Rent Mercedes C300 2021 in Dubai

Rent a Mercedes C300 2021 in Dubai and you get the same badge, the same nameplate and the same 258 horsepower engine as the redesigned car that replaced it, just wearing the older sedan body and costing noticeably less to hire. Mercedes moved the whole C-Class onto its new portrait-screen look for 2022, so this is the last of the previous shape: the landscape dash, the narrower grille, the design that carried the badge for the better part of a decade before the update. We deliver it to your door in Dubai within one to two hours of booking, in black. If the newer car's styling matters less to you than the saving does, this is the one to book.

The outgoing C300, and what it's still like to drive

Under the bonnet is a 2.0-litre turbo four with Mercedes' EQ Boost mild hybrid assist, tuned to 258 hp and 370 Nm and sent to the rear wheels through a 9-speed automatic. Those are the same power figures Mercedes still quotes for the redesigned C300, so nothing was lost by keeping the older body. This row is rear-wheel drive only. Mercedes did build a 4MATIC all-wheel-drive version of this generation, but it is not this car, and on Dubai's dry, well-maintained roads you will not notice the difference.

0 to 100 km/h takes 6.2 seconds, which is enough to merge onto Sheikh Zayed Road with room to spare or complete an overtake without a long run-up, and the car is electronically limited to 250 km/h. The gearbox stays smooth around town and only gets busy when you actually ask it to, which is the right character for a car that spends most of its week doing hotel runs and client meetings rather than chasing lap times.

Boot, back seat and the daily use

This is a proper five-seat saloon, not the two-door convertible some listings under the same name turn out to be. The boot holds 480 litres through a regular saloon lid, which is more than the redesigned C300 manages and enough for two large cases plus a laptop bag loaded flat, no awkward angling required on a DXB or DWC pickup. Pack for a week away and you will not be leaving anything behind.

The back seat suits two adults for a cross-town meeting or an airport transfer without complaint, and doors that open wide enough for a clean exit at a hotel entrance. Put a tall adult behind a tall driver for a longer highway run and it is comfortable rather than generous, which is normal for a car in this size class. Four adults with full luggage for a week works fine here. If you need a limousine-grade rear seat for the same trip every day, that is what the E-Class is for, not this one.

What a black cabin costs you, and what the fuel bill looks like

Black paint pulls in more heat than a lighter colour, so a car left in the open at midday will be genuinely hot by the time you get back to it. Climb back in rather than expecting it to have stayed cool, and give the front vents a minute on full before you judge the AC. Once it gets going the cabin pulls down fast for a car this size, and rear passengers get their own vents rather than whatever drifts back from the front. The lower, older-generation roofline also means slightly less glass area for the sun to work through than the newer car's bigger windows, which helps a little on the recovery time.

Fuel economy sits around 7.8 to 8.6 L/100km combined, and with the 66-litre tank that puts real-world range somewhere over 700 km, less once you add stop-start traffic through Downtown or the Marina. Plan on filling up roughly once a week. At 4,686 mm long the car is compact for the class, noticeably shorter than the redesigned C300, and that pays off in tighter multi-storey bays and Marina ramps where the newer, longer car needs an extra look before you commit to a bay. Take speed bumps and steep ramps at a sensible pace, as with any low sedan. Salik tolls and any RTA fines picked up during the rental pass to you as the renter, and seat belts are mandatory in every seat, with a child seat required for under-fours.

Who should rent it, and who should look elsewhere

Rent this C300 2021 if you want the real Mercedes badge and the same drivetrain the newer car uses, for a rate that reflects it being the outgoing shape rather than the current one. It suits a business trip, a hotel arrival that needs to look right, an airport run for four with bags, and anyone who is not fussed about chasing the latest portrait touchscreen. The smaller footprint is a genuine advantage in tighter parking, not just a hand-me-down compromise.

Look elsewhere if the newer cabin tech and the bigger, more upright grille matter to you more than the saving, in which case the redesigned C300 on our fleet is the one to book instead. If you need all-wheel drive, this row does not have it, so ask about a 4MATIC listing. As a premium car it carries comprehensive insurance with an excess, so expect a deposit rather than a no-deposit deal at pickup. Your daily allowance is 250 km, extra kilometres run at AED 0.5 each, and you will need to be 25 to take the keys. For the badge and the performance without paying current-generation money, this is the smarter of the two C300s to book.