Mercedes-Benz C-Class (2011) C 200 CGI Elegance - Design Review

Introduction

Everyone wants to be at the top of their pyramid. But how do you show it to the world? How do you show them that you’ve ‘arrived’? One of the ways people have always used is a house. Another is a car. And being the first luxury brand in India has certainly helped Mercedes attain the reputation of the car that people should aspire to when they can afford it. And the C-Class is the baby of the range at the moment- it is the gateway to this rarefied world of the haves. What is it like, to sit in luxury and look at the world through a three-pointed star mounted at the end of your bonnet?

Design

The C-Class would not have won any design awards before. Worse, it just looked bland – not good, not bad; simply inoffensive. With the likes of the BMW 3-series, Audi A4 and even the Volvo S60 getting aggressive and youthful, Mercedes had to appeal to the younger generation and thus the facelift. The most distinctive change is the headlamp and tail lamp design. The headlamp shape reminds us of the Skoda Laura, but think back a little and you’ll realise that the first place those headlamps appeared on a car were on the Mercedes CLS. The parking lamps are tubes of light inboard of the projector units and daytime driving LED strips are present on the bumper, like the S-Class. Turn signals are amber LED strips that underscore the headlamp unit.

From the side the prominent shoulder line is the most visually arresting feature – it starts off from the front wheel arch and carries itself right up to the tail-lamps. Our Avantgarde test car has the optional alloy wheels, and they complement the youthful makeover well. The mirror-mounted turn signals remain the same as the old car, but they gel so much better with the redesign. From the rear your eye will be drawn instantly to the new tail lamps; they are exactly the same shape as the older car, but they are now an all-LED array with light guides. It is a fantastic redesign and the most distinguishing feature of the new car. 

Our test car had the optional panoramic sunroof, so had white paint and a black roof – a very attractive combination that made heads turn wherever we drove. A minor feature that caught my eye was the chrome strip that runs horizontally along the lower half of the body. This strip runs almost all around the car and gives it a touch of class while also providing it with protection from minor scrapes. 

Click here for more Exterior images of Mercedes Benz C-Class C250CDI Avantgarde.

Click here for more Interior images of Mercedes Benz C-Class C250CDI Avantgarde.