Why would anyone buy an outgoing model?

The new C–Class is upon us and will make the current one look rather old, rather fast. As is evident by new and pre–owned advertising, Mercedes–Benz dealers are doing their utmost to sell you the ageing shape before the shiny new one arrives. I heartily recommend this, for a number of reasons.

Phone up your local dealer and order a new one. I dare you. After laughing at you in the chilling manner of Robert Mugabe on election day, they will inform you that you‘ll only get lucky in 24 months, give or take a few. OK, they probably won‘t laugh in a sinister way, but fact is that the order books are fast becoming impressively huge. The internally known W204 will only be available in certain models, with limited and fairly confusing specifications, so I‘d like to present my second argument:

The current W203 range of cars comes with the ability and knowledge of a retiring engineer, a lifetime of experience and improvements have made it among the most complete packages in our midst. My parental units unintentionally subscribe to the same line of thinking, whereas they somehow always bought a Mercedes just before the range got replaced. You can be assured that all niggles and problems have been sorted out, the range has had at least one beneficial ‘‘face–lift‘‘, and much like the current C–Class you‘ll probably get a lot of toys and extras thrown at you for free, to sweeten up the deal.

Rola Motors in Strand even encourages well–heeled customers to order a new C–Class for delivery in 2009, and buy a current model for the time being. The initial shock of a new range might hurt the existing W203 cars, but the Mercedes popularity and limited supply of new units will (in my humble opinion) eventually command very respectable amounts.

Should you wish to keep your C–Class longer, the current range should offer exceptional value and reliable service, thanks also to the standard 6–year / 120 000km ‘‘MobiloDrive‘‘ motor plan. To save a few more dollars, visit the Rola Motor Mall (Rola Motors‘ Pre–Owned division) to exploit the pre–owned vehicles‘ lower asking prices. The chaps at Rola had regrettably just sold their last C350, the C180K didn‘t appeal to me, and I tried immensely hard to ignore that silver C55 flaunting its quartet of shiny exhaust pipes around the place. Hence I opted for arguably the most sensible model on their floor, the C220 CDI. I applaud their choice between 3 available cars, which ended me in a Perlite Grey Elegance C–Class with light grey interior. The vehicle is a year old, flashes just over 8 500km at me when I start it up, and even still has that new–car smell.

First impressions count, and the C220 CDI provided many. The noisy Diesel engine seems quite alien to me in a luxury saloon, even after many days of happy motoring. The unlikely combination has its definite advantages though, as is apparent by the amount of luxury Diesel sedans around us. The engine delivers the same muscle as a bigger petrol unit, at half the fuel consumption. My C–Class was fitted with a silky smooth 5–speed automatic gearbox which occasionally prompted me to ponder if a manual would‘ve been better? I couldn‘t detect much turbo–lag, even below 1500rpm, but low revs coupled to the wrong gear can leave you with a small lapse in performance. Stop and go traffic in town will tilt two–digit figures, 11L/100km being the norm around Somerset–West. Open roads and highway cruising reward the C220 CDI owner (or test–driver) with anything between 6 to 7 litres per 100km. An average consumption of 8,5L per 100km is good enough in my books.

Even better is the Mercedes‘ sound system which, despite not being mp3/wma/pdf/whatever ready, has incredible depth and clarity. I fruitlessly looked for a Harman Kardon or Bose badge, as the standard setup provides exceptional sound reproduction. I found the highly reflective unit a bit daunting to control, much like the multi–function buttons on the steering wheel. These also display other vehicle data in the display between the chrome–ringed dials in the instrument binnacle. The rest of the cabin gives a feeling of warmth and quality, and with a few minutes of relaxed revision, I soon knew my way around most of the buttons and switches. A personal grievance is the location of the window switches in the driver‘s door, as a tall Mercedes man I often caressed the wood trim around the gear lever in vain, then fumbled around my door and subsequently fully dropped the left rear window. The analog climate controls are set a bit too low down in the dashboard but they are easy to operate and rarely see much use as the Merc keeps your desired temperature with German precision.

More of these obedient tendencies can be found when the Benz is in motion, which will probably astound, if not alienate, Mercedes fans of old. Gone is the spongy ride, the vague steering with 1/4 turn before a direction change, and the sleepy autobox. Although its predecessor vastly improved on–road behaviour, the W203 C–Class is another leap forward when it comes to handling and driving responses. The steering is a tad hard but reacts well, and suspension components strike a good compromise between comfort and roadholding. This doesn‘t mean the C220 CDI is a sports car. If I owned the bling key to one of these, I‘d definitely avoid racetracks. The 5–speed automatic has a button to flick between ‘‘Comfort‘‘ and ‘‘Sport‘‘ but I determined that it doesn‘t have a vast influence on my driving experience other than holding onto a gear longer in latter mode.

Floor the C220 CDI and the Diesel takes a while to spool up. The car rockets forward but looses momentum in the upper rev range, only to shoot onwards again with the next gear before it runs out of breath again. Ironically I discovered that the best method for continuous propulsion and your next speeding ticket is to only depress the throttle about half way. This summons all of the C220 CDI‘s torque and sees it changing gears at the upper limits of its oil–burning torque curve instead of the noisy redline. Added benefits include better fuel consumption and a quieter ride, as the common–rail 4–cylinder loudly objects to maximum crankshaft operation. In–gear acceleration is wonderful, provided you don‘t surprise the turbine with a sneaky kick–down. Yet again the force–fed Diesel hesitates before it struts its stuff, and I preferred slowly squeezing the right pedal to invoke more pressurised air and the occasional gear shift. Keep up this fluent and graceful driving style, and the little Diesel will zip along nicely with minimal fuss. Previous generation Mercedes gearboxes (like the W210 E–Class) reacted differently to ‘‘Tipshift‘‘ manual intrusions as well, and would reluctantly swap cogs one at a time. In what I assume to be an effort to level with more sporting German sedans, the C220 CDI surprised me when it selected the lowest gear possible by just one flick of the lever. In true automatic fashion, selecting a higher gear resulted in little to no reaction.

All this lead me to the clear conclusion that the C220 CDI was not designed as a racer, but rather as a comfortable sedan with slight sporting intentions. I‘m starting to see why my old man prefers looking down a shiny bonnet at the three–pointed star. When you‘re done messing around and long for something complete, the Stuttgart marque should feature at the top of your shopping list. More evidence to this case includes the easily operated cruise control, auto–lights with follow–me–home feature, auto–wipers, and a whole menagerie of 3–letter safety acronyms. ‘‘What are follow–me–home lights‘‘ I hear you ask, just as I did? Lock the car after dark and the rear lights plus front fog lights come on for a minute or so, to prevent you tripping over an otherwise unseen curb, cat, or the neighbour‘s flower pot. Mercedes drivers don‘t trip.

Tomorrow morning I have to return the Mercedes to the Rola Motor Mall, and I‘ll do so with mixed feelings and a somewhat heavy heart. I don‘t like Diesels, especially in luxury sedans, as is also evident from my E320 CDI review. But just like its bigger brother, the little C–Class Diesel has won me over with bags of torque and a good compromise between sporty handling, and that unshakable Mercedes–Benz comfort. Never mind the window buttons, the schizophrenic fuel range indicator, or the hammering idle noise. When you are homeward bound after a long day of solving other people‘s problems, the C220 CDI will cosset you in unassuming luxury and float along the R44 with such poise that you forget about the nastier parts of our wicked world. Would I buy one? Possibly a manual, and only in Perlite Grey.