The W204 Mercedes-Benz C-Class facelift comes right on schedule, roughly mid-way through its typical 7 year lifecycle that started in early 2007. Visitors to the 2011 Detroit Auto Show next year will be able to catch the new W204 facelift for the first time in metal at the show grounds but for the rest of us, these photos will have to be suffice until Mercedes-Benz Malaysia launches the update.
The front end features an updated design including restyled headlamps, hood, and bumpers. The front end looks quite aggressive especially in the darker colours as a large amount of the front bumper has been dedicated to air intake grilles, which seem bigger vertically now as well.
The headlamps are not merely changes on the internal design – the whole shape is different and they’re now an L shape similar to those found on the SL-Class. Revisions on the tail end are not as drastic as before, but the tail lamps do get a new design and LED illumination to match the LED daytime running lights up front.
Top: new interior, Bottom: pre-facelift interior
The interior is completely different – the new C-Class gets a new dashboard that mimics that found in the W212 E-Class. The area that contains the COMAND screen now appears as an extension of the instrument cluster area, which is a very big change from the previous COMAND screen hidden behind an opening.
The multi-info display screen in the middle of the speedo is now of a higher resolution and features colour. Various buttons have also been rearranged and I’m liking the look of the new interior so far from the photos at least, much better than the pre-facelift.
There’s also much more area on the dash that Mercedes-Benz has now dedicated to showing off trim pieces, compared to the pre-facelift design which was quite bare especially in front of the passenger seat.
Look after the jump for a full hi-res gallery of the W204 facelift.
[zenphotopress number=999 album=1823]
