Mercedes C Drive Event
I attended the Mercedes C Drive event today in San Francisco. Valet parking was offered at the door and registration was quick and easy with a badge/key card on a lanyard and a wrist band. The test drive line looked troublingly long, but there was a huge fleet of cars on hand so it moved reasonably quickly.
The game plan was simple, follow the leader with a radio in the map pocket where they relayed directions. Unfortunately the drive was just around a few city blocks. They pulled over halfway and allowed drivers to switch. Ride sharing was encouraged, but a "No thanks, I'll drive alone" was honored.
Most of the models on hand were of the sport variety. The new C is sharp looking car, but the tiny lip spoiler on the sport sedan just is appealing to me. Certainly its better than the huge trunk tails of yore, but the luxury sedan's trunk looks better.
The interior of the sport sedan had grippy seats that were easily adjusted. In my brief time in the car the interior looked up to snuff. It was certainly all black in there and a little somber. The new CTS seems to be a cheerier place to work. The navigation system was improved from my last Mercedes experience but compared to units like Garmin and TomTom it still lacks some polish. Of course all of this is based on 10 minutes in the car, hardly a fair shake.
I was in a C350 and I have to say that power under foot was a little less than I would have hoped. I'm sure that those cars had been ridden hard and put away wet, but still the C was no rocket ship. I really couldn't get a feel for the handling side of things as we never got up to speed.
Overall compared to the last C this car has certainly been improved. However, the new CTS has me very curious. It may be lacking some brand cache, but I think that GM has really hit a home run. I'm not sure how many Mercedes buyers are going to cross shop a domestic brand, but I'd certainly recommend it.
The parting gift bag included a lot of hair products which for me is as good as worthless. I was hoping for a hat or t-shirt. Oh well.
You might be able to catch this event yourself. To find out more visit http://www.themercedescdrive.com/
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