edges off your commute, cosseting you, and looking very expensive while doing it.

Solid decision. Compared to the enjoyable but admittedly stiffer BMW, the new C-Class just makes relaxing easier – and for more than 80 percent of our driving, even as a motoring journalist, chilling out is the goal.

That said, an extended country-road jaunt to plan out testing roads for a Chasing Cars megatest set for an early 2023 release showed that the Merc’s talents are hardly limited to its quiet demeanour, comfortable seats, settled ride and light low-speed steering.

In fact, the W206 – especially in chunky-tyred Edition C spec – is more evidence that compliance is control, and control is ultimately pace.

More on that in a future update.

Month 1: Welcome to the fleet

Delivery month: September 2022
Delivery kilometres: 300km

When Mercedes-Benz launched the W206-generation C-Class in Australia, it only offered its popular AMG Line styling package. With its extroverted body kit, available 19-inch wheels and a sportier suspension, the AMG Line kit tends to be favoured by Australian Mercedes-Benz buyers.

However, Mercedes-Benz Australia has now opted to import a limited number of C200 examples in what is globally known as Avantgarde trim, with more traditional – and some would argue tasteful – exterior and interior styling. With quieter design cues and lighter interior colours, locally, the spec is called the C200 Edition C.

The Edition C will appeal to discerning Mercedes-Benz buyers who don’t want overtly sporty cues on their luxury sedan. It is only available on our 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol four-cylinder C200 ($78,900), and not with the upsized 2.0-litre turbo C300 ($89,590).

Limiting the package to the cheaper C200 is OK, in our books: when judging the 2022 Chasing Cars Car of the Year award, all of our markers preferred the smooth and willing 1.5-litre engine. Whether that preference stays true will be a focus of our next half-year with the C200.

Aside from the rare Edition C option, which is a no-cost substitution for the AMG Line package, 1TB-1WQ is in relatively restrained specification.

We did opt for the $4100 vision package, which adds a few essentials: heated front seats with three-position memory functions, cool augmented reality navigation features, a head-up display, traffic sign recognition, and a sliding-tilting sunroof.

The specification of the Edition C can get quite tasty: we opted for a classic mid grey over beige, but rich tan-coloured Artico upholstery is available (at no cost), as is open-pore walnut trim ($538). Even higher-grade LED headlights with matrix functions cost $1846 and are not fitted to our vehicle.

As always, we’ve got plenty planned for our long termer: interstate road trips, commuting, town duties, support car tasks, and even some gravel road testing, representing much of Australia’s rural route network.

Check back in regularly for updates, and we’ll have a verdict – and recommendation if relevant – in April 2023.