THE "CHEAP BENZ" NO MORE
Sticking with the Germans, the clash for global popularity in the entry-level premium segment is between the Mercedes-Benz C-class and BMW 3-series. Focusing on the new C-class as marquee star, this fourth-generation car—“W204” in the halls of Stuttgart—is a big moment for DaimlerChrysler. In the past seven model years, the current-generation C-class sedan (“W203”) has sold more than 1.4 million units and this new one needs to do even better if Mercedes-Benz is to keep pace with BMW in the hunt for those entry-luxury spenders. After our two days driving mostly in the top-of-the-line 268-horsepower C350 Sport Sedan with the full AMG package, we know that C-class number four is prepared to face up to its demanding job expectations.
We can say this better than anyone, since, besides our C-class time, we arranged for BMW’s European 330i M Sport four-door to meet us in a small village along the twisting roads on day two. (The closest North America currently gets to this 258-horsepower 330i setup is the 230-horsepower 328i with the sport package, though BMW NA is reportedly closer than ever to bringing over the full M Sport treatment as well as the stronger, more efficient engines. Fear not; we will be getting something closer to the car you see here before the gen-five 3-series is too much older.)
Just as a quick first pass over our notes and recollections from the two days, this C-class sincerely does put the outgoing model on memory lane. The word that sums it all up from our standpoint is “maturity.” Given Mercedes-Benz’s still lingering wounds over discomfiting quality issues, the company is going to some lengths to set things right. Build quality both inside and out is a tangible and visible step above the last C-class, while also, temporarily at least, giving the 3-series a little catch-up homework to do. Few were the areas on the interior and coachwork where we spotted the handiwork of old Dr. Helmut Cheap in the bean-counting department.
Mercedes-Benz has decided to once and for all strip the C-class of its long-standing nickname, “Baby Benz.” Cruising briskly along the coastal autovia south of Valencia, there were numerous times when we noticed other Mercs humming down the three-lane with us. At first, we regularly took them for fellow testers in other new C-classes, but they ended up more frequently being either an S- or E-class. We never would have made this mistake before.
The C-class sedan body and passenger cabin are larger in all directions and you stay more comfortable over longer distances. Overall car length increases by 2.2 inches (1.8 inches of that in the all-important wheelbase), width by 1.7 inches, front track by 1.1 inches, and rear track by an entire 2.4 inches. On our C350, curb weight increases by only 120 pounds despite the growth program, thanks to the use of lightweight and stronger steel technologies in the chassis and body. The driving perspective reflects this, too, with more car wrapped around the same relatively new V-6. And yet it handles better than the former C-class sedan, due to suspension upgrades and 16 percent added torsional resistance in the chassis.
A key feature being pushed by Mercedes starting with the new C-class is the whole marketing angle of Agility Control, which includes on the standard cars a new hydraulic Agility Control suspension, Agility Control steering, and Agility Control gearshift. Then, available sometime in 2008 also for North America (deliveries will start in late July), there will be an optional Advanced Agility package with special electro-hydraulic shock absorbers and a sport button that affects the suspension, steering, throttle, and gearshift responses.
We had the advanced setup on our soup-to-nuts C350 and it allows the car two separate personalities, both of which are studly charmers. The standard Agility Control hydraulic suspension is a simpler solution that responds automatically to higher- or lower-frequency road imperfections by impeding or encouraging fluid flow in the dampers via four sensors. On smooth highway, the fluid flow is allowed to gush freely and give you that Mercedes on-a-cloud effect, while on rougher stuff the dampers work harder to negate the bumps.
So we came right out and asked C-class development senior manager Rainer Tiefenbacher whether these special advanced dampers are the Delphi MagneRide units popping up on Audis and Ferraris. He replied with some satisfaction that, no, they are not from Delphi, but rather Monroe. We spent the entire first day of driving so focused on getting the photos you see here that we never had occasion to find the sport button and activate the system. We made sure of it on day two and the effect is exhilarating, especially as we had already remarked on the overall default softness of this AMG package. The sport settings answer all of that by electronically stiffening the damper rating, changing the steering weight and ratio (already 6 percent more direct in normal mode versus the outgoing model), livening up gas pedal reactions, making the 7GTronic automatic pop, and lowering the car six-tenths of an inch.
At one point, we were at the helm of the 330i M Sport, trailing the C350, and noticed the visible suppleness of the Advanced Agility suspension by the movements of the rear end. Radioing ahead to ask if the C350 was in sport mode, the nonverbal response was to put it in sport mode, at which point there was nary a sign of suppleness to be noticed.
Which brings us into the sturdier cabin and world of the Bimmer with the M Sport package. By sturdier, we mean all of those German hallmarks: ruler-wielding school matron-like warmth, slightly brooding color choices on the inside, and utter intent upon living up to its reputation. Don’t believe for a minute that these are harsh words; we have grown up learning to appreciate this German sense of purpose and the 330i M Sport fits this bill. What separates this BMW from our featured Mercedes is what almost always separates Munich from Stuttgart: BMW wants the sporting edge as its leading image, while Mercedes wants to have products that can both coddle and be edgy in an above-the-norm manner.
Seats are stauncher stuff in the BMW M philosophy, the one-mode suspension is stiffer, the steering settings are thick and heavy with just 1.8 turns lock-to-lock (the Mercedes takes a mainstream 2.6 turns), and noise entering the cabin from tires, engine, and wind registers at markedly higher decibels than in the Merc. This is an optional package for the purist who doesn’t want just two doors and a full M3 price tag. Most noticeable is the serious steering rack that is almost discomfortingly heavy to maneuver, though the point is clearly taken that M Sport fans want this. The other major difference here is the precise six-speed manual M transmission, since an M Sport car with a fully automatic box is sort of a no-no. At Mercedes, on the other hand, the default (certainly for North America) will forever be some form of heavily automated transmission, and the C350 Sport Sedan will come standard with the 7G-Tronic.
We enjoyed both configurations all day long. Though the BMW steering will remain king of the hill perhaps forever, Mercedes is inching closer with each iteration without ever matching it—seeing as it doesn’t exactly want that caliber of hearty steering.
Another difference consistent with what we were feeling through our pants, hands, and inner ears is that the 330i M has a reported Euro curb weight of 3428 pounds with the manual, while our cush C350 comes in at 3615 pounds. Much of the lightening in the BMW seems to have been stripped from the NVH bin and we have to admit that we appreciated the silencer effect in the Mercedes cabin, particularly as the day’s drive wore on. And with its added horses and torque, the C350’s 3.5-liter V-6 records almost the same acceleration figures as the 330i M’s 3.0-liter inline-6—6.3 seconds to 62 miles per hour in the Bimmer versus 6.4 in the Merc with the seven-speed auto and shift paddles in sport mode. But is it really possible to choose here based only on this?
What ups the ante in the Mercedes’s favor—certainly in the business forecast sense—is the clever twist of offering the car with two distinctly different faces. This practice has been absent in automotive history of late and it is thoroughly smart in our assessment. If North Americans want the C300 luxury sedan, they get a luxury face: four thinner grille rungs and the traditional hood ornament. But if it’s more of the sporting image you seek—as 70 percent of North American customers do and as we did for this test—you can have your C300 or C350 Sport Sedan with bolder three-rung grille, larger air intake, and the large star socked right in the middle of the snoot, à la AMG. Color us totally duped, but there is a palpable difference in the aura of each car just by this simple switch. After all, for a Mercedes buyer, isn’t the first impression the most important?
So, BMW does need to let its base 3-series design sing a little more. It is, by all of our accounts, a wonderful car, but the presentation is lacking. Just notice how we lit up when the 335i Coupe came along earlier this year—that’s the look the rest of the 3-series lineup needs now.
Overall, the technology upgrades in this new Mercedes C-class represent more of a repackaging than a thoroughly new leap ahead, but the presentation is spot-on and 100 percent Merc. Our time with the Advanced Agility-equipped C350 was what convinced us that Mercedes is now bridging the sport gap to the 3-series a little better than BMW is bridging the luxury gap to the new C-class. Who knows if BMW aspires to do so, but between the cleverness of the two different faces and the S-class profile (especially the hoodline and grille height and angle), this C gets an A.
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