Mercedes V-Class MPV - Interior & comfort

Mercedes has a long track record of building vans, but an even longer history in building upmarket cars. Those worlds collide here, meaning the Mercedes V-Class feels rather special inside – whether that’s for the driver or the rear seat passengers. The 2024 facelift introduced even more modern technology and safety equipment as standard.

Visibility for the driver is very good, thanks to a seat that’s mounted high and large door mirrors, making the large V-Class easier to drive in city streets and car parks.

Mercedes V-Class dashboard

The V-Class sports a much more minimalist dashboard design than before. There’s a long metallic element that stretches from each side of the car with elegant air vents on either side, along with a floating centre protrusion with some buttons and a touchpad for controlling the infotainment system.

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Above this sits an elegant panel that spans much of the dash and comprises two 12.3-inch screens – one is for the driver’s display and another for the infotainment. We liked the touchpad as it worked well when using the infotainment system on the move, but there are now touch-sensitive buttons on the steering wheel that we were less fond of – we much prefer the physical ones of the outgoing car.

However, we think it’s quite an oversight that the designers of the V-Class have put the climate control buttons for rear passengers on the roof between the front seats, making them unreachable for the passengers themselves. On seven-seater models, the two seats in the middle row don’t line up quite exactly with the picnic tables on the back of the front seats, either. While the V-Class offers many electronic elements, the seats are manually adjusted, which is a disappointment in such a pricey car.

Equipment

While our test car was an ‘Exclusive’ model, there are just two trims offered in the UK at present: Premium and Premium with the AMG-Line package.

Premium models get the aforementioned dual-screen displays, LED lights, 19-inch alloy wheels, automatically folding wing mirrors, a powered tailgate and electric sliding side doors, wireless smartphone charging for front passengers, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, leather upholstery, a heated steering wheel trimmed in leather, an automatic parking system and a 360-degree parking camera as well as other niceties. There’s more safety equipment than before, too. 

Premium with the AMG-Line package just adds a raft of exterior styling upgrades including different 19-inch wheels, a slightly more aggressive bodykit and spoiler, chrome side skirts and an LED light strip on the front.

Options

The V-Class is already extremely well specified for both driver and passengers to travel in comfort and luxury, which means that the options list is rather short for a Mercedes model. However, accessories for the V-Class include roof rails for securing extra luggage, a roof box, and some neat extras like a coathanger or clothes hook integrated into the back of the front-seat head restraint so passengers can hang up jackets or bags neatly.