If someone asked you to name a sport sedan, your first response probably wouldn't be a Mercedes-Benz. With the 2008 C-Class, Mercedes gets a little closer to that ideal in some categories while holding fast to its classic idea of luxury - isolation over involvement - in others.
The result is an entry-level luxury car that will appeal to fans of the three-pointed star but won't win over diehard enthusiast drivers the way the 3 Series has for years.
I tested various versions of the C300. Offered in Luxury and Sport variations and with rear- and all-wheel-drive, the new C-Class offers a nice blend of ride comfort and handling performance. While undeniably taut, ride quality never becomes harsh; the suspension can smooth out rough spots in the road without needlessly jostling occupants.
Pushed hard on curvy mountain roads, the C-Class holds its line, and the rear-wheel-drive model hunkers down when powering out of a turn. Even though it exhibits some body roll when driven hard, it's not excessive and won't deter you from driving aggressively. Choosing a Sport version brings a sport suspension that lowers the car about one-half inch, but compared to Luxury models there is little difference in ride quality between the two.
A 3.0-liter V-6 engine powers the C300, while the C350 gets a 3.5-liter V-6. For big horsepower fans, an AMG-tuned version of the car, the C63 AMG, holds a 6.2-liter V-8 and hits dealerships in the spring.
The base V-6 moves the C300 ably, if not with authority. There's good power at low engine speeds for accelerating from a standstill, and when teamed with the standard seven-speed automatic transmission, the engine musters acceptable power for passing.
The seven-speed automatic transmission is the same one used in the automaker's flagship S-Class sedan, and while its shifts were always smooth during the course of my 200-plus mile drive, the transmission does tend to upshift a little too readily. This keeps engine speed lower, which has benefits like reduced fuel usage and engine noise, but it can leave the car in the wrong gear if you need to accelerate immediately. The transmission's Touch Shift clutchless-manual mode will put the transmission in the appropriate gear for conditions, but it wouldn't take long for it to become tiresome.
Plus, you have to depress the gas pedal quite a bit before the car recognizes you want the transmission to downshift. Flooring the pedal will make the transmission downshift a few gears, but sometimes you only want to go down a single gear, and that's not always easy to do.
The all-disc antilock brakes felt strong for the duration of my test drive, which included a number of long descents in the mountains. Brake pedal feel is average.
The cabin design is simple, purposeful, and uncluttered. Apart from the optional navigation system, which includes a screen that motors out from the middle of the dashboard, the styling doesn't push beyond the norms in this class. Depending on the model, there is real wood (Luxury) or aluminum (Sport) accents, both of which enhance the interior.
The new C-Class has a smaller version of the knob controller in the S-Class that's used to navigate menus on the dash display.
Front bucket seats with eight-way power adjustment are standard, but the seats only have manual lumbar adjustment, unlike those of some competitors that can have power lumbar support. Leather upholstery is optional. With the range of power seat adjustments and a tilt/telescoping steering wheel, it's easy to find a comfortable driving position that affords good forward, side, and rear visibility.
It's unfortunate that the seats are too firm for long-haul comfort, as most other aspects of the driving experience were shaping up to be favorable; after more than three hours at the wheel, a dull pain had crept into the bottom of my thighs.
Side-impact airbags, side curtain airbags, an electronic stability system, and active head restraints for the front seats are standard.
The trunk has 12.4 cubic feet of cargo room. Sedans equipped with the optional 60/40-split folding rear seat can expand the cargo area into the rear seating area. As is becoming more commonplace, the levers that release the rear seatbacks are in the trunk, making it easy to release the seatbacks without leaving the cargo area. The extended load floor created by the folded seats is flat. Still, there's something irritating about paying extra for folding seats - a feature that's standard in the least-expensive of cars.
Standard features include a power sunroof, one-touch up/down power windows all around, dual-zone automatic air conditioning, Bluetooth-based cellphone connectivity, and a CD stereo with an auxiliary input jack for connecting portable music players. There's also an available iPod Integration Kit that lets the driver operate Apple's music player via steering-wheel controls. The C350 adds additional standard features like satellite radio and heated front seats.
Optional features include rear-biased all-wheel drive (C300 only), a panoramic sunroof that includes a glass section over the rear seats, and a Multimedia Package that bundles a navigation system with an impressive Harman Kardon six-CD/DVD surround sound system. The audio system includes a 4GB hard drive that can store around 1,000 songs pulled from CDs or play music stored on a PC card. You can also watch movies on the navigation screen when the car is stationary.
The C-Class is Mercedes's best-selling model, which makes it an important one for the company to get right. It did get most things right with this version, and with some softer seats and a little more steering feel, it would have an even better car.
