Mercedes introduced the baby Benz 30 years
ago. The 190E was the first-ever tiny luxury car, and Stuttgart needed it to be
taken seriously. To accomplish that, the subcompact was designed as a shrunken
S-class in stature but not in substance. It was a genuine advancement in
engineering, safety, and luxury, but chiefly, it drove like every other
Benz—soft and cushy.
In the intervening years, Mercedes, along
with other premium manufacturers, exchanged body roll and plushness for
Nürburgring prowess. Faced with the staggering success of the BMW 3-series,
Mercedes became obsessed with beating that car at a game it never should have
tried to play. In the process, the C-class, the smallest Mercedes, gave up far
too much luxury and gained not enough sport. With no resemblance to the brand’s
range-topping S-class, the C got a bit lost.
The 2015 C400 retilts the scales. Luxury is
once again the priority. In terms of interior appointments, this car is so far
ahead of its rivals that it’s effectively in a class of one. Every visible part
of the cockpit is jewelry—a feast of colors, textures, and expensive-feeling
materials.
The
C-class shares a lot of its looks with the new S-class, furthering its
desirability
Given the C’s exterior styling, this
shouldn’t have been a surprise. Just as it took an extended glance to tell the
190E from that car’s larger siblings, the ’15 C-class is virtually
indistinguishable from the new S-class. Mercedes’s new design language heralds
an overdue return to the simple, glamorous styling that once flowed from the
pens of masters Bracq and Geiger and Sacco. The C’s front overhang is
impossibly small, its side flanks refreshingly unadorned, its stance at once
muscular and elegant. The new car is 3.7 inches longer and 1.6 inches wider
than its predecessor, and it’s now a hair larger than the CLA—but thanks to an
additional six inches of wheelbase over that car, it has a backseat that fits
adult humans. With the possible exception of the C’s in-your-face face, the
design is a stunning work of restraint.
The
C-class's cabin is in a league of one thanks to its finish and presentation
Sandwiched between the C400’s cast-aluminum
front suspension towers is the latest variant of Mercedes’s new V-6. Compared
with the old car, displacement drops from 3.5 liters to 3.0, but a pair of
turbochargers inflates output by 27 hp and 81 lb-ft. The sole transmission is
Mercedes’s familiar seven-speed unit, coupled to standard all-wheel drive.
In typical boosted-Benz style, you hear the
blowers more than you feel them—their output is extraordinarily well
controlled, and the slush box masks lag almost entirely. The engine’s seemingly
endless torque should catapult the C400 to 60 mph in around five seconds with
no chance of wheel-spin, thanks to the all-wheel-drive system’s fixed 45/55
front/rear torque split.
Integrated
touchpad works well but requires a little too much concentration to work
Even though Mercedes has just begun
replacing its old 90-degree V-6 with this new family of direct-injected,
60-degree V-6s, rumors persist that the company is developing a straight-six.
The C400’s coarse, whiny sound alone makes a convincing argument for the
engine’s replacement. You can force enough air and fuel into a six to produce
V-8 levels of power, but the only way to make a suitable acoustic substitute is
to arrange the cylinders in a line.
