Mercedes-Benz has partially lifted the veil on its next big release, the 2015 C-class, and the entry-luxury sedan gets a healthy injection of style and technology. While we have yet to see the outside of the next-gen C-class, Benz has released photos of the car's interior, as well as most of its technical details and new optional features. As you probably expected, the C-class inherits a truckload of tech, a surprising amount of which trickles down from the recently introduced 2014 S-class. In typical German fashion, there's a lot to cover, so let's start with that snazzy new interior.
Mercedes-Benz = Luxury
The current C-class still employs a rigidly styled, rectilinear interior theme with a squared-off dashboard reminiscent of the larger E-class's unit. For 2015, that gives way to a sultry, curvy dashboard and center console that, while similar to the compact CLA-class's cabin environment, looks a whole heck of a lot nicer. In fact, the over-arching theme for the new C, it seems, is "S-classy." As in, its interior strongly recalls the latest two-sizes-up Benz flagship. There are differences, of course: The C-class melds the CLA's circular air vents with a new sloping center console, which is similar to the S-class's unit. The S-class's bourgeois AIR-BALANCE "active fragrancing" system, which imbues the cabin with four available scents—Freeside Mood, Nightlife Mood, Downtown Mood, and Sports Mood—is optional, although we hope Sports Mood somehow captures the smell of sporty driving and not a sweaty jockstrap.
As in the bigger Benz, this console is home to a new COMAND infotainment controller, which incorporates a touch pad that accepts finger-written characters and smartphone-like gesture commands. The COMAND controller manipulates a large, freestanding screen that, much like the CLA's similar display, looks like an iPad glued to the dash. Also new is a full-color head-up display, which can present speed, navigation, and driver-assistant function information to the driver via LED projection. Every C-class gets a three-spoke steering wheel with 12 buttons, as well as window switches and headlight controls literally borrowed from the S-class. Trim options include piano-black plastic and chrome-ringed wood, and we must say that the red-and-black color scheme pictured here is quite attractive.
Stronger, Stiffer, Safer Body
Most current Mercedes-Benz models sit on platforms that are as solid as a German bank vault, and it appears as though the 2015 C-class will continue that tradition. Critically, however, Benz claims to have maintained the C-class's solidity and crash-safety prowess while stripping a significant chunk from the car's curb weight. The diet comes by way of the expanded use of aluminum throughout the new C-class—48 percent of the car is made from the stuff, as opposed to just 9 percent before. While still largely comprised of various types of steel, the C-class's structure is 88 pounds lighter. The front fenders, hood, doors, roof panel, and trunklid are aluminum, too, leading to an overall vehicle weight reduction of 220 pounds versus the 2014 model.
Besides enjoying more love in the body shell, aluminum also shaves nearly five pounds from the C-class's front suspension. This weight savings comes in spite of the switch from a strut-type front suspension (with two locating arms) to a four-link independent arrangement that separates the spring/shock assembly from wheel-location duty. The rear axle continues to utilize a five-member multilink setup. Three steel-sprung suspensions will be available: Comfort, a Direct Control mid-range setup, and a Sports arrangement with a 0.6-inch-lower ride height; all three come with selective damping. But the real suspension news is the newly available Airmatic air suspension. This is the first time Mercedes-Benz's adjustable air suspension has been offered on the C-class, and it comes armed with Comfort, Eco, Sport, and Sport Plus damper settings. Airmatic also brings four-corner self-leveling capability, as well as an adjustable ride-height controller.
Tech Overload!
A host of driver-assist technologies—some new, some carryover—will be available, including a number of bits culled from, you guessed it, the S-class's arsenal of sensors. These include a windshield-mounted stereo multi-purpose camera, which, like Subaru's Eyesight system, uses two stereoscopic cameras to create a three-dimensional "image" of the area in front of the C-class up to 164 feet ahead. It can monitor the same area at a more basic level—object and pedestrian detection—at a range of up to 1600 feet.
The cameras are augmented by two short-range radar sensors—one in the front bumper and one in the rear bumper—and a forward-facing long-range radar unit with a 650-foot range and a rear-facing multi-distance radar unit with a 260-foot range. This aircraft carrier's worth of sensors feed the 2015 C-class's carry-over DISTRONIC PLUS adaptive cruise control, which adds the semi-autonomous Steering Assist function from the S-class. The system can actively steer the car at speeds of up to 37 mph while following a vehicle ahead in dense traffic even in areas without clear lane markings. Active Lane Keeping Assist uses the brakes on each side of the car to keep the C-class in its lane, and the new Pre-Safe automatic-braking function can stop the car from speeds of up to 31 mph to prevent collisions or slow the car to mitigate impact from up to 45 mph.
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For the less exciting task of parking, C-class buyers can look forward to a 360-degree camera, as well as a new Active Parking Assist automatic parallel- and perpendicular-parking system. Other assists—yes, the list goes on—include Adaptive Highbeam Assist Plus, which maintains high-beam lighting until other cars are detected, and a Traffic Sign Assist that can tell you if you're driving the wrong way down a one-way street. If all these safety nets seem like overkill, they certainly should help the C-class do battle against the ever-more-tech-laden BMW 3-series, Audi A4, and segment-newcomer Cadillac ATS. Buyers across the market spectrum increasingly demand luxury features, even in mainstream compact cars, so it's critical that full-fledged luxury brands offer such gear in everything they sell. Still, we're most curious about how the C-class's weight reduction, suspension redesign, and optional Airmatic affect performance.
from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com
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