Mercedes-Benz C-Class 2007 Review

Back in 2000 when Mercedes-Benz launched the W203 C-Class, the reviews were mixed. Build quality was down but equipment levels were up. This, it seemed, was the inevitable compromise wrought by an ever-fiercer global automotive battleground.

Although shaky plastics and wheezy supercharged engines were given the thumbs down, even the harshest critics could not deny that the third generation C-Class retained that essential Mercedes character somewhere within.

While it gave up its sporting soul to the BMW 3 Series - and build quality and pricing advantage to the Audi A4 - the W203 still managed to soothe in a way neither of those rivals could. Mercedes-Benz ride and NVH were still numero uno.

Indeed, the advent of the E90 3 Series and its conversion to run-flat tyres simply emphasised that fact. In a Wheels comparison (August, 2005), Peter Robinson called the then recently improved midlife C180K a "revelation", praising its ride/handling compromise and noting the immense improvement to its four-pot engine. The 320i won the comparo, but only narrowly - by half a star, to be precise.

Move forward nearly two years and W203 has given way to W204. The official rug-pulling was performed at the Geneva motor show in March and you only have to wait until July for the chance to crawl over one at your local Mercedes dealer.

So what to expect? Well, the C-Class is Benz's biggest-selling passenger car so revolution is a no-go. That's most obvious in the drivetrain. The supercharged four, petrol four-valve V6 and turbo-diesel engines will be carried over. The supercharged fours have increased in outputs and decreased in fuel consumption but, disappointingly, all fours miss out on the increasingly impressive 7G-Tronic automatic transmission. Expect pricing to be held line-ball with the current car. That's good, and perhaps surprising, news considering sedan production will revert to Germany from South Africa.

The C-Class still looks to the S-Class limousine for exterior style inspiration - note the exaggerated guards and chiselled lines under the door handles and above the sills reminiscent of the W221. But when you do walk through the showroom door prepare yourself for a shock: Mercedes has - in its own risk averse way - gone radical with the C-Class. While the Classic and Elegance variants retain a conservative, formal stance, including the upright bonnet emblem, the big three-dimensional star planted in the grille of the W204 Avantgarde is a pretty significant departure.

This look is traditionally reserved for Mercedes-Benz's family of coupes, and dates back to the legendary 1954 300SL Gullwing. Something very similar now also fronts the A, B and ML models.

Differentiating the Avantgarde model more explicitly is at the core of Mercedes' new strategy for the C-Class. Essentially, the company recognises its advantage in refinement levels, but at the same time it is after a younger and more modern audience that, until now, has seen BMW and Audi as better fitting their image. Avantgarde is the designated soldier for that battlefield.

"The type of people who can buy the C-Class come from a very wide field, so you have a lot of personalities," Rainer Tiefenbacher, W204 senior development manager, told Wheels during the recent global launch in Spain. "For C-Class you have young people from 30 years old to more classic, conservative people of 65. And we would also like to catch customers from other brands, so we decided to make two C-Class models - in effect one for the more conservative type of person and one for the more sporty."

Tiefenbacher said the need for the C-Class to develop a more dynamic exterior design strategy was one of four cornerstones hammered out for the W204 program five years ago. Unsurprisingly, an improvement in quality was recognised as a necessity, along with the ever-continuing commitment to improving safety.

There was also the need to create a better driver's car, and this ties in very much with the exterior design objectives. Quite clearly the BMW 3 Series could not be tackled on looks alone. Mercedes had to deliver a car that steered and handled in the same league without sacrificing its comfort advantages.

But rather than develop one state of suspension tune for Classic and Elegance and then toughen it up for the Avantgarde, Tiefanbacher's team instead came up with a concept called Agility Control. This is standard across all the sedan models, the only difference being standard 17-inch rubber for the Avantgarde and 16-inch rims for the other two trims.

There are a number of elements to Agility Control. At its core is a bodyshell that has been subjected to a comprehensive digital prototyping program. This larger bodyshell employs 70 percent high and ultra-high strength steel alloys, and is eight kilograms lighter and 13 percent torsionally stronger than its predecessor. Naturally, Benz expects a five-star NCAP rating.

Wheelbase climbs 45mm across the range and both front and rear tracks grow significantly, but how much depends on the model. The entry-level C180K's rear track increases an incredible 76mm, but the top-spec C350 grows 'just' 60mm.

The multi-link front and rear suspensions are updated, with the rear trading in its steel links for aluminium, and the subframes have also been strengthened. The steering rack is still hydraulic, but lighter and six percent faster than its predecessor, and positioned 80mm in front of the front axle line, rather than behind it, as per the W203.

Intrinsic to Agility Control are amplitude dependant dampers. Developed with German specialists Sachs-Boge, these dampers are purely hydromechanical - in other words, no electronics or sensors. The design is based on a bypass channel in the crank pin of the shock absorber, and a control piston moving within a separate oil chamber.

On smooth roads, when shock absorber impulses are low, the control piston forces oil through the bypass channel to create a significantly smaller damping force at the damper valve. This results in softer shock absorber characteristics. But if the shock absorber is subjected to larger impulses, by striking a pothole for example, the control piston moves to its final position and no more oil flows through the bypass channel which makes the maximum damping force available.

In theory this delivers the best of both worlds: comfort and sports ability in the one package. It's not all-new - something more primitive but of the same concept is employed in the A- and B-Class - but Tiefenbacher still rates Agility Control as W204's crowning achievement.

"To bring together driving comfort and agility in this way was the main target, and it was a very difficult task for the engineers," he admitted. "Digital prototyping was an important factor in our success. We had the opportunity to calculate these things regularly to find the best solution. Only when we were sure of the solution, did we then put it in the hardware - the higher the testing level, the higher the level you get when it's in production."

Does it work? Well, on the ultra-smooth roads of Costa Blanca, most definitely. But in two days and 300km, we didn't sight a single pothole, let alone the type of chopped-up roads we're used to in Australia. So we'll have to wait until July to find out if rough roads upset the new C-Class's ride quality, handling purity or noise suppression qualities.

What those serpentine roads did show, however, was the C350 Avantgarde to be a sharper dynamic weapon than its predecessor. Steering was more direct, responsive and communicative; the car sat flatter and had a higher level of front-end grip. But another caution: all our driving was on run-flat tyres. Thankfully, Australian cars will come with normal tyres and a full-size spare, so there's even potential for improvement.

There is a further, tauter suspension tune option called Advanced Agility. It combines Mercedes-Benz's traditional sports set-up with electronically-controlled active dampers developed with Monroe, an even faster steering ratio and two automatic transmission modes. A 15mm lower ride height means it doesn't comply with Australian Design Rules (ADR) but Benz is fighting the good fight.

This system offers driver-controlled comfort and sports modes. Comfort picks up about where Agility Control finishes, Sport is a whole step up again. On those silky Spanish byways an Advanced Agility-equipped C320 CDI felt good, offering an appreciable lift in sporting ability. The 165kW/510Nm 3.0-litre turbo-diesel engine and its excellent amalgamation with 7G-Tronic didn't hurt the package either.

There are other ADR issues facing the C-Class, too. An intelligent lighting system that automatically changes the spread, depth and direction of bi-xenon headlights depending on conditions is facing a bureaucratic brick wall here, as are emergency flashing brake lights. M-B Australia has been campaigning to get both these features approved for some time now.

Mind you, it seems that not all the bugs have been ironed out of Benz's approved technology. The satellite navigation system insisted on sending several different cars traipsing off-course through downtown Valencia. And as we're being critical, it's worth noting that while several vital measures are up, cabin space does not grow significantly. This is particularly apparent in the rear where taller rear passengers will continue to find leg and headroom limited.

But the W204 offers an otherwise impressive and improved interior experience. Some of the trim materials hardly shout - or should that be murmur? - luxury, but they are well chosen to suit the themes of the various trims. We love the floating speedo needle, the big front seats and the way the media screen pops out of the centre stack. Australia will also get the top level COMAND multimedia system - a far more user-friendly set-up than BMW's iDrive.

Which perhaps serves as a summary for the car as a whole, really. Asked how he rates W204 against the BMW E90 3 Series, Tiefenbacher's response is as expected. But pointed, all the same.

"For me W204 is the better car," he says. Then he thinks for a while before adding in clarification: "Also to drive." July, Rainer. We'll tell you in July.

What we get
Mercedes-Benz will start rolling out the W204 sedan range in Australia in July, commencing with the 1.8-litre-four-cylinder supercharged and V6 petrol models. Turbo-diesel variants may be delayed.

The current W203 line-up comprises C180K and C200K supercharged fours, C230 and C350 V6s and A C220 CDI turbo diesel. New W204 engines include the C280 V6 and a C320 CDI turbo-diesel V6. Despite badges, both are 3.0-litre units.

All V6 models will come with the 7G-Tronic auto transmission as standard, but four-cylinders stay with the current five-speed auto. Some cars will have the cheaper option of a six-speed manual transmission.

Within 12 months of launch, expect to see the C63 AMG bruiser, wagon and sports coupe variants in Oz. Interestingly, the coupe will retain its W203 underpinnings beneath a thorough external overhaul.

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