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C230K REVIEW BY USA TODAY:
C-class coupe gives most Benz bang per buck Once again, it's the little one that's neat. The Mercedes-Benz C-class coupe, a two-door hatchback officially designated C230 Kompressor, is a lot of fun — and that's something you can't always say about a Mercedes-Benz. Because C230 seems most-satisfying per dollar, you might credibly argue that it is the best Mercedes-Benz. It's part of the perverse phenomenon that makes the small and relatively cheap 3-series the best one from expensive brand BMW, and the likewise little and low-price TT and A4 the best from premium-price marque Audi. Beyond the Teutonic price-value irony, the obvious issue with the $26,000 C230 is the same as with the $30,000 Jaguar X-type: Can it be real for that price? Yup. Real, if not lavish. Where the Jag is derived from the European-market Ford Mondeo compact sedan, C230 is pure Mercedes. It's a coupe body and interior atop the C-class sedan chassis with an engine from the last-generation C-class sedan. But even a pure Benz isn't what it used to be, so the fact that C230 is authentic at $26,000 isn't quite the breathtaking statement it once would have been. The vaultlike construction, the lavish interior materials, the hang-the-expense engineering that once marked Mercedes-Benz aren't there nowadays. The venerable German brand, which can claim direct links to the invention of the automobile, has to compete with cheaper rivals and can't rely solely on its prestigious name to sell enough cars. It has to cut corners to keep costs down so it can price lower and still make money. The test drive involved two cars, a base C230 with manual transmission, priced $25,595, and a loaded automatic priced $31,165. The manual model had cloth upholstery, a radical step down in a U.S. Mercedes-Benz. Most have leather. Those that don't use a special vinyl that some people mistake for leather. Mercedes-Benz thinks the cloth is pretty good-looking. You might not. The pattern resembles squarish line drawings of fish or stylized genie lamps. Leather is nicer but was a hefty $1,410 option in the more-lavish of the two test cars. At least the cloth seats were sufficiently comfortable. What was fun about the base car was the stick shift. Mercedes-Benz — hardly known as the U-Shift-It brand — has rolled out some pretty nice manuals lately. C230's seemed best yet. The lever stroked easily from gear to gear, yet retained a mechanical feel beloved by stick-shift fans. And the clutch was magnificent. It engaged easily and forgivingly from rest, making it unlikely you'd kill the engine, even on tricky uphill starts. Underway, there's none of the jerkiness that marks some rivals. The Touch Shift automatic was less satisfying. Fully belled and whistled, it didn't seem a good match for the supercharged, four-cylinder engine. In full-automatic mode, shifts weren't at opportune times to complement the engine's power delivery. In manual mode, it was a bit imprecise, not changing gears exactly as the driver commanded. A third mode engaged the "most suitable gear" for conditions. Uh, isn't that what a good automatic routinely does? Despite the imperfect marriage with Touch Shift, the engine was a high point. Not Mercedes-Benz's latest or highest-tech powerplant, it's nevertheless a good-hearted one with a distinct personality. The supercharger adds power by force-feeding more air into the modest-displacement four-cylinder, giving it the gumption of a larger engine. You can hear the supercharger whine and growl. The Benz engine was strong at low speeds, without hobbled performance in free-range circumstances. That low-speed torque helped make the manual transmission so pleasant. The back seat, built for two, had adult-size knee room but not headroom. Fine for kids? Not quite. They fit but can't get out of the back by themselves easily. The latch that loosens the front seat is positioned wrong for back-seat use. The only easy way to operate it is standing outside the car, facing the rear. The door handle's also so far forward that kids can't reach it even if they can unlatch the seat and slide it forward. How would a child escape the back seat after a crash that disabled the adult in front? C230, perhaps accidentally, pays homage to the Honda CRX, a discontinued, Civic-based, two-seat coupe so popular in the '80s that you could pay full sticker price for a new one, scream around a few thousand miles, then sell it used for more than you paid new. That car pioneered two features reprised on C230: a sunroof that lifted up and slid back along the outside of the roof to preserve headroom, instead of along the inside, and a transparent vertical panel in back so the driver could avoid smacking things backing up. Mercedes-Benz amplifies the sunroof concept with a two-panel skylight. The one over the front passengers raises and slides open along the outside, as on the CRX. The glass above the rear seat doesn't open but adds welcome airiness that helps overcome coupe claustrophobia. A ceiling panel between the front and back sunroof panels cleverly houses shades. One shade powers backward to cover that glass, while the other shade zips forward. The see-through back panel is less successful. Honda's was distortion-free. Mercedes-Benz's is wavy plastic that skews the view so much that it's almost useless avoiding posts and people while reversing. Here's Mercedes-Benz's official, written explanation to Test Drive: "The three-dimensional sculpturing of this additional window is technically not possible with glass, and as such leads to a solution with synthetic material (polycarbonate). In fact, this material causes some optical effects, but the only alternatives are either to do without additional view backwards, especially important for parking, or to make the back more bulky by using a normal glass window pane." There was a time no such rationalization would have been necessary. The rear view would have been crisp, regardless. Matter of pride. And you'd have paid more for the car as a result of the extra engineering. Other beefs:
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