Benz Pulls the Wraps off New C-Class

C Class Photos

Taa-daa! The new S-Class. Er, I mean, the new C-Class. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

Interior styling is a little more grounded... but it looks wonderful and better made than the old car. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

The new C-Class may move Benz's name up a notch or two in the luxury-sport compact market segment. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

The C-Class compact luxury vehicle is a staple for Mercedes-Benz. Themost recent generation was Benz’s most popular vehicle, capturing more than 2 million sales in sedan, wagon and sport-coupe guise since it was launched during the spring of 2000. Yet despite its popularity, the C-Class never really excelled in any particular area. It was plagued by so-so quality during Mercedes’ darker years, and consistently out-powered and out-handled by competitors. For 2008, the C-Class is back and Benz has done all it can to help restore its presence in an increasingly competitive field.

Summed up, the new C-Class looks like an S-Class that’s been washed and put in the drier for a bit too long, retaining the majority of details that debuted on the big Benz. It has the same pointed jewel-like healdlights, and the prominent five-sided grille’s strakes are bigger and bolder than in the previous generation. Yes, even the debatable wheel arches and elongated tail lights made the cut, though the frumpy looking trunk didn’t. The interior is a little more in line with what we were expecting, leaning towards conservatism.Benz’s typically cluttered center console has been cleaned up with a new design that includes a pop-up screen for cars equipped with the navigation system. Further upgrades to the system include a 30-gb hard drive that comes pre-loaded with maps for the navigation system, plus 4-gb worth of space for storing music and other media. This system is controlled via an iDrive-style knob located behind the gearshift. We’re not quite sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but otherwise it’s a nice looking interior that looks inviting and well-built.

Striving to restore its name as an innovative brand, Benz is debuting a couple of new technologies to help the C-Class keep up with the enthusiast-oriented competition. Benz is coining the term “Agility Control” for this new model, and it includes various components that fall under the category of suspension, steering and gearshift. These include such features as adaptive damping, more direct steering and shorter more precise throws on cars with manual gearboxes. Sounds like good fun, and given Mercedes-Benz’s improvements in recent years, the new C-Class should be a hoot to drive. The baby C-Class also receives Adaptive Brakes, which are borrowed from the S-Class. These not only prime the brakes if an unavoidable accident is detected, but also provide start-up assist for hill starts.

Benz’s initial press releases did not specify which engines the C-Class will be getting when it makes the trip to North America, but we suspect that it’ll be V6s straight through the board, with the amazing new 6.3-liter naturally aspirated V8 being reserved for the high-performance AMG model. Benz’s emphasis on Agility Control plus positive feedback from the current car’s six-speed manual gearbox leads us to believe that both the manual and the 7G-Tronic automatic will be the only gearboxes available when the car arrives late this summer.