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Riding high with Mercedes' Final Edition
The Jakarta Post got an opportunity to test drive the Mercedes-Benz C300 AMG Final Edition, and experience why this is the car brand of choice for those who have “arrived”.
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Luxury view: Looking out from the back seat of the Mercedes-Benz C-300 AMG Final Edition. (Mercedes Benz/Denverino Dante)
D
oing hard things consistently with great results builds a reputation. For Mercedes-Benz their reputation is built by creating automobiles with astute engineering and emotional design for close to a century. Even their tagline is “the best or nothing”, which evokes the desires of those who are constantly pursuing greatness. In the 2020 Forbes annual list of the "World’s Most Valuable Brands” Mercedes-Benz sits at number 23, the highest for luxury vehicle brands.
The Jakarta Post got an opportunity to test drive the Mercedes-Benz C300 AMG Final Edition, and experience why this is the car brand of choice for those who have “arrived”.
The “AMG” in the name of the car implies the sporty finishing incorporated both upon its exterior and interior. After all, AMG is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz. Meanwhile the “Final Edition” in the name of the car is to identify that this will be the final release of the current C-Class generation (type W 205). And clearly Mercedes-Benz is bringing out all the bells and whistles in this model to attract consumers to buy now instead of waiting for next year’s newer generation C-Class, which has no official release date yet nor price list.
Upon first glance the car is undeniably beautiful. Viewed from the front is the diamond radiator grille with the signature Mercedes-Benz logo in the middle, flanked by sleek multibeam LED headlamps that actually move around depending on how the driver adjusts it. The AMG line exterior evokes sportiness—wide air intakes in the front and the two-pipe exhaust system in the back—and a touch of class with the chrome lip on the bottom of both the front and back bumpers. Then to top off the aggressive, sporty exterior look is the 19-inch AMG five-spoke wheels.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, the first thing you’ll feel is how the seat embraces and snuggles—you just know you’ll survive hours of driving in this car. To find that ultimate sweet seating position, you are encouraged to adjust the seat by pushing the four-way lumbar seating buttons on the door trim. The seats are covered with Artico leather, which is man-made leather developed by Mercedes-Benz made as tough as the real deal with that familiar leather seats smell. There is also an easy car entry feature where upon opening the car door the car seat backs up and the steering wheel lifts up, and will return to its original position once you close the door.
When you are ready to start the engine simply hold down the brake whilst pushing the start button—now you’ve woken the beast! Displayed in front of the driver is the all-digital instruments display, where, aside from the digital speedometer, you can access various information such as driving mode, a function to measure the distance of cars or objects in front of you, and even a G-Force meter—all with a simple thumb stroke of the trackpad on the steering wheel.
In the middle of the dashboard is the 20-inch media display that shows a treasure of settings to personalize including bluetooth connections, climate control, Apple CarPlay and yes of course radio and navigation. Admittedly we spent the most amount of time choosing the cabin’s 64 color ambient lighting options which are controlled via this media display. Unfortunately, the media display is not a touchscreen monitor so you’ll have to control it by a rotary control and trackpad on the center console. While driving, the media display can show the traffic situation surrounding the car from its front, rear and side cameras. These 360-degree cameras and parking sensors will come in handy when parking the car. Speaking of parking, the car can literally park in and out of parking spaces on its own thanks to the Parktronic feature. Then there is the Blind Spot Assist feature, which aims to remove the risk of lateral collisions with other vehicles when changing lanes—these features were initially made exclusive for the Mercedes-Benz flagship S-Class series. Accessing every detail to make your drive more enjoyable is made easy and adjustable from the driver’s seat, and when you drive you know the car’s safety features are looking out for you. To stow your mobile phone is a spot on the bottom of the dashboard, which is also conveniently equipped with a wireless charging system.
Sitting in the back seat passengers can adjust the AC temperature and fan speed independently on the left and right side by the controllers on the middle console within easy reach. Also made available are multiple USB charging slots along with a power socket. The surround sound in the cabin is handled by Burmester, a German high-end audio system manufacturer—Porsche also uses this audio brand in its cars. The best part of sitting in the back is a super spacious feel and look thanks to the lengthy panoramic sliding sunroof. And of course a car review isn’t complete without some engine specifications: under the hood is a 4-cylinder 1991 cc engine which can churn out 258 horsepower. The car can go from 0 to 100 in 5.9 seconds and has a top speed of 250km/hour. After experiencing as a driver and passenger, we prefer to be in the driver’s seat simply because the car is very enjoyable to drive.
