Mercedes Benz C230 – Young & Classy Executive Showpiece

When you arrive anywhere in a Mercedes Benz, it is a subtle statement that you have made it. It doesn’t matter if it is a company car; it just means that you have made it too, in the corporate world, because they don’t simply dish out these expensive icons to just anybody in the company. If it is your own private car, it means that you are financially stable enough to go out and make a purchase commitment in excess of a quarter of a million ringgit (even if it was the lowest model in the range). Such is the power of the Mercedes brand image that makes it one of the most desirable cars in the world.

The S-Class needs no introduction, but remains affordable only to those with large corporate wallets; the E-class is more affordable, and if you drive one, you are seen as one who is well established, and of staid character. One of the down-sides of the larger Mercs was that if you were a yuppie, people often had the impression that you were driving in your father’s car.

Mercedes needed a line of products that would appeal to the younger set of professionals and businessmen, a new breed of individuals that is fast growing in numbers.

With a smaller and more sporty looking body, the C-Class Mercedes Benz is the ideal choice for such a target market, and DaimlerChrysler Malaysia offers a line of variants, all of impeccable quality in build, but with different trim and power packages to suit different tastes and different pocket books.

Our test team got to take a C230 Kompressor with a Sports package for a week and turned it turned the whole lot of us into Mercedes Benz lovers.

Appearance, inside and outside

Designed to be the entry level of its model line-up, the C-Class can be classified as a compact sedan. Though compact, some clever playing with the exterior lines has resulted in it looking bigger than its actual size. The base model starts with the very competitively priced C-180, followed by the C-200. The C230 is the top of the C-Class range for DaimlerChrysler here, and has all the goodies packed into it for the man who wants only the best.

All the three variants sport the 1.8 litre engine, and all run a factory-fitted supercharger to boost engine power. Different internals and different-sized superchargers plus different ECU programming give all three different performance characteristics, overall power, and fuel consumption.

The C230 Kompressor, in addition to many minor details, sports additional goodies that up the performance level. The result is a sporty package that would appeal to the younger set. One gets to portray a classy image when needed, and when there is a need for speed, the C230 delivers in a very satisfactory way. Big 17-inch Evo rims, low-profiled Continental Sport Contact 2 rubbers and lowered Sports tuned suspension make the car into a serious driving machine.

Unlike other performance cars that blatantly show off their ‘muscle’ with huge spoilers and menacing body kits, the C230 Kompressor is more subtle in appearance. It still has some ground-effect kit on the front and rear bumpers plus the side sills but they are tastefully rendered and will not scare the more mature buyers.

Slide yourself into the cockpit and you will notice the bits and pieces of aluminum effect panels that line the dashboard right up to the door panels; these are part of the Sports Package.

The leather-wrapped steering wheel is just the right size, large enough to make light work of turning in tight confines, and small enough to give the right amount of ‘feel’ during spirited driving.

The soft leather seats are of course comfortable, but instead of only providing superior cushioning effects to your body, they also have good lateral support to hold you in your seat during cornering. The seats play an important part sports oriented driving; any race or rally driver worth his salt would attest to that, and the experience that Mercedes has gained from many decades of motor sport has evidently been applied here.

The overall layout of the dashboard is good with the important switches and controls placed well within reach. Drivers and passengers in the C-Class will immediately see the logic and thought that has gone into placement of each item on the dash.

The Power Plant & Transmission

Despite its badge, the car does not have a 2.3 litre engine, even though it may feel like it. As mentioned earlier, it is all in the supercharger size and ECU programming that makes the C230 more powerful than its siblings.

In the C230, the 1.8 litre DOHC unit cooks up an impressive 189 horses, and 260Nm of torque. Contributing to this is variable valve timing, a set-up that gives the engine good pulling power at low engine speeds, and ‘opens’ up its throat for high speed requirements.

Power is transmitted to the ground through a five-speed auto gearbox (with manual shift option), with well spaced out ratios to give it excellent get-up-and go, plus a high top speed. Top speed as tested was 245 kilometres per hour before we ran out of safe road.

Driving Impressions.

The C230 is a car you can drive sedately around town, looking elegant and polished, and arrive at any function in style, looking very serious and business-like

If at any time, you feel the urge to floor it, or if an important deal required you to change into your racing shoes and don your driving gloves, the C230 will do as a duck takes to water. It has been carefully crafted to be Mr. Hyde on demand. The ‘Kompressor’ is a supercharger unit mounted directly onto the engine to provide forced induction. It functions much the same as a turbo unit, with the exception that the supercharger is driven off the main engine pulley instead of being exhaust-driven. The result is zero lag, and massive torque characteristics.

Given free rein, the C-230 will out-drag most cars you can see on the road; it will, if required, weave in and out of traffic with ease (not that we recommend it, of course), and it will ‘fly’ if you wish it to. Driving aids such as ABS (Antilock Braking System), EBD Electronic Brakeforce Distribution, and ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) make the car idiot-proof. The keener –eyed drivers will also note that the suspension set-up is geared to make the car understeer when pushed, a condition that is relatively easy to handle, as opposed to oversteer.

The brakes are excellent, and the car stops unerringly each time. Brake feel is confidence inspiring with the amount of ‘bite’ progressing as the pedal is depressed. Large ventilated front discs and rear solid discs put aside any worry of brake fade.

On our regular stretch of twisties, the C230 gave a good account of itself. The balance of the car allows good use of weight transfer, but even if you don’t know how to use this technique to the fullest, the driving dynamics take over and keep you out of trouble.

Owners of the C-230 will have no problem ferrying four adults in comfort. It will actually seat five, but the rear seat contours are meant to pamper only four.

Boot size is acceptable, and you will find it easy to load your golf bags in. Unfortunately, it will take only two large sized bags comfortably, and three at a squeeze. The saving grace is that even with a full load in the boot, the rear is supple enough not to sag.

Conclusion

If you are a young executive in a senior position, and you want a nice compact car that does justice to your station in life, but at the same time, don’t want people to think that you are driving around in your father’s car, then you might want to take a serious look at the C-Class Mercedes Benz. And, if you want something with a little more oomph, then take the C230 out for a test drive. You might just like it enough to make that decision to buy one. I can only promise that you will enjoy the car very much, because the whole team did, tremendously.

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