2008 Mercedes Benz C Class Review

By  Bengt Halvorson, Editor

While Mercedes-Benz has always emphasized luxury and technology in its sedans, the former C-Class was a little left-behind on performance, compared to its longtime German rival, BMW 3-Series. But with the current C-Class, Mercedes-Benz has added more of a sporty personality to the compact sedan. The strategy shows in skyrocketing sales; the C-Class has been the best-selling vehicle in Mercedes-Benz’sU.S. lineup in recent years and has outsold the previous-generation car by 65 percent, according to the company.

With its next C-Class, all-new for 2008, Mercedes is encroaching even further into the performance realm. Mercedes is introducing the ’08 with a simplified lineup — there are only two trims, Luxury and Sport, and they can be distinguished from afar, from the front especially, due to their very different front-end treatments. The Luxury follows the tradition of the C-Class and other Mercedes sedans, with the familiar chrome grille and three-pointed star hood ornament. The Sport takes a new tack, with no hood ornament but rather a body-color, straked grille and large emblem in the middle of the grille.

 

There are other differences as well, such as additional chrome trim on the Luxury and a sleeker front fascia design on the outside of the Sport, plus matte-aluminum or maple wood trim and studded aluminum pedals inside the Sport, versus more conservative burl walnut wood inside the Luxury. Mechanically, the Sport gets staggered-width 17-inch alloy wheels (18-inchers are optional), a lowered, sport-tuned suspension, sport braking system, and dual exhaust.

 

 

Power of choice

 

The new C-Class is available with two different engines, designated by C300 and C350. The C300’s 3.0-liter V-6 makes 228 horsepower and 221 lb-ft of torque, while the C350’s 3.5-liter V-6 — the same as offered in the E-Class and across much of Mercedes-Benz’s U.S. lineup — makes 268 hp and 258 lb-ft. Those who opt for the C300 get to choose between a standard six-speed manual or an optional seven-speed automatic (which the company is estimating that most will opt for), but the C350 can only be had with the automatic.

 

A new 4Matic system, revised for improved fuel efficiency, will be available on all C300 models with automatic transmission, beginning only about a month after the rear-wheel drive model’s August U.S. arrival. The system reverts to a 55/45 rear-biased torque distribution and is actually integrated into the transmission.

 

The difference between the two engines is enough to discern when accelerating all-out, proven by factory acceleration numbers that place the C350 a second shorter to 60 mph (6.1 seconds with the C350 versus 7.1 with the C300). But in a route with some very demanding driving around Oregon’s Mount Hood, bringing us up to about 6000 feet, we found that the C300 has plenty of power for the steepest grades and quick passes, and at partial throttle you might not be able to distinguish the two.

 

We drove Sport variants of the C300 and C350, with most of our drive time in a C300, and can verify that the new C-Class feels a step more capable than the last-generation car with the sport package, and much more comfortable when you drive it hard. Much of that is due to the suspension — there’s a new Agility Control damper system that hydromechanically produces many of the benefits of a more complex electronically controlled one. In a route that took us on some coarsely surfaces narrow country roads, the C-Class never felt flustered and always seemed to maintain great body control whether the surface was smooth or pockmarked. The ride was firm yet very well damped for large bumps, avoiding the pitchiness that can exacerbate fatigue on curvy roads.

 

This C-Class also gets a quicker steering ratio, which was a great choice. There still isn’t much in the way of road-surface feedback from the hydraulic power steering unit, but the faster-ratio rack makes switchbacks less of a sweat at speed, and makes parking-lot maneuvering easier as well. That sluggish, long-ratio steering feel that you might associate with Mercedes-Benz is gone, but the confident on-center tracking at high speed is still there.

 

 

Room to roam

 

With wheelbase and width stretched by about two inches versus the previous C-Class, the new version is about four inches longer overall, bringing interior and cargo space up in most respects. The front seats are as expected, great, but the one area where we would have wished for much more improvement is rear-seat space. Headroom is just adequate, but most adults will find legroom extremely tight unless the front seats are in a near-forwardmost position. Overall, Mercedes could have benefited by taking more cues here from the new S-Class, and its simplified and more opened-up, glamorous instrument panel layout, as opposed to the confining center console/stack.

 

Prices and options haven’t been finalized yet, top options, such as heated seats, a rear sunshade, bi-xenon headlamps, and a lighting system with corner-illuminating foglamps, will be streamlined into three different option packages. There’s also an optional 30GB hard-drive based multi-media package, which includes a navigation system with seven-inch screen, plus a six-disc DVD changer, as part of a 12-speaker, 450-watt surround-sound system. On-board music is limited to 4GB of the hard drive, which translates to up to 1000 songs, but music can be ripped from CDs or read from a memory-card slot.

 

A twin-panel Panorama sunroof, dual-zone climate control, and Bluetooth are now standard on all models, including the base Luxury. Actual pricing hasn’t been revealed yet, and it doesn’t go on sale until later this summer, but Mercedes-Benz says that the value of the greater standard equipment is about four percent and that the new model will remain as strong of a value — a sly way of hinting that its entry price may go up by nearly that amount, so we’re predicting just over $30,000.

 

The new C isn’t a huge leap ahead, but does have what counts — a hard-driving personality that’s soft when you want it to be.

 

2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 Sport
Base price: $30,750 est.
Engine: 3.0-liter V-6, 228 hp/221 lb-ft
Drivetrain: Seven-speed automatic transmission (six-speed manual standard), rear-wheel drive
Length x width x height: 182.1 x 69.7 x 57.0 in
Wheelbase: 108.7 in
Curb weight: 3615 lb
Fuel economy (EPA city/hwy): N/A
Safety equipment: Anti-lock brakes, traction, and stability control; dual front, side, and curtain airbags
Major standard equipment: Dual-zone climate control; power windows/locks/mirrors; power front seats; leather upholstery; AM/FM/CD/satellite radio; keyless remote; cruise control; power tilt/telescope steering wheel; engine immobilizer; sunroof; alloy wheels; Bluetooth hands-free interface
Warranty: Four years/50,000 miles

 

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