1 On the road in the car that’s taken 40 years
You could see 2021’s new C-Class as being essentially a scaled-down S-Class, and that wouldn’t be wrong. But the more important input is from the decades of compact-executive know-how accumulated by Mercedes with the previous four generations of C-Class and, before that, 1982’s game-changing 190. This fifth-gen C-Class, the W206, is the most electrified and the most digital yet, but it must also keep loyalists happy. And it has to go up against its long-term rivals, the BMW 3-series and Audi A4. Finally, it has to show that, two years into the job, CEO Ola Källenius is transitioning Mercedes into a company that’s cutting costs while investing in a cleaner, more connected future. No wonder the new design has a more pronounced shoulder line; this car needs to carry the weight of the world.
Today we’re riding in a pre-production saloon, a petrol C300 4Matic mild hybrid. My driver is chief project engineer Christian Früh. While he’s demonstrating that the C300 has what seems to be an encouraging mix of refinement, pace and agility – helped by a new four-link axle at the front and multi-link at the rear – I’m in the passenger seat having a good look around the cabin: a big step forward from the decent but dated current car.
The W206 is lower but longer and wider, with a longer wheelbase. The cabin is set slightly further back. It’s a cleaner exterior design, with fewer lines except those shoulders and proudly old-school bonnet bulges. On most of the route the C300 shines. But around town and on a short stretch of back road, the ride quality is not brilliant, and there’s a subdued low-speed rumble. In fairness, our car is riding on sports suspension that is generally very effective, and broad winter tyres, which tend be noisy.
Dropping the six- and eight-cylinder engines could have been accompanied by a move from MRA to the front-wheel-drive MFA components set, saving cost and extending cabin space. But Früh says: ‘That would have been a mistake. The weight saving is negligible, but in terms of traction, steering feel, ride comfort and the quality of the driving experience, such a shift is counter-productive. The more sophisticated rear axle makes a real difference in the way this car handles and absorbs the vagaries of the road.’ In any case, the suspension had to be re-engineered for hybrid hardware.
So far as can be sensed from the passenger seat, the steering set-up with this car’s sports pack is uncommonly direct and prompt for a Benz, firmly anchored yet always prepared, sporting an extra bit of turn-in zest followed by a relaxed wind-off action. A wide open stretch of B464 dotted with friendly, top-gear corners lets the C300 enjoys the chance to show off. Aided by torque vectoring, ESP, ASR and AWD, the black box diverts excess oomph to the axle and individual wheel that most deserves it. W206 fuses immense grip with crosshair poise for a very welcome fun factor.
This early taste of the new C-Class gives every reason to think that, as the company restructures itself for the new age under the guidance of Ola Källenius, the car that has sold more than any other Mercedes over the last decade will continue to do the business.
IT MIXES REFINEMENT, PACE AND AGILITY, AND THE CABIN IS A BIG STEP FORWARD