Competitor’s take note: Mercedes is getting really, really good at building luxury cars again. Oh sure they haven’t produced any junk in the last decade but a certain confidence that was embodied in every Mercedes of the 90s was dialed back as the obvious search for additional profits lead to something we hadn’t seen in any 3-pointed star before: cost cutting. But now the S-Class is the envy of the car world again and Mercedes is bringing that magic to the masses in the form of the new 2015 C-Class. The turbocharged four and six cylinder engines now power a nearly perfectly shrunken S-Class that even offers most of the flagship’s tech and luxury features. For the first time an air suspension is available as are luxuries like distronic cruise control plus steering assist, Burmester audio and even a climate control system that uses GPS to adjust before you enter a tunnel. In the hunt for efficiency engineers also reduced weight more than 200 pounds over the previous generation. Also of note is the 3-inch stretch in wheelbase that adds a bit more room to the previously tight rear seats. With an interior design drunk on details and finished as beautifully as anything costing twice as much the C-Class will find it almost easy to steal customers from the competition. Welcome back Mercedes and keep it coming.
Down In Power, But Still A Contender For The Sports Sedan Crown
In case you haven’t noticed, horsepower numbers are ballooning like Al Gore after public office and the new threshold for contenders in the sports sedan race is something north of 300 horses. Competitors from Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti and Lexus all offer up power ratings starting with a three, and even though Audi’s standard A4 can’t play with the big boys you can step up to the supercharged S4, which is available for about a grand more than the C350 that is the subject of this review and could certainly be considered a competitor. The problem for Mercedes is that their class entrant only puts out 268 hp, so even before delivery we were preparing to treat it as an entry-level luxury car instead of a true sports sedan. But when our baby Benz showed up wearing bright red paint, AMG wheels and cross-drilled brakes we knew the boys in Stuttgart weren’t going to let a horsepower deficit keep them on the bench. Read more…
Kompress This
Let me start off on a good foot. Mercedes deserves credit for having the initiative to produce a model at a price range that is accessible to a larger crowd. Granted, the C230 Kompressor costs about as much as a mid to full-size domestic product will. However, for $25K, you can have the Mercedes name along with the attention to detail and engineering that goes along with it. Read more…
