While it sure was lacking in comparison to the 5 Series, the only thing in my head was, “Dad must have loved this”.
BHPian Arnav612 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Luxury mobility is an indulgence that’s hard to get rid of. Aspirational value combined with sheer social image qualifies for the Indian lifestyle. The trophy-like stature for years of blood sweat and tears comes from the car standing on the porch, for most of us. The garage queen – the kind that you make sure your hands are clean before touching, the kind that you don’t give out keys to the valet, the kind that you trust in altering your lifestyle and that one, penultimate gift to yourself. As they say, boys grow older and their toys get faster.
Here’s the story of the two boys in my family – my father, and myself.
Dad and I share the same roots of enthusiasm towards cars (mine is multiplied by a few hundred folds though). I grew up sitting in his lap while travelling and recognizing cars on the road – as young as the age of 2. He made sure I was always involved in every car-buying decision from as young as when I was 8-9. We had different priorities though, my bang-for-buck criteria was fast, sporty, and eventful. His is more on the lines of opulent, luxurious, simple.
Having gone through waves of buying Honda Citys, Innovas, Swifts etc, it was this fine evening in 2017 that we sat to discuss the possibilities of buying one of “those” cars. Dad being himself, started and ended the conversation at Mercedes. We gave little room to BMW, Jaguar and the likes, but pretty much for the namesake. The first contender was the Mercedes CLA, but thanks to its not-so-dad-friendly characteristics, we brought home a W205 C Class in the C200 guise.
The C-Class was a thrill for all of us as our first step into the luxury segment. It complemented our Innova Crysta and City beautifully with the perfect appointment of duties. Amidst these workhorses, the C was special. Yeah, it wasn’t the most spacious car out there, and it wasn’t loaded to the brim (our Seltos was way more contemporary), but from the way the doors shut, to the way the knurled aluminium knobs turned, and the way the motor purred, it exuded class. A certain amount of class which in my opinion, even BMW and Audi couldn’t imagine.
Cut to 2022, 5 years and 18000 kms of the C Class later, we suddenly sold our car to a rather enthusiastic individual. He had been eyeing the car for a while and gave us an offer we just couldn’t refuse. We’re still in touch and I keep seeing the car whenever I go back to India. Since the C went suddenly, and I had my university commitments starting, we were in a fix. We initially decided to stick with the Seltos and ZS for a while till we were prepared for a proper upgrade. Which made sense given our usage. But, indulgence.
This time, it was my turn. I looked no further than this Blue-Black 530d M Sport of 2014. And boy, what a machine. I had never seen Dad smiling when he accelerated before he did in the BMW. This car was the polar opposite of the C which was way more tame, supple and significantly more nimble. The 5 was business. The M Sport guise made it even damn better. A business suit never looked this good in sneakers, with the way those M Sport rims blended with timeless lines. My 9-year-old 530d never looked 9. And a large part of it was owed to its design.
A year went by and I was away from home. Now remember that the 530d was much more to my tastes than it was to Dad’s. And lastly, maintaining a 9-year-old German luxury sedan. Throw these things into one mix and it’s not a pleasant experience. One thing failed after the other. Sometimes the steering rack, sometimes interior wear, a suspicious CEL, and so on. We had done our share of preventive maintenance, but you do such stuff for a car that you deeply desire. The deep desire is what dad didn’t have. He felt out of place in a 2014 pre-owned car after selling a 2017 showroom-bought car.
While I wouldn’t have taken this step individually, collectively we sold it in exactly one year of ownership, in July 2023. Same fate of the Mercedes, the new owner is an avid team-bhp reader, an enthusiast, and an assurance of good hands. We’re still in touch and he keeps sharing pictures of the car in new avatars. I commend his enthusiasm for driving the car down from Mumbai to Kochi.
NOW, what next? We concluded that since I was away from home, we should prioritize the parents’ wishes when it came to their luxury barge. Hopefully, I cross paths with another 530d later on. Sigh. We casually surfed through new cars like the E-Class, C-Class, GLC etc. But the prices were enormously unjustifiable.
72 Lakhs on the road for a C-Class??? Man!
We were even considering cars like the Camry and the Superb. The value proposition is unmatchable. But, indulgence.
Meanwhile, in Italy I was, casually surfing through classifieds and Autohangar Advantage and came across an inventory of W206 C-Class’. Interesting. The prices quoted – even more interesting. Almost 25% off the price tag of a brand-new car. Quickly rung up a known dealer at Autohangar Advantage in Prabhadevi, and found out the funda. I initially was under the impression, that these might be TD cars or demo cars and I wasn’t keen at all. But these were their fleet cars being used individually by their directors from Chakan, and not random potential customers from all over.
The car came to Mumbai and dad went over to the showroom. He LOVED it. The interiors were a big step up from anything we ever had. I never was a fan of the all-screen interiors, but see it to believe it. Indulgence. Pulled our own strings and got a sweet deal on a 14k driven Mercedes Benz registered C200. The Mojave Silver + tan interiors wouldn’t be our choice, but that’s when Mom stepped in saying, no. more. white. Hmph. It’s a beautiful colour though.
I returned to Mumbai and gave delivery of the 5. And went to check out this C all alone on the same day. Took a test drive and while it sure was lacking in comparison to the 5, the only thing in my head was “Dad must have loved this”, and the dealer agreed. My first impression was strong. I loved how supple the ride was and it took potholes and ironed them out like they never existed. The low seating made for a generous couch-like driving position, my favourite. MBUX was actually pretty easy to use on the move. AC controls were digital, but they were constantly displayed on the screen. No moving through menus and stuff. I would only change the haptic glass panels for actual buttons though.
Just once more, I took a friend along with me for final checks of the car. We sniffed the car all over like CBI guarddogs and had a few panels realigned, and a tiny dent vacuumed out.
We cracked a sweet on road price with transfer charges waived off, and one free service. We will be extending the warranty to 5 years next year. Overall the dealership experience was extremely courteous and frank. All their teams worked in fantastic harmony and all we had to do was pick up the car. My SA, DK Sinha at Prabhadevi is excellent to deal with. Along with the specifics of the car, his conversation and work ethic were commendable. Everything was sorted before time and it was more of him waiting for us than the other way round.
Alternatives:
This 2020 E200 Exclusive came around. With only 21k kms clocked and the exact same price as the C, it was appealing. But the dealer’s unresponsive attitude was too slow to catch up with how enterprising Autohangar had been.
Delivery Pictures:
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