Following on from the saloon, the estate and the coupe, the Mercedes C-Class Cabriolet is the final piece of Mercedes’ compact executive puzzle. Although the company has put many small, ‘premium’ four-seat convertibles on sale in this sort of market before, they’ve never been so clearly demarked as part of the C-Class family. This is, in fact, the first Mercedes C-Class Cabriolet.
This puts it up against some strong rivals. The BMW 4 Series Convertible is the most obvious, while the forthcoming new Audi A5 Cabriolet will also provide stiff competition. In terms of direct rivals, however, that’s about it – it’s not a class in which buyers are queuing round the block.
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You’ll still have plenty of options when it comes to choosing your perfect C-Class cabrio, however, as there’s a wide range of different versions to choose from. There’s a variety of diesel engines, as well as some petrols (including a choice of high-performance AMG models), most of which can be had in a choice of manual, automatic, rear or four-wheel drive.
There are two standard trim levels called Sport and AMG-Line, and standard equipment across the range includes alloy wheels, all-round parking sensors, automatic parking, a reversing camera, LED headlights and DAB radio. You also get Bluetooth connectivity, satellite navigation, man-made leather upholstery as well as the AIRCAP and AIRSCARF systems. The first of these is essentially a wind deflector on top of the windscreen that reduces the wind’s intrusion into the cabin to little more than a gentle breeze. The second of these – AIRSCARF – does exactly what it says on the tin. Hot air is blown from vents around the headrest to keep the occupants’ necks warm if you’ve got the roof down on a cold day.
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Even with the roof down, the car remains impressively quiet and unruffled; only those with the most extravagant hairstyles will feel disturbed by the very mild buffeting. Meanwhile, if you put the triple-layered fabric roof up, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re in the coupe, such is the lack of either wind or tyre noise.
One noise you can’t ignore is the slightly agricultural rattling you get from the big-selling 2.1-litre diesel engine found in C220d and C250d versions. They’re decent performers, though, managing 168 and 201bhp respectively, and return 62.8 and 61.4mpg respectively. This equates to CO2 emissions of 116 and 121g/km (on the smallest 17-inch alloys), meaning you’ll be paying £30 and £110 a year in road tax. If you’re a company car buyer, you’ll be liable for either 23 or 24% Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) company car tax.
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Both the petrols – the C200 and C300 models – are turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engines, producing 181 and 242bhp respectively. As with the two diesels, the less powerful model comes with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, while the more powerful version comes with a nine-speed automatic gearbox only. These models return 47.1 and 42.2mpg respectively, while CO2 emissions of 136 and 153g/km means an annual road tax bill of either £130 or £185.
There’s also the high-performance AMG C43 version that uses a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre petrol V6. This is good for 362bhp and 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds, while its top speed of 155mph is electronically limited. This model is only available with four-wheel drive, while the nine-speed automatic gearbox is the only transmission option. There are also two AMG C63 versions, which come with a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 that produces either 461 or 503bhp. We’ve reviewed those separately.
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It’s still a little too early to make any concrete comments about reliability, but Mercedes’ 12th-placed (out of 32) ranking in our 2016 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey and the C-Class saloon’s 43rd-place finish (out of150) can give us a decent indication. In both cases, however, reliability was the worst performing feature. Safety shouldn’t be an issue as, although Euro NCAP has yet to test the convertible, the saloon upon which it’s based got the full five stars, and we know that the C-Class cabriolet is full to bursting with safety kit.