Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabriolet (2016 - 2023) C 220 d AMG Line Premium 9G-Tronic Plus (06/2018 on) 2d Owner Review

Overall, the car is excellent. The ride and engine are smooth, there is sufficient power for normal or moderately spirited driving with options to customise according to the requirements at the time. For example, the suspension can be set to be firm or soft and the performance can be altered depending upon whether you need a little quicker response or are more interested in economy. Information (trip meters, average MPG, driving efficiency, etc) is reasonably easy to find and the dashboard can mostly be configured to show the information that you require. The style of the dashboard can be altered to show traditional layouts (Speedo, Rev counter) or a more contemporary layout. This is a nice feature that makes the car more personal. The other thing I really like about this car is the fact that you can put the hood up and down without having to stop (maximum speed 37 MPH). In fact, the Cabriolet aspect is the reason I bought this car and I love it. Brakes are good, steering positive. Seats are comfortable and adjustable. There are ISOFIX fittings in the rear (but I suggest putting the hood half way between up and down to fit the child seat, don't forget there are no rear doors on a Cabriolet, and this approach gives you a lot more room to fit and remove them. SatNav is ok, but does seem to make a few basic mistakes and is not as intuitive as others I have used. To me it seems more akin to a Garmin rather than TomTom in style, so may suit others better. But the overall presentation is good and you can always give it voice commands which prevents fiddling while driving. SOS feature (if you breakdown or crash) is a nice touch, but fortunately I have not had the need to test it out. There are also a few other touches that will appeal to some, such as the concierge. The boot is large, especially if you put the hood space retainer out of the way (but then you can't put the hood down, so make your choice). The App. Wow! What can I say. This is the worst feature of the car. Each upgrade requires a complete reset, loses features that were there before, provides a worse interface and that all assumes that you can get it to work in the first place. For me, I currently do not have a working App because it seems to think the car is registered to someone else and won't let me reset it (but the web version still recognises that I have the car registered to me). The App worked before the recent upgrade and I have had the car from new, so if they had written their upgrade software correctly, there should not have been an issue. But it seems to me that they do not adequately undertake pre-release testing (read the other comments on the reviews). Originally the App worked well and I liked the features (such as a text alert to let you know the car has been left unlocked, then let you lock it remotely). But two upgrades later and I do not have a working version. The first update experience was just the same - awful. That took ages to sort out. Apparently Mercedes-Benz seem to be proud of the fact that around ONLY 4% of their customers have rated it bad with 1* or 2* (read the reviews, I found a much higher ratio myself). Hm. I would have thought zero or a realistic 0.1% would have been more appropriate for a manufacturer of that reputation. This imbalance between good comments for a very good car and poor comments for an appalling App shows how little things make a big difference, especially if it contributes to a poor experience. I am so frustrated with it, I am not sure I can be bothered to expend much more energy sorting it out. That does leave a sour taste in the mouth. Would I buy another Mercedes? Yes, I would. But I would think about it longer than I did the last time and would also consider a wider range of cars (Jaguar possibly) because the overall experience is so poor when you consider the App, which is used one way or another a lot more than you think it would be and ruins the overall Mercedes-Benz experience. Do MB not realise it is the whole package people look at?