F30 vs W205

Archer-s · 12-02-2014, 12:28 PM

So I have recently got a F30 320d Msport after having a W205 rental for 3 months, thought I would share my thoughts after having both for anyone looking at the same cars.

The F30 is a 320d 8 speed auto, M sport with plus pack and pro nav, I have just bought this car recently.
The W205 is a C200 7 speed auto, Sport with no extra's.

Some people may say this is a bit apples and oranges as the specifications are different, M sport vs Sport, petrol vs diesel, but I feel most of the points below are valid, I have also had a C220 Diesel AMG for 4 days, so I will also bring this into play where relevant.

To set the scene, I was previously in a 320d ED E90, which I had on lease from new, and after 120k and 4 years the timing chain was noisy, being a £6K job the car had to go back. The car was perfect for me, but the reliability at the end was a major let down

I actually didn't want another N47 or BMW at this point.

The W205 was just being released and I had a couple of test drives, then when I ordered a rental from the lease company, by luck they dropped off a C200 petrol sport auto, perfect I thought, gives me some more time to get to know the car. The plan was to order a C300 hybrid on lease, but after 3 months of driving the C Class, it wasn't the right car for me.

Exterior Looks: For me it is the C class that wins this, in the photos it’s a sport vs M sport, but when you compare the AMG line to M Sport, I think these look much better. Most likely as the C Class is a fresher car, don’t get me wrong, they are both good looking cars, but the C Class has the edge for me.

Interior: Again the C Class comes out all guns blazing here and wins, I found the interior to be better quality, more comfortable seats, absolutely amazing switch gear. It really does put the F30 to shame, in the AMG line you get a leather dash as standard. The W205 has the auto gear stick on the steering column, this a little getting use to, but it makes all the difference as the de clutter of the central space makes the car feel so much more roomier. I do prefer the Dakota leather to the artifico Mercedes, and there are a few areas where Mercedes have skimped, but most of these are out of sight and so out of mind. There is one item which I really missed from the BMW, the little hot/cold control under the air vents, the Mercedes didn’t have this, and I like the air out of the vents to be slightly warm, the climate control was a little aggressive on the Mercedes especially in the summer, which you have more control of in the BMW. The BMW does have slight better build quality also, but even with these in the BMW favour, the Mercedes was a better place to be.

Equipment levels: The standard specification on the C Class is very impressive, comparing the AMG line to the std M Sport, the following extra’s on the C stand out:
Leather Dash
Reversing camera
Front parking sensors
Autonomous Self-Parking
Autonomous Braking
LED Headlights
Basic Sat Nav
Variable steering
Electronic Handbrake and hold
However once you price up like for like (as much as you can), the prices are not far off. Again the C class being a newer model you would expect this. There are some features you just can’t get on the F30 such as Autonomous Braking (Active Collision Assist), so the C Class has it again in my books.

Engines: Here I will compare the C220 to 320d, and not the C200 petrol I had. I only had the C220 for 3 days, but there really isn’t much between them here. I found the C220 to be better when wafting around, but harsh when pushed, and the 320d is the exact opposite in terms of refinement. Everything else was pretty much equal, MPG, Power, Torque, lag, so I really feel they draw here. I really didn’t like the C200 petrol, think I am Diesel Torque biased, it wasn’t a bad engine, but expected more, haven’t driven a 320i so I can’t comment here.

So far it does seem like the C Class is winning, why didn’t I buy one??? but below you will see where the C Class falls down and why I couldn’t live with one.

Sat Nav: A Big win for the BMW here, now I am comparing Pro nav to the Merc edes Garmin Nav (basic navigation). However the issue here is the speed and integration of the Garmin Nav on the Mercedes, It is painfully slow to calculate routes, which causes issues if you miss a turning, by the time you have gone past the next turning, it is still calculating, and starts over again, so sometimes you have no option but to pull over whilst it has a good old think about things. Also the Menu’s of the Garmin navigation does not match the rest of the system, you would have thought since Mercedes was going to sell thousands of these worldwide, they would at least push Garmin for a better integrated menu system. I actually think a £100 Garmin stuck on the windscreen is a better solution!

Gearbox: I have always associated Mercedes with the best Automatic gearboxes available, and BMW with manuals. Mercedes have always suited an auto due to their driving style, and the same with BMW, manual for more driver involvement. The Mercedes 7G Auto gearbox is good, only just feel the changes, smallish delay when using kick down, until you drive the BMW 8 Speed ZF. I didn’t actually want auto, but ended up with one as it had all the other specifications and price that I wanted, and now doubt I would go back. The 8 Speed ZF can change faster and smoother than I can, its more efficient, so if you have all of that and it makes your life easier, why wouldn’t you. On the BMW you can barely feel the changes, and the kick down is so quick, Mercedes need to up their game in this department, it should be their bread and butter.

Handling and Ride: Normally there is some trade-off between the handling and the ride refinement, I know that BMW and Mercedes have very different approaches here. The Mercedes sport definitely has a softer ride then the 320d M sport, and as expected it doesn’t handle as well on the bends, I expect some payback for this with Wafty refinement, however the C-Class just did not deliver. The BMW has harder suspension, run flats and yet still manages to our refine the C-Class. The C-Class suspension felt more Mondeo than premium saloon, which is a real shame. They do have an answer in the guise of AirMatic Suspension, I haven’t driven one of these yet, but reading some of the horror stories from older cars, I would only keep one of these for the 3 year warranty period, after I would not risk it. A massive win here for the BMW, we probably take the handling and ride for granted, it is only when you step outside you can see the difference. Just for comparison the AMG line was a lot closer to the BMW, but still felt like Mercedes hasn’t mastered the run flat tyres yet, on some roads it felt like it was on wooden wagon wheels.

User Interface: The Mercedes computer is an epic fail, designed by a 5 year old and programmed by a 2 year old. Let’s start with the controller, looks like a piece of art, works like a piece of…………, so the jog dial, a good start, pretty standard way to move through the menu’s, then you add the arching swipe pad, this does everything the jog dial does but worse, so you end up just using the jog dial and hitting the swipe by accident from time to time, annoying. The buttons, they have half on the dash, then half on the jog dial/touch pad, the buttons on the jog dial is doubled up to have the same on the swipe pad, not sure why. The dash buttons, you can press twice and it takes you to a different menu, to put this into context, the dash buttons are pretty much the same buttons in front of the idrive controller. There is a favourites button if you want to program the most used controls, but wait you can’t actually change the first 5/6 favourites, so you have scroll through Mercedes favourites before you get to yours??? The number of sw bugs is also embarrassing, Mercedes must have saved some cash here, during the 3 months I had the car, the radio menu disappeared, then the favourites menu locked up and it would randomly select a radio station when starting the car from time to time. On the radio front, it took a good 7 seconds to change DAB stations, this may not seem long, but when you are station hopping, it’s a long silence, and what for? The BMW manages to change stations quickly, less than 1 second most of the time. Finally there is an information overload on the displays, for example the dab stations, it displays the frequency, why do I want to know the frequency? There is a reason the stations have names, on the dash it displays the entire range of gears, I only need to know what gear I am in now, not what gears are possible, it displays the start-stop and drive mode, I would say these only need to be flashed up once when you switch. I could go on for days on this! Again we all probably take the idrive for granted here, the systems just works, and there is nothing I would change. I had the idrive setup on my 2nd drive, and barely need to touch it whilst driving, that is what makes it great, just enough and more time to concentrate on the road.

In summary the C Class is a good car, the F30 is a great car. It feels like BMW think about features before they deploy them, whereas Mercedes just stuffs them in, quantity vs quality. If I was to get a C Class it would have to be an AMG line with Airmatic suspension, but when the BMW is better and cost less, it was a no brainer for me in the end.

The most important factor after all of the above is said and done, is that I find myself finding excuses to pick up the F30 keys and go for a drive, something that never happened once in 3 months of the W205.

SkyJawa · 12-02-2014, 12:46 PM

Nice write up

I still can't stand the screen in the merc, looks like even more of an afterthought than in the F3x. Almost like Jus has stuck it on with blu-tak

Looks wise for me the Beemer is leagues ahead. It looks quite manly and mean, the merc is F-ing ugly, theres not one angle from the outside that looks nice, the front you could just about live with but the rear? no chance. I personally thought the last of the old ones looked better, much more mean. It does have nice interior though (screen aside).

NISFAN · 12-02-2014, 12:56 PM

Nice write up...thanks!!!

I agree on the gearbox....Merc have been good with them in the past, but have just been overshadowed by the brilliant ZF. I guess a clue to the development budgets of a first tier gearbox specialist (ZF) vs. an in house dept. (MB). No doubt MB are on it.

The Merc Garmin system is not nearly as good as the full COMAND system. Again the COMAND is looking a little dated compared to BMW's NBT, but I find it easier to use. I love the way the wheel zooms and pans whilst in the map, not like BMW's where you have to select that as a separate function. I do that a lot whilst driving so VIP to me. MB also have mute as a steering wheel function which I love. And it is intelligent at that, for example you're listening to nav commands and you receive a telephone call, when the next command starts talking you can press the mute button which only mutes the commands...brilliant.

Merc also have that Apple integration on the W205. Haven't used it, but it looks good.

I find the W205 a little lacking in rear end looks, too soft a rear end for my tastes, so overall not sure I agree on styling.....the F30 wins it in my view, although does look a little bland on the flanks compared to the swaged Merc.

Isn't the interior on the Merc small? It looked it when I had a quick shifty in the showroom.

No big engines just yet, and not likely to offer a C350Cdi I'm told....Booooo!!!

jumperjohn · 12-02-2014, 04:31 PM

The Mercedes rear, oh dear, its horrid almost embarrassing.

Tengocity · 12-02-2014, 04:46 PM

Thanks for taking the time to write all that. Have to agree that the AMG line cars look so much better than that boggo ones.

I've no doubts I have the best car around for my needs at the moment. The only car I see that may change that is if when the new jag has an estate with a large Diesel engine on offer or maybe AWD!

Archer-s · 12-03-2014, 04:52 AM

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