DAN PROUDFOOT
For many years, the absence of a small, sporty two-door coupe has caused younger buyers to turn to BMW, or more recently to Audi or Infiniti. So it was that Mercedes put Heidl in charge of developing the C-Class Coupe that comes to Canada in September – two months after he takes delivery of his own company car.
“I am the demographic for this car,” he said to me. “I’m 38 years old.”Concerned about the greying of its European customer base, Benz talks a youthful story at every opportunity in the process of introducing the C-coupe. It’s as though it has suddenly realized that the sub-middle-age two-door buyers it has been ignoring for decades could become customers for life once hooked by a winsome coupe.
So in glossy company publications, younger members of the creative team are at the forefront. Interior designer Adriana Balko, 32, is said to love the two-tone steering wheel in Edition 1, a limited-production run of the C350, of which 50 will be on offer in Canada. Ulrich Baer, a design team member, age 39, favours the rear of the coupe as its best angle. Heidl himself speaks of the cabin possessing “a really stylish lounge atmosphere.”
Seeing the car for the first time, though, my gut reaction to the fruit of their youthful labour is rather mature in appearance. If BMW’s 3-Series coupe appears sinuous and Audi’s A5 sculptured, muscular might be the word that most positively describes the new entrant in the class.
Heidl identifies the 3-Series coupe as the target. And like the BMW, the C-Coupe is intended to appeal to everyone from lounge lizards to track junkies. The atmosphere is sporty and elegant, regardless of engine and suspension configuration: rear seating as well as front consists of individual buckets, and panoramic sunroofs overhead will distinguish all cars sold in Canada.
We drive the V-6-powered C350 first. This is the offering intended for well-dressed, well-heeled coupe buyers – i.e., those men and women who’ve been walking past Mercedes-Benz dealerships and buying $46,700 Infiniti G37 coupes. (Pricing for the Mercedes line is to be announced closer to the September introduction, but can be expected to range from $40,000 to $70,000.)
Comfort may be as important as pace for lounger-drivers, which is why the Dynamic Handling Package is standard in this model, optional in the base-priced C250. A touch of a button engages a soft suspension setting. Selecting sport mode becomes the obvious choice when making full use of the direct-injection V-6’s 302 horsepower on our way into the Sierra Morena foothills, much reducing lean and sharpening turn-in on the two-laner’s tight curves.
During such times of 100 per cent concentration behind the wheel, the automatic transmission plays its role shifting more quickly and steering centring alters, contributing to the rush. Or not – for this model is first and foremost a luxurious cruiser and many of its buyers will engage the sport setting once and never more stray from comfort.
The C250 to this driver turns out to be the more engaging car. Its turbocharged four-cylinder, 1.8-litre engine is lighter than the V-6, improving front-rear weight distribution while dropping curb weight from 1,615 kg to 1,550. Steering response seems sharper than with the heftier six. Plus it’s an engine with character and
affirmative exhaust music.
According to the manufacturer’s performance figures, the V-6 reaches 100 km/h in 6.0 seconds, the four in 7.2. In either case, 210 km/h is the electronically limited top speed. You’ll prefer the six if a strong initial lunge pulling away from a stop is a priority, or the four for its responsiveness to the involved driver.
Certainly you find yourself using the manual-mode of the automatic in the four-cylinder car more than in the C350 on the twisting roads Mercedes has chosen to showcase the coupes. Working the paddle shifters beneath the steering wheel keep the engine in its sweet zone between 2,300 and 4,300 rpm.
It’s a shame the paddles aren’t standard in C250s destined for Canada, but are part of the optional Sport Package. Heated seats are optional, too. And a Premium Package is necessary for such niceties as power-folding mirrors, Harman-Kardon surround sound, Sirius satellite radio and a parking distance sensor system.
Even the more luxurious C350 requires a Premium Package for a navigation/DVD system as well as the audio and parking aid in the C250 grouping. Mercedes-Benz Canada appears to be working toward introducing lower base prices than competitors’ with desirable options likely upping the ante.
Ambitious Mercedes increasingly wants to compete in every conceivable category, soon introducing the A-Class (even smaller than the B-Class) to North America, breathing new life into its super-luxury Maybach division, taking over selling the Smart in the United States. Adding a sport coupe to the lineup was long overdue.
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C63 AMG Coupe |
The SLS gullwing sports/race car’s engine powers the C63 AMG Coupe.
This is front of mind as I drive on to the Cirquito Monteblanco race track, with factory-employed DTM racer Susie Stoddart leading three journalists. The faster we go, the faster she will go.
Just think: a 6.2-litre monster V-8 rated at 563 horsepower and 479 lb-ft when mounted mid-chassis in a $198,000 two-seater, now reappears in 451 hp/443 lb-ft form in the nose of a two-door coupe that will start at $40,000-something with a base engine.
American muscle cars like the Pontiac GTO coupled huge V-8s and mid-sized two-doors almost 40 years ago. They could burn rubber all day long but couldn’t turn a corner.
Stuffing a huge engine into a relatively small car, however, is the sort of mischief the performance division of Mercedes performs quite magically.
The C63 AMG Coupe is intended to compete with the BMW M3 and Audi RS5. It needs to corner. And corner it does – tail-out in the tight turns of Monteblanco but easily controllable with the stability control turned to Sport Plus, quite the opposite to the under-steering, ploughing effect common among nose-heavy cars. AMG claims 53/47 front-rear weight distribution.
It’s a fun drive that rewards smoothness behind the wheel, as becomes apparent as the two other journalists who have more track experience and Stoddart steadily pull ahead of yours truly. And no matter how hard I over-drive the thing trying to catch up, scrubbing speed and trimming curbs, the stability control prevents spinning out.
The three-link front suspension is redesigned to AMG specifications and the rear reinforced. Negative camber is dialled into the wheels as in pure racing cars and the side-to-side between the wheels increased.
The transmission, too, is not at all like that of the C250 or C350 apart from the seven gears having identical ratios. The AMG-specific Speedshift (as it’s called) dispenses with the more ordinary C-Coupes’ torque converter and shifts as quickly as 100 milliseconds. Confirming the emphasis on performance, final drive is 3.060, compared to 2.230 in the civilian models.
The aluminum hood provides visual differentiation with its twin “power domes” as AMG describes the raised lines reminiscent of the SLS and the 300SL sports cars. Viewed from behind, the distinctive black diffuser with four tailpipes communicates the internal monkey business with less subtlety.
Inside, the sports seats are supportive rather than claustrophobic, the steering wheel (flattened top and bottom) feels as good as it looks. Some colleagues find the ride is overly firm even in Comfort mode, but I find no cause for complaint. Toronto-calibre potholes would be jarring, but reality is buyers of this model likely will only encounter them on Kingston Road on the way to participating in track days at Mosport.
I complete my Monteblanco experience in the passenger seat as Susie leads three journalists from Dubai. Soon she’s complaining as two of them fall behind. “Not every journalist is a fast driver, Susie,” I point out. “But we’re not even going fast,” she replies as she drives with one hand on the steering wheel, effortlessly, in a different dimension.
In the following weekend’s DTM stock car race at Spielberg, Austria, Susie finishes 13th as journeyman Martin Tomczyk wins and former F-1 driver Ralf Schumacher places second. With cars of this calibre, getting the most out of them is always the challenge and the reward.
( Courtacy: THE GLOB AND MAIL http://www.theglobeandmail.com )
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