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Mercedes has further expanded its C-class line-up by adding a coupe that will tackle head-on the segment-leading BMW 3-series and Audi A5 coupes.
With a significant proportion of the cars destined for user-choosers, Mercedes is pitching it as an old-school coupe, with plenty of references to the way the car looks and the fact that it's sporty.
Based on the C-class saloon, the coupe is almost identical in length, but has two fewer doors and one fewer rear seat, with less head and leg room for passengers in the back, yet retains a good-sized boot at 450 litres, only 25 litres down on the saloon. The lower roofline not only means rear seat passengers had better be short to fit in, but up-front the driver will feel much more cocooned than in the saloon too.
The interior is of usual high Mercedes quality and will be familiar to anyone who's driven the recently revised four-door, but there is the addition of a few new trim materials including a gloss white surface for sections of the dash, which works surprisingly well.
The engine line-up is a modified version of the saloon's. The coupe ditches the lowest powered and highest powered diesel units, sticking to the C220 CDI and C250 CDI engines producing 170hp and 204hp respectively. These are also the most efficient engines with the 220 CDI in manual form coming in at 133g/km and 55.4mpg.
The petrol engines shouldn't be ignored by fleets, because they too are impressively competitive for benefit-in-kind taxation. Even the 306hp 3.5-litre V6 is capable of getting under the 160g/km capital allowance limit.
However, as the standard (and only) trim level across the range in the UK is the AMG Sport, its larger alloy wheels are expected to raise the lower threshold for CO2 output. Indeed, the UK misses out on a 117g/km version of the C220 CDI.
The up-side to only taking the well-appointed Sport trim is that, according to Mercedes, the car is more than £2000 better equipped (thanks mainly to a standard digital radio) than the equivalent BMW 3-series, and Mercedes hopes, will take sales from the 3-series and A5.
To drive, the C-class coupe offers a high level of comfort with a low level of body roll. The steering is well weighted too and offers a good amount of feedback. The models BusinessCar tested were all equipped with the optional (£575) dynamic-handling package, which includes a sport button that sharpens the throttle response, stiffens the suspension and speeds up the gear-change in the automatic. In the diesel models this worked best with the sport button pressed, offering a more fun drive. However, it was best left alone on the C250 petrol.
The result is a car that is equally at home covering high mileage on the motorway network, or being hustled down a twisty A- or B-road. It's a very good combination, and in this respect an advantage over either of the car's German rivals.
It may be a cliché, but the C-class is hard to fault. If you're a business driver in the market for a prestige coupe this means it jumps straight to best-in-class status. And that's before you even factor in the spectacular cost per mile victory over its two German rivals. Mercedes is back on top form.
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Verdict |
9/10 |
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Business Car Magazine © 2020 | Business Car is part of NS Media Group.
