Video: 2015 Mercedes-Benz C300 Review

But Mercedes redesigned the C-Class Sedan for 2015, and it fixed a whole laundry list of issues. So for luxury car shoppers, let's see if this Benz belongs back on your list. Now the C-Class has often been characterized as a baby S-Class in terms of styling and that's the case more than ever with this 2015 redesign. Check out the headlights, they're very sinewy. They kind of have LED pipes sort of run here toward the grill. Very similar to the current S-Class flagship right now. This grill very low, very bold here with two bars across the center. Probably the biggest improvement in terms of styling comes in the rear. The last C-Class had this stack, sort of not real cohesive rear design. Much more flowing here, much more unified between these taillights come all the way down here to the tailpipes, which poke out of these bumper openings. Now, overall length for the new C-Class up nearly four inches versus its predecessor, which was kind of one of the smaller sedans in its segment. This is closer to kind of the segment average and despite the extra size, overall weight down about 200 pounds, thanks to more aluminum. That helps make even the base engine in the C300, a turbo four cylinder good for 241 horsepower seem pretty quick, certainly quicker than the previous generations C250. Nice flat torque peak, plenty of passing power, definitely on par with the Audi A4 and the BMW 328, two pretty good competitors in terms of acceleration. If you want more power, there's a turbo V6 in the C400. We've driven that and it is quicker, but I got to say the C300 is plenty quick enough, especially because it's got swifter accelerator and transmission response than before, particularly if you put this agility select switch here over into sport or sport plus modes. That switch goes next to the latest generation of Mercedes command interface, which places a knob here below a new touch pad, which you can use to do things like swipe along menu functions, zoom in and zoom out along the map. It's not the fastest reacting system all the time, but if you don't like to use the touch pad, you can always use the knob below, it's very familiar. It's got Mercedes three tiered command interface. Now, that controls this screen up here, which is kind of the only controversial element of the cabin, the way it just perches here, it doesn't retract at all. Some people don't think it's very aesthetic. Otherwise, very few disagreements with this interior. Handsome materials up and down, very consistent from eye level, all the way down to foot level. Really exceptional even for this class of small luxury cars. One area I'm not quite so thrilled about the upper dash and doors have optional full leather that covers them. Mercedes doesn't do a very good job with the fake leather upper dashboard. I get it in this price range, you can't afford real leather along the dashboard, but Lexus and Cadillac they do a better job faking it. This sort of stuff kind of seems molded in. The backseat is still pretty low to the floor, like the old C-Class. I'm six feet tall and as you can see my knees are just really kind of uncomfortably elevated here. But seat folding, very practical now there's a 40, 20, 40 split rear seat. That means the center part comes down for pretty big pass through here. If you pull down the outboard sides, you can see there's a very wide opening here. This part of the seat carries the seatbelt with it so you don't have to mess with that. Really good setup, one of the more practical cars in terms of a folding back seat in this class. Pricing for the redesigned C-Class Sedan starts right around $40,000 and extends up into the mid sixties. Our C300 formatic test car right here priced right around $52,000 as you see it. And the 300 is really the one you want to be looking at, thanks to its combination of refined drivability, a handsome interior, and easy to use electronics. That means for any luxury car shoppers, the redesigned C class is a car you definitely want to put back on the list.