Mercedes C-Class Saloon interior

Style

The Mercedes C-Class’ interior is one of its best aspects – we reckon it’s way classier than the cabins in the BMW 3 Series or the Audi A4. It’s a lot like the high-end S-Class but more youthful and sporty. It’s a really modern, snazzy looking place to spend time.

There are loads of neat touches all over the place, including ambient lighting and plenty of leather upholstery. There are even lights in the air vents that go from blue to red as you increase or decrease the temperature. We liked the trim in our German-spec test car, and we hope the UK models are as well-appointed.

The C-Class has two main screens in the cabin, one large central unit that rises up out of the centre console and another behind the steering wheel in place of traditional dials. It’s a step away from the previous model’s set-up with twin screens mounted on the dashtop, and gives the cabin a more visually interesting edge.

Leather seats are standard and the material quality inside is generally very good. There are some stretches of hard, scratchy plastics lower down on the doors and on the underside of the dash, however, and these aren’t as nice to touch. A BMW 3 Series feels like it has a slightly more solidly-built interior too, but not by much.

There’s a new steering wheel that looks smart, but we don’t like the touch-sensitive buttons as they’re fiddly to use. Regular push buttons would be much easier to deal with.