Not sure how I end up with these mediocre models whenever I visit EU, while others seem to love their European rentals, but here we go again.
I originally was supposed to get a compact CUV with a manual tranny and AC, that was about it, but this was offered as an upgrade and since I had a 3.5 hour drive each way, I agreed.
What I liked:
- The styling is pretty good IMO, especially the side profile. It’s a handsome vehicle
- The interior fit and finish was also good.
- For a compact sized car, it’s impressively quiet on the highway
- the infotainment screen and responsiveness was great.
- I liked that they got rid of the start/stop button. Instead you just flip the gear selector to D or R, or press the park button. You can just get in and go.
What was meh
- The suspension and it’s a weird one because it was quite complaint in the corners while being soft, but the car would rock back and forth in certain situations as if the rear shocks were blown.
- Gas mileage. I got about 37mpg one way and 45 coming back with a tail wind. I expected more from a hybrid.
- the infotainment system layout and all the HVAC controls required accessing different menus and multiple clicks
- you need to create and link an MB account to access all of the features
- I could not figure out how to check the oil level electronically, perhaps MB account is required for this, which would be quite stupid.
What was terrible, keep in mind the car had less than 3k miles on it:
- basically the whole drive train. It’s a jerky, lurching mess.
- it would lurch forward randomly on EV motor only, then it would lurch again once the engine kicked in.
- the only time it would not lurch was under very, very gentle acceleration or a heavy one, under normal acceleration it would constantly lurch and jerk.
- the drivetrain would emit an auditable bang when coming to a stop.
- the transition between regen and normal brakes was very noticeable and not smooth.
- despite a tiny turbo engine, the engine bay is packed to the gills.
- the seats were very uncomfortable for both myself and my wife. We usually find most car seats comfortable, so this was a surprise, especially coming from Mercedes.
- it had an 8spd transmission that sometimes shifted very harshly.
Overall I think I should’ve kept my original booking and not go for this “upgrade”. I probably would not even call it a lateral move
I originally was supposed to get a compact CUV with a manual tranny and AC, that was about it, but this was offered as an upgrade and since I had a 3.5 hour drive each way, I agreed.
What I liked:
- The styling is pretty good IMO, especially the side profile. It’s a handsome vehicle
- The interior fit and finish was also good.
- For a compact sized car, it’s impressively quiet on the highway
- the infotainment screen and responsiveness was great.
- I liked that they got rid of the start/stop button. Instead you just flip the gear selector to D or R, or press the park button. You can just get in and go.
What was meh
- The suspension and it’s a weird one because it was quite complaint in the corners while being soft, but the car would rock back and forth in certain situations as if the rear shocks were blown.
- Gas mileage. I got about 37mpg one way and 45 coming back with a tail wind. I expected more from a hybrid.
- the infotainment system layout and all the HVAC controls required accessing different menus and multiple clicks
- you need to create and link an MB account to access all of the features
- I could not figure out how to check the oil level electronically, perhaps MB account is required for this, which would be quite stupid.
What was terrible, keep in mind the car had less than 3k miles on it:
- basically the whole drive train. It’s a jerky, lurching mess.
- it would lurch forward randomly on EV motor only, then it would lurch again once the engine kicked in.
- the only time it would not lurch was under very, very gentle acceleration or a heavy one, under normal acceleration it would constantly lurch and jerk.
- the drivetrain would emit an auditable bang when coming to a stop.
- the transition between regen and normal brakes was very noticeable and not smooth.
- despite a tiny turbo engine, the engine bay is packed to the gills.
- the seats were very uncomfortable for both myself and my wife. We usually find most car seats comfortable, so this was a surprise, especially coming from Mercedes.
- it had an 8spd transmission that sometimes shifted very harshly.
Overall I think I should’ve kept my original booking and not go for this “upgrade”. I probably would not even call it a lateral move
