Ratings: W205 Mercedes-Benz C200 AMG Line in Malaysia - Rocks your body, but in the wrong way

We'll start with the elephant in the room: yes, your best bet to snag a W205 Mercedes-Benz C200 AMG Line in Malaysia now are only through pre-owned channels. Why? It's been sold out here, and it'll be superseded by the W206-generation C-Class.

Still, we've ran the Merc' through our instrumented tests to better determine where it stands against its rivals - the G20 BMW 320i and the Volkswagen Arteon R-Line.

If anything, the scores tabulated here can also be used to compare against its successor later.

Like other cars, points here are relative to its segment and not the entirety of the new-car market. For our full Ratings page, click here.

Mercedes-Benz C200: Driving Performance - 36/50, Lacks linearity

Simply put, this is a car that lacks harmony between different parts of the car. It feels like each component is doing their own thing in their own time, and this results in a Mercedes that doesn't drive as good as it looks.

For one, there is a weird 'deadzone' between you stepping on the accelerator and the engine doing anything. Sports mode helps, but only very marginally. Shame, because the grunt from the turbocharged mill is otherwise fantastic.

While its 9-speed automatic transmission improves over the pre-facelift's clunky 7-speed auto 'box, it's still isn't as good as those found in the competition, on which the benchmark is still the 3 Series' 8-speed gearbox.

There's occassional hemming and hawing as it searches for gears, with a little bit of lurching thrown in there as well.

The C200 is rear-wheel drive, just like the 320i. However, it's not one for drama, rather offering a safe, familiar, and predictable handling.

However, the harsh damping doesn't really inspire confidence if you're driving in a rush, and it affects the car in other ways as you'll see further below.

Part of that can also be tied down to its variable ratio steering. It's on the heavy side, but it also doesn't feel as linear and reactive as those found in newer BMWs. What this means is you might have to readjust at higher speeds to steer precisely.

But once you've found your groove, the heft results in a car that doesn't feel nervous travelling fast down the highway.

If it's any consolation, the brakes are quite grabby and feels great once you get used to it over time. Which you'll have to do anyway, as they don't feel feel very linear at first.

Mercedes-Benz C200 AMG Line: Ride Comfort - 29.5/50, Stiff ride

Not only does the damping affect confidence at higher speeds, it also affects comfort in general. It doesn't settle quickly enough when faced with irregularities, so if you drive on particularly undulating roads you will have to exert extra effort to keep your head level.

Also read: Pros and Cons: 2020 Mercedes-Benz C200 AMG Line - Punchy engine but punishing ride

On low speeds, ride is actually rather acceptable, smoothening out humps and road patches. Its sport suspension however doesn't iron out dips and crests very well, so the resulting stiff ride becomes quite tiring over long journeys.

If your passengers say that, you as the driver might find another issue with the offset driving position. The left-skewed steering wheel is something you cannot unsee (sorry), the footwell is tight, and there's no proper footrest. 

Adding on to the C200's comfort woes is its rather poor sound insulation, which is worse than any of its rivals we've tested.

Also read: Ratings: Top 10 quietest cars we've tested - 6 cylinders quieter than electric?

Mercedes-Benz C200 AMG Line: Quality and Features – 37/50, Good looking

Exterior panel gaps and paint thickness consistency are as you'd expect - no glaring inconsisties on either side.

In AMG Line guise, the C200 looks great with its chiseled, tough aura. It has stood the test of time quite well and still carries visual punch to match segment rivals.

You don't have to look too hard to catch the details that livens up the C200's swoopy cabin. There's cool design touches and plenty of good quality materials inside, though you'll have to get used to 'Mercedes ergonomics' like the steering-column-mounted lever, and seat adjustment controls.

Being an AMG Line variant, it gets anthracite headling, open-pore oak wood trims, a Nappa leather steering wheel with galvanised shift paddles, AMG sports pedals, and Artico leather upholstery. 

Keeping things fresh is a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10.25-inch infotainment screen (please don't jab your fingers at it, it's only operable using the rotary dial), the latter featuring Mercedes Me Connect, as well as wired Android Auto and AppleCarPlay.

They're both high-resolution, so you're rewarded with very crisp displays. Sadly the user interface is a finicky mistress, because even something as simple as skipping tracks isn't as intuitive as pushing a "next" button.

Unlike the more expensive - still sold at the time of writing - W205 C300 AMG Line, this model loses out on the Burmester surround-sound setup. That's sorely missed, considering the audio quality in this C200 is poor, with very 'hollow' sounds.

Also read: Top 5 best-sounding in-car audio system we’ve tested

Safety-wise, the C200 pretty much fits the status quo. It gets active parking assist, a reverse camera, blind spot assist, Speedtronic cruise control, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), and 7 airbags.

Mercedes-Benz C200 AMG Line: Interior space – 32/50, Spacious at the back

The multi-way power-adjustable seats (with lumbar support adjustment too) are well-bolstered, and feels plusher than those found in the 320i.

Space round the back is decent, with 2 tennis balls of kneeroom and one tennis ball of headroom for a 177 cm-tall adult.

For your gubbins, there's felt-lined storage spaces peppered throughout the cabin, but we found them to be rather small.

Bottles can only be placed on the door bins, for example.

Tailgate operation is manual, and it opens up to 455 litres of boot space, which can be further expanded by folding the rear seats down. Underneath the floor is where you'll find the emergency kit, and there's no spare tyre to be found here, just like the 3 Series.

Mercedes-Benz C200: Fuel consumption – 15/20, Not bad for its performance

After a 106.7 km journey broken down to 60% highway, 40% city driving, the amount of fuel required to brim the tank was 9.14 litres. This gives a calculated fuel consumption figure of 8.6-litre/100 km.

In comparison, the G20 BMW 320i achieved 8.0-litre/100 km under similar driving conditions.

Mercedes-Benz C200: Purchase and cost – 17/30, Comparable to rivals

Once priced from RM 251k, depreciation means that this could be one's cheapest, reasonably-new entry point into German compact executive sedan ownership.

For context, a two-year old C200 Avantgarde (which was replaced by this AMG Line) was sold from RM 260k new, but can now be had for RM 206k.

Also read: W205 Mercedes-Benz C200 sold out in Malaysia, W206 C-Class confirmed to launch soon

Maintenance cost is par for the course of other Teutonic rivals:

Mercedes-Benz C200 AMG Line: Conclusion – 166.5/250 pts overall

For what its worth, this is a car that will bowl you over in the showroom. It looks the part, and when you take it out for a (short) test drive, its pace will impress you. We'll be fair and say it's actually quite decent in isolation.

Live with it for a while, pit it against competitors, and that's where the C200's shortcomings become more apparent. If you're looking for a car in this price range, you might come across better-performing but cheaper competitors, and that makes the C200's case a bit hard to argue for when badges aren't a factor.

Also read: Review: 2020 Mercedes-Benz C200 AMG Line - Style over substance?