The c350e is as practical as the regular C205, except for the cargo area which has been reduced in order to house the batteries. Value-wise, the C350e offers a lot considering that it now has depreciated quite a bit which makes it a really competitive car on the used hybrid luxury sedan market. All of these are relatively common, but they are not all that problematic which means fixing them is easy and cheap in most cases. The C350e is also a decently reliable car, yet it does experience issues with the MAF sensor, the gearbox, camshaft adjuster solenoid, and the in-car electronics. The interior of the W205 has aged well which means that it still looks as good as it did the day it came out. The design of the W205 C350e is more or less identical as with all the other W205 C-Class models which means that it looks sleek, classy, and desirable. The C350e uses a 2.0L 4-cylinder turbocharged direct-injection engine paired with an electric motor in order to boost efficiency, performance, and eco-friendliness. You're still better off with a pure diesel.The Mercedes C350e was in production between 20 and is now a really competitive car in the used luxury car market. It will save you a fortune on fuel, tolls and even parking costs.īut if you spend a lot of time in the country or ploughing a furrow on the motorways and A-roads, there really isn't much point. If you live on the edge of a city and spend a lot of time in or around towns, you'll love this car, which is available in saloon and estate formats. So job done.ĭepends completely on your lifestyle. It's perfectly wieldy on all types of road, sips fuel, has a sumptuously comfortable cabin - possibly its best feature - and doesn't offend visually in any way. Intelligent efficiency was its mission and it meets that aim on all fronts. Sound processor anyone?įun isn't the word this C-Class was designed around. But we expected Mercedes to set new standards in sound control here, and, to be frank, it doesn't. To be fair, there isn't another hybrid system that uses a four-cylinder engine that is any quieter than this one. At that moment, the car loses all its luxurious feeling and you are left wondering why you'd shell out serious exec money for this sort of noise. Smooth, silent, responsive, it feels every inch the mini-S-class it wants to be.īut get out on the open road, ignore that building throttle pedal pressure to get more performance, and the calm is broken by the droning petrol engine. It also gives a double impulse through the pedal when the radar reckons you can switch off the engine and coast to save energy.Īt town speeds, in full electric mode, the standard air-suspended C-Class rides and drives superbly.

In electric-only mode it builds pedal resistance when you are about to summon the petrol engine. In the same way lane departure warnings buzz the seat and pulse the steering wheel if you get offline, or don't see a car in your blind spot, the C350e's pedal gives you feedback on how to save fuel. The car talks to you via the new haptic feedback throttle pedal. The sensible thing to do is stick it in Hybrid mode and leave it there.

You don't so much drive the C350e as pilot it.Īpart from the five transmission modes there is also a choice of four operating rules that allow the driver to choose the level of the electric motor's intervention. The C350e's vital statistics are 275bhp/442lb ft with 134.5mpg and 49g/km of CO2.īy mating a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine to a 60kW electric motor, then adding a list of other refinements that offer a high level of complexity. What haven't changed are the official figures promising astonishingly low fuel consumption and emissions, combined with healthy performance. The first bit is that, as part of its re-naming of all the models and derivatives, Mercedes has stopped shouting that it's hybrids are PLUG-IN HYBRIDs and instead just given them an ‘e' badge. It's mostly targeted at the US, where hybrids not diesels are the preferred fuel-saving engine.

Headlined, perhaps unwisely, by M-B as its Hybrid Offensive, this attack on the plug-in market started with the S Class Plug-In Hybrid and will reach through the Mercedes range to include models of all shapes and sizes.

It's the C350e, the second car in a 10-vehicle plug-in line-up that Mercedes will unleash on the world between now and 2017.

Mercedes c350e