Okay. So this is my dream vehicle. I never thought I would be a big fan of Mercedes because of the FLASHINESS that comes with it. The snootiness - it looks like the kind of car you would expect to see Paris Hilton stumbling out of at 3:00AM. But I just love the lines of this car… I have only seen it on the road or parked so I decided to do some investigating to see what this car is all about.
This is what I found…
According to cartalk.com the C230 Kompressor Sport Coupe is the smallest and least expensive Mercedes you can buy. (This is good news for me!) It’s also the nicest two-door hatchback on the market. (Even better, because I have a civic two-door hatchback and this would be an upgrade…) It used to be that a fully loaded VW Golf was as upscale as you could go with a practical and sporty two-door hatchback. But this car is clearly the new king of that hill.
The C230 Coupe is a new model for Mercedes. It’s well designed, beautifully made, fun to drive and nicely equipped at a cars.com target price of $24,950. The C230 is something of a departure for Mercedes, which has a reputation for making solid, conservative expensive sedans. No doubt the company hopes that its new, spunky hatchback will attract younger buyers who thought they couldn’t afford a Mercedes, or buyers who want the nicest damn small car they can own. Mercedes also hopes these happy, young C230 owners will hop their way up the Mercedes line, from the C Class to the E Class, finally graduating to an S600 before bequeathing their worldly belongings to their future Mercedes-owning offspring. Well, that’s the hope, anyway.
The C230 comes in only one body style and with just one engine choice: a 192 horsepower, 2.3-liter, 4-cylinder engine with a belt-driven supercharger (that’s the Kompressor part). You do get a choice of transmissions: a 6-speed manual or a 5-speed automatic.
The Test Drive
The guys at cartalk.com went on to say…. Solid is a word that always comes to mind when driving a Mercedes. Spunky isn’t. But the C230 is both. The supercharged engine is an ideal match for this 3,300-pound car, providing plenty of pep without being overpowering. The six-speed transmission is well suited to the car, too, with the top gear cutting the engine speed at 70 mph from 3,000 rpm to around 2,600 rpm — for a noticeable improvement in noise, engine wear and gas mileage.
We loved the way this car handled. It’s a well-balanced rear-wheel drive car on a very solid suspension system. It scooted around corners with very little lean, and it felt solid and controllable at all times. One note of caution: The C230 is rear-wheel drive, which means it’s at a disadvantage in slippery weather. We noticed that the C230 slipped a bit on wet roads, which doesn’t give us much confidence that it would keep you moving in the snow, even with its traction control.
Aside from being small and light enough to be fun to drive, the C230 also felt solid and substantial. It’s a nice combination.
I can’t wait to get this vehicle! Does anyone who has one have any comments??
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