Just the right size is how I would describe the 2022 Mercedes C300 4MATIC. Although the E-Class was more spacious, the price increase made the C-Class more appealing. I was throughly impressed with the lower priced A-Class but felt spending a bit more would be worth it.

When the Polar White colored C300 showed up, I hoped for a more exciting color. I then got closer and realized that it is not just a plain white color, but a pearl finish that came alive in the sun. If you choose the white color, you’ll definitely want to get the Night Package to add black accents all around. This C300 wins the prize of favorite grille with the Mercedes tri-star design.

The 19” multi-spoke wheels reminded me of the classic CLK GTR LeMans race car. The grip from the tires, suspension, and 4MATIC system, provided great feedback and confidence. What didn’t provide me with confidence was the brake pedal. The hardware itself was fine, but it felt like I had to be beyond halfway the pedal travel, before any actual bite was felt. Once I was in the bite point, the brakes were plenty to get this sedan stopped.

You get inside and this where I was shocked. I felt like this C300 had an introverted personality with its very bold red and black interior color selection. I did see some changes from the previous generation of Mercedes interior. The door had a slight change to the seat adjustment buttons that was an improvement. One of the things I do miss, was the button system of the previous steering wheels. The new one has touch sensors that didn’t seem to respond to my input from my fingers. We move on to the infotainment screen which was nice and bright. The only issue I had with it was relearning a whole new user interface after the previous took me about 4 loaners, or 4 weeks with Mercedes, to figure out.

Under the hood, the 2.0L inline turbo 4-cylinder, had a mild hybrid system to give it an additional boost. The relatively large turbo did fall short in delivering the power from about 4k RPMs, till its 6.5k redline. From a stop, the hybrid did blend well with the boost in of the turbo in delivering a very smooth power curve.

Overall, I felt like the C300 was an extremely well rounded sedan offering from Mercedes.