Merc’s sporty range inspires
As a fledgling scribe in 2013, I attended an event MercedesBenz billed as a showcase of its “dream cars”. The categorisation was simple: coupés, cabriolets and creations breathed upon by the AMG division.
It made for a pretty interesting first acquaintance with the sporting wares of the brand. There was virtually one example of each to sample around the Kyalami circuit. Right from the hearse-like CLS 63 Shooting Brake, which made for a comical experience, to the breathtaking SLS in both its guises.
While the automotive landscape has seen serious changes in the past five years, it is nice to see the brand has not taken a backseat to cars with an authentic “wow” factor.
If you need evidence of this, note the number of two-door and drop-top variants Mercedes-Benz offers — notably more than the other two Germans.
Apart from the tired SLC roadster perhaps, the range is rather inspiring. We recently spent 24 hours in the company of the roofless C-Class. This model underwent a mild makeover earlier this year, alongside the sedan and coupé models. The changes included aesthetic tweaks, enhanced interior appointments and infotainment functionalities as well as engine upgrades.
Equipped with the AMG Line styling package, our C200 tester (finished in black) certainly scooped its share of attention from passers-by in Cape Town. The setting of the Mother City provided additional rose-tinting to our glasses in the outlook towards the roofless four-seater. Indeed, it is much nicer to enjoy such a vehicle in fresh mountain air — rather than the smog we are used to in Johannesburg.
Yes, the C-Class looks the business: a glamorous, open-air tourer for four passengers to live their best lives. My passenger on one occasion, fellow motoring writer and friend Justin Jacobs, resisted the urge to selfportrait the outing. But succumbing eventually and with poor timing, his hairy, outstretched arm caught the attention of two trendy passers-by in a Volkswagen Polo at the traffic lights. They looked at us with a mix of pity and disgust.
You can take the boy out of Witbank … Anyway, back to the car.
In this format, it makes no apologies about its partiality to leisurely cruising rather than spirited performance. The turbocharged, 1991cc, four-cylinder employed in the C200 is good for 150kW and 300Nm, via a nine-speed automatic. Note that it is not the same unit featured in the saloon counterpart wearing the same nomenclature.
This mill is well-suited to the application, though you can even have it in six-cylinder C43 flavour, but we feel that option might be better enjoyed in the fixed-roof cars. Interestingly, buyers are also offered a diesel choice in the form of the C220d.
A must-have amenity is the air-scarf, which keeps front occupants’ necks free from al fresco chills. Supplement that with heated seats and you could comfortably drive this C-Class in a topless setting even when those infamous Cape winds start to howl.
So what will you pay for la dolce vita in this Mercedes-Benz? Well, the entry point into the range is this C200, which rings in at R865,024.
That is, of course, before you tick a single option. By the time you stuff your C-Class cabriolet with additional bits, you may find that it encroaches on the turf of the larger E-Class cabriolet in price. That model wears a base price-tag of R929,969. This is a conundrum indeed.
But Mercedes-Benz has done well with differentiating its flagship S-Class cabriolet from the other two. Its starting price is R2,507,978 these days.