Mercedes-Benz Skkkrt, skkkkrt, skrrrt. The tires of Mercedes-Benz's brand-new electric C-Class squealed as I dipped and dodged around a track slalom in Finland. A slalom for a C-Class might sound like overkill, but driving on public roads around Helsinki is an exercise in restraint. The speed limit changes often and seemingly without reason. Vehicle speed is heavily monitored and fees rigorously enforced. It's the land of the $130,000 speeding ticket, as tickets are based on income in Finland and one millionaire couldn't keep his lead foot off the gas. We were all warned by our friendly handlers to keep it to posted speeds on public roads. To relieve some of this built up tension — half of the American writers on the trip were from the Great Lakes region and more accustomed to, let's just say, a way more lenient view of speeding — Mercedes booked a small track out on the outskirts of Helsinki for us to put the C-Class EV through its paces. Following a professional driver, we finally got to throw it into the turns at speed and check out the nimbleness of its chassis. It was like that first smoke on your way home after a 12-hour shift at a daycare center. In the woody outskirts of Helsinki, where the biting flies can leave welts the size of silver dollars (ask me how I know), we drove the C-Class bathed under a glaring 18 hours of sunlight. But the drive itself wasn't all sunshine. Like so many products with a strong following, Mercedes has crammed in a bit of generative AI, and while I may harbor a writer and editor's anti-AI basis, the new and "improved" generation of the automaker's MBUX Virtual Assistant would probably drive even the biggest AI booster a little crazy. Full disclosure: Mercedes paid for my flight into and out to Helsinki, all my meals and a nice spot in a hotel. No smokes were provided. What is it? Mercedes-Benz It's the C-Class, but electric. Jeeze, didn't you read the headline? Keep up. Since its launch in 1993 (when it replaced the 190 that had been around since 1982), the C-Class has been the tried and true starter luxury sedan that every upper middle class yuppie, DINK and ladder-climbing salaryman craves. It serves not only as a sign of having "made it," but winks that this is just the start of your climb up the Mercedes ladder. The company is broadening the C-Class's horizons even further for its well-heeled customers despite it being a chaotic time in the EV market. The public may blow hot and cold on EVs, but the Earth is only blowing one way: hotter and hotter. EVs are still the future at Mercedes, and it may be one of the best companies to slide a whole new drivetrain into your safe and reliably classic sedan. Electric, you say? Erin Marquis Instead of being based on the existing gas C-Class, the electric model rides on the same 800-volt MB.EA architecture as its GLC crossover sibling. In the C400 4Matic models that we drove, which will be the first ones to launch, two permanently excited synchronous motors give the electric C-Class 483 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. The lithium-ion battery comes with a DC fast-charging time of 10% to 80% in just 22 minutes, capable of adding 200 miles in just 10 minutes when charging at up to 330 kW. Accelerating from 0 to 60 mph requires just 3.9 seconds, which is quite a bit of scoot while driving in a Nordic country famously twitchy about speeders. The C-Class we put through its paces at the track was a worthy entry into the C-Class family, and just as committed to comfort as its ICE sister. Now, if you want your C-Class gas-powered, the current W206 generation is sticking around, and it'll soon get styling updates to make it look more like the electric one (whether you're excited about that or not is up to you). Global CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group, Ola Källenius, told assembled journalists that while mass electrification is coming, it's certainly not worldwide any time soon. "For the foreseeable future, the 150 or so markets we serve around the world not every single market is on the path for 0 emissions at the same time," Källenius said. "We are going to have to serve both streams minimum for the next 10 years, if not longer." Put a star on it! Erin Marquis To me, the redesign has a bit of a bulbous look to it when compared with the sleekness of the outgoing C-Class, and that doesn't really snap my beans. It may be your thing, but it didn't inspire much "emotion" in myself. Mercedes says its front end has a "new iconic grille" — not to nitpick, but how can something be both new and iconic? — and it is a funky shape to my eyes, but the smoked glass element is unique and cool. There are a lot of elements I like, they could just be used more artfully. There's an option to illuminate the glass grille with 1,050 individual lights that can play animations during activities like charging or opening and closing the trunk. And as with other new Benzes, the headlights and taillights have three-pointed stars in them. Mercedes' philosophy of "put a glowing star on it, make it pretty" still works, and I am still here for it. A C-Class of another color Mercedes-Benz Its rear is rakish, which Mercedes says gives the C-Class a coupe-like or a GT feel, but it has a regular sedan trunk. The back window definitely dips in a coupe-like fashion, however even with the sleeker back end, the C-Class has plenty of headroom for back passengers. The electric C-Class is 3.8 inches longer than its gas-powered sister, and adds nearly an inch of headroom for the front-seat passengers and almost half an inch for your boys in the back. A generous trunk and frunk round out the car's hauling capabilities. Mercedes doesn't skimp on the comfort for your least valuable friends. The C400 4Matics offered to journalists came in three colors: Sodalite Blue Metallic, Opalite White Bright and Lavender Silver Metallic. The last one I was pumped for, but I struggled to see the purple in it under the bright Nordic sun. At sunset, sunrise, and in shadow, however, the lilac came through clearly and was a very nice touch. It's a worthy successor to rose gold and is hopefully a sign more automakers are cautiously toe-dipping back into a more colorful palette for cars. Like your childhood bedroom Mercedes-Benz The three-pointed stars aren't just in the headlights of the new C-Class. Mercedes has taken a page from Rolls-Royce's Starlight Headliner with an optional Sky Control panoramic roof, which has 162 illuminated stars embedded in the glass. Mercedes wanted the C-Class to have a "welcome home" vibe, but with the plush quilted seating and illuminated touches it wasn't like coming home, it was like house-sitting for someone with way better taste. The optional 39.1-inch seamless Hyperscreen is vivid and honestly gorgeous, of course, and the entire design of the interior has a fantastic flow with the neat little lighting elements folks have come to expect from luxury cars. They can shift colors with different moods and settings available with just a flick of your finger across the main screen. Using the touchscreen was ergonomically comfortable and fantastically responsive. While the screen was honestly impressive, what you'll find with the screens is just as exciting: buttons. Real, honest-to-god buttons. Not just buttons, but a physical roller for volume control! It's enough to bring a tear to your eye. There are physical controls on the steering wheel as well, and they are more thoughtfully laid out. I was unreasonably excited that I didn't accidentally turn up the volume with my thumb on these Mercedes steering wheels. Hallelujah! The bullying worked, everyone! Källenius told gathered journalists that he takes the UI development at Mercedes personally, spending hours with engineers to get it right, joking that it must be easy enough for a 5-year-old kid or a board member of Mercedes to be able to use it. This has resulted in more buttons coming to more models as new products come out. Dull interiors are a bright spot Mercedes-Benz "I think the industry as a whole might have gone a little too far. We were super proud that we were the first ones in the world to introduce a digital steering wheel. You'd think the engineers would want a Nobel Prize for that one," Källenius said, with all the exhaustion of a man who really had spent thousands of hours talking to engineers about UI. "But sometimes you get ahead of yourself and you start using technology for the sake of technology and forget a little bit about the customer." That statement from the CEO would prove to be foreshadowing for the UI troubles I'd experience in the C-Class. But back to the interior. There are matte-finish surfaces that are nice and smooth to the touch, and some components are made of recycled materials, which I really appreciate. It seems every time I'm in a new car lately I'm getting suddenly blinded by polished metal or piano black. Instead, we get compressed paper and recycled plastics that give the interior an organic if not immediately identifiable appearance. It also goes a long way towards that "welcome home" feeling Mercedes is trying to promote in this interior. I certainly don't have piano black all over my home, after all. Green and comfy Mercedes-Benz Buyers also have the option of a fully vegan interior. The C-Class is the second automotive interior in the world to be independently verified as vegan by the oldest vegan organization in the world, The Vegan Society. The first was the electric GLC, naturally. Mercedes also used low-carbon materials in the body of the C-Class, reducing the CO2 burden of building the car by 23%. The climate control system is intensely efficient. Mercedes noted in the press release that the interior can heat up twice as fast as a gas-powered car, as you don't have to wait for an engine to warm up. To test it out I blasted the AC and then the heat. This test proved absolutely nothing besides how quickly I could give myself a headache. It did act quickly to turn the oven of my own making into a cooler and vice versa. The ventilated, quilted seats are lush and inviting, and actually certified by a German organization that promotes healthy back, which is just so German. They come with massage and heating options that are perfect any time of year for all the lower backs out there approaching or beyond age 40. Drive time Mercedes-Benz The lower center of gravity made for a grippy and easy-to-control car, even while speeding through the apex of turns. I am always thrilled to drive an electric car on a track, because of the torque surge and low center of gravity, and the C-Class was no different. I will say the optional Airmatic air suspension, straight off the top-of-the-line S-Class, certainly provides the feel of a luxury vehicle. A little too squishy to feel anything like the Sport mode indicator's promise, but the buttery soft handling is undeniably high-end. The Airmatic system also comes with intelligent predictive damping that pulls data from the cloud provided by other Mercedes-Benz cars on road conditions to deliver the smoothest ride possible. It also controls ride height to increase range by keeping the car as low as possible for as long as possible. While soft in the turns, that luxury experience was dimmed a little by the harshness of road noise in the cabin. Despite noise-deadening laminated safety glass the few times we were able to get above 70 mph on public roadways, the whirling of the tires took the place of awkward silence between colleagues from different publications. Not as luxury-oriented as I expected, but without the sound of any engine up front it seems like any road sound is heightened. Is steering was tight and numb, as you'd expect from a modern EV's power-steering setup. Safety stop Mercedes-Benz Mercedes' safety suite worked as intended, which is no shock from the best in the biz to do it. During our track time, Mercedes set up some scenarios that caused the C-Class to emergency brake hard. One was a little old lady–style mannequin that jumped in front of the car, causing a sudden and hard brake. The pretensioned seatbelts did their job, and both myself and robo-granny made it out of the scenario unscathed. I certainly didn't see the old lady, but the Mercedes did. We got an uncomfortably up close demonstration of the same technology when a car nearly ran a red and straight into a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van taking journalists to our 7 a.m. flights. It was a close call, but some of the best minds in automotive made it out unscathed. Level 2 adaptive cruise control systems continue to have their benefits and drawbacks, even on a car as advanced as the C-Class. I got several alerts to keep my hands on the wheel and eyes on the road while doing basic things like opening a water bottle. And that wasn't the only overly vigilant technology in the C-Class. The optional Burmester 4D surround-sound system is excellent. Two body sound transducers in the seats reverberate music through your whole body. If I had that sort of thing at home I'd certainly never leave. But it was through testing the speakers that I first encountered some strangeness with the MBUX Virtual Assistant. The AI Assistant Mercedes-Benz The first time I chatted with this latest version of Mercedes' virtual assistant was when I drove the CLA over a year prior, and it seemed a friendly, if constantly befuddled character. A glowing Mercedes-Benz emblem able to find and navigate to the closest recharging station or coffee shop, but not really reliable for much else. Now, through updates to its programming, it was an entirely different experience, but not one that was much better. "Hey Mercedes, what is the meaning of life?" a Mercedes infotainment engineer asked during a demonstration in a parked C-Class. The AI had blipped out a few times when he asked about parking at a nearby restaurant and tried to make a plan to get there and find an open charger. Poor service in the Finnish wilds was blamed. My host had apparently lost his appetite during the glitch and got metaphysical instead. "I don't know, what do you think?" a calming woman's voice asked. The icon that pulses on the Hyperscreen is now also customizable. Instead of just a Mercedes-Benz star, you can choose a glowing faceless human bust or a little anime robot. The engineer described his meaning of life to the car — good friends and family — and the C-Class agreed. Any computer that says the meaning of life is anything other than 42 is suspect, because the very asking of an AI, a language model with no experience of actual life, the meaning of life, feels like a joke and so the answer should be one. I'm not interested in hearing what an unliving thing thinks about life. Then I had a weird experience with the MBUX that really set me on edge. I doubt the sincerity of the AI Assistant's concern Erin Marquis Ever just sit in the car all alone, watch the view roll by and talk to yourself? Happens to me all the time, especially when I'm in a new car. My recording app is usually running for driving impressions and notes. While in this mindless self-yap mode, I said to myself "Oh there are so many pretty roads in Finland!" "Yes," the AI Assistant chimed in. "There are many scenic routes outside of Helsinki. Would you like me to navigate to one?" "No... no thanks," I said. The map already contained a scenic drive, plus I hadn't addressed the AI at all, so I wasn't sure why it was taking my solitary yammerings as instructional. Unfazed for the moment, I decided to test out the speakers and, once I'd assessed the sound quality (excellent), started singing my little heart out. I asked the AI assistant to play music from Jalopnik's official band, The Mountain Goats. It had a hard time finding a specific song request — "Cry For Judas" — but could play a list of their top songs, which included that song, so why not? I can listen to their overplayed hits as well, which lead to this exchange during the song "No Children." "I hope I die! I hope we both die!" "It sounds like you are in emotional distress. Would you like me to play some calming music? It's important to talk about strong feelings." I'm not deranged, I'm just a fan Mercedes-Benz This was very weird. I thought that all complex commands needed to be prefaced with "Hey Mercedes" to activate the assistant, with some simpler ones like "next" or "louder" requiring just the command. But this was the MBUX AI listening in on something that did not concern it in the least. I'd never addressed the system at all. "No, Mercedes. I'm just singing along. Everything is fine." I continued on with the song and counted five interruptions before I finally shouted down my AI Assistant like it was a guidance counselor who'd told me to "smile more." The MBUX in the CLA was a friend who was just happy for the ride and didn't comment on the choice of tunes. This AI was no friend of mine. It was during the song "Heel Turn 2" from the album "Beat The Champ," perhaps my favorite The Mountain Goats album of all time. Every song is about wrestlers. This particular song is about the moment a wrestler, who plays a good guy character known as a "face," decides he has had enough and wants to preserve his dignity and life more than his kayfabe and turns into a bad guy character, or "heel." The lyrics are pretty dramatic, and once again death was on the radio. Sensing a theme here Mercedes-Benz "I don't want to die in here! I don't want to die in here!" I sang poorly, but with feeling and that's what counts. The music dimmed just as it was getting going for the AI Assistant to butt in once again. "You seem in distress. Would some calming music help? It's important to talk about strong feelings that may upset–" "I wasn't talking to you, Mercedes. Be quiet." I could sense my own heel turn on the horizon. "If you need–" "SHUT UP!" Finally, the assistant blipped out and stayed quiet for the rest of the drive to the hotel. I couldn't help wondering what other music might upset the AI assistant to the point of constant mental health check-ins. My husband is a metal fan, would his mid-traffic thrash sessions send the AI into 9-1-1 mode? You might think hey, maybe the assistant was responding like this because I was alone in the car, so it must have assumed I'd been talking to it. But the very next day, the assistant once again chimed in while my driving partner and I had a conversation. I mentioned "some British guy" and the AI chimed in (quite incorrectly) "It sounds like you have a strong connection to this Some British Guy–" "I don't even remember his name. Shut up, Mercedes!" The AI Assistant did shut up the first time it was asked, at least. I get that you can customize almost everything involving the Mercedes-Benz infotainment system. When I brought my concerns to the AI engineer he just pointed out that I could always turn the AI interactions down or off "if I didn't like it." But I need to test everything about a car. If you offer an AI assistant, the AI assistant stays on. Me not engaging with it doesn't make it any less miserable for the customer. It's not that I didn't like the AI, it's that the AI wasn't working as intended. I'm sorry Erin, I'm afraid I can't do that Mercedes-Benz The AI assistant also cannot turn itself off if you ask it to do so. You have to navigate touchscreen menus until you find the option to turn off "Voice barge-in," which says a lot about how the AI operates. Barge in, indeed. No one likes someone who barges in on conversations, especially the one-sided ones, and especially the kind of one-sided conversations where the asinine platitudes of a soulless machine are particularly useless and infuriating. I'm sure this is considered a safety feature, similar to cars that suggest taking a break when you yawn too often, but if I'm screaming "I HOPE YOU DIE" in my car in a non-Mountain Goats scenario, the sound of a computer that's never known heartbreak or pain or getting cut off in traffic chiming in is more likely to send me into a ditch, not less. On Mercedes' website, it says that most inquiries need to start with "Hey Mercedes" or some sort of address like that. Engineers on hand at the track confirmed that order of operations. Owners can change the AI assistant's settings via the infotainment system so that some simple commands, such as "next track" or "louder," don't require directly addressing your own car. But this means, of course, that the car is always listening even when you don't expect it, and it is ready to interrupt and add its two cents to any conversation. On my third drive the assistant was much more quiet, but still I asked it to turn itself off. "You can do that in the settings menu, but I'll always be here for you." Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. Over-engineered but thoughtful is the Mercedes way Mercedes-Benz Part of mass adoption is the normalization of electric vehicles. These aren't some billionaire's toy, or a car for the upper class costal types. An electric car can be your everyday car. You don't have to be techie or making a political statement; an EV can just another choice you make to fit your unique lifestyle. The C-Class is a fun, comfortable ride with interesting features and charm that is unmistakably Mercedes. It doesn't need to resort to gimmicks, whether its touchscreens in the steering wheel or AI in the UI. The new electric C-Class is little over-engineered but filled with thoughtful interior design touches and a fascia that pushes the boundary of what you think of as Mercedes. And that's before you get to the world class suite of safety features. That's what Mercedes means, and that's what the C-Class delivers here, just in electric form. What happens when the driver is the one doing the shouting, whether along to loud folk rock, at the idiot who nearly sideswiped them on the 405, or at the car's own virtual assistant, is another matter entirely. With the 2027 C-Class' launch in the U.S. set for early 2027, we'll find out soon enough.
