The ultimate reference guide to the 2008 Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Car of the year for 2008 in the following Mags,

Automobile
Car and Driver
Motor Trend

,and all the rest.

i hate to say it, but the interior looks pretty downmarket, and cheap, hopefully it will feel better than it looks that looks like it could be in an economy car that interior would look nice in a mazda 3, but a c class, the g35 appears to have a nicer interior and im sure it will be thousands cheaper, i guess they ran out of money on the cl and s class.....

I swear when I saw the picture above I thought its a nissan tiida...... But nevermind, its because it was red and the taillights have a similar size.

I like this C class more than about anything in this class. It actually looks upmarket.... a baby S class.

The 3 series looks sporty, but this 1 looks more luxury.

Interior is the terrible and worst in it’s class and OMG What's up with the steering wheel? Even the Chinese cars will have a better designed one than this.

All in all an average car/player in it's class close to Audi A4, Acura TL, Volvo S40 but nowhere near the BMW 3 Series, IS and G35.

JUGNU

The interior is fantastic, it blows the A4, IS, G and 3 out of the water.
I'm serious, I've been in one, unlike everybody else on this site. It's really high quality. It felt better than the CLS and CLK IMO.

I've been in a CLS. I'm hard pressed to believe a C-Class rivals it in terms of materials, but I get that you're trying to elevate a point that most aren't seeing here. The CLS takes the cake on looks alone. In photographs AND in real life the CLS impresses. This C-Class isn't impressing anyone with even the photos yet...

In looks and sheer luxury the CLS wins obviously (and abundance of wood etc), but the dash material and general plastics are better in the C. I compared them practically side by side, they were on the same stand.
They're certainly better than anything BMW has made, better than the old S class, better than any car in its class or many cars that have preceded it. All the buttons and controls moved nicely, and were well damped.
When I say the interior is a masterpiece, I say it with complete conviction. I ask you, why should I lie?

However, I feel, like others on this site, that it does look slightly plain. Maybe a bit of chrome edging would solve that (ie round wheel, on some buttons), but not full on slabs of wood or aluminium.
Notice one other thing: A complete absence of rouched leather, whereas the old model had it in abundance. Perhaps a less traditional luxury look, but far more modern and in line with the 3 series and A4 style.
I was very impressed by this effort from Mercedes.

I'm happy to see that the engine has iron cylinder liners (these are cast in when the aluminum block is poured); however, I am not pleased Mercedes soldiers on with an inherently-out-of-balance 90-degree V6. The car remains on my shopping list but I would like to have RWD with LSD (preferably a Torsen) and the Vision C220 Bluetec that the Europeans have access to.

hey I see MD plates on this car. where did you guys tested this at?

im guessing euromotor cars lent you the car?

WOW. Dare to read the pdf. file and you will see that this car is very well engineered!

The C class on the pictures looks like it is a 7 speed automatic and not the six speed manual.

Yes Sport, its all about the cost of capital equipment (tooling). With a 90-degree configuration they can bore out V6 and V8 engines on the same machine. Audi has a 90-degree V6 also and, in spite of excellent noise isolation and my aging ears, I can hear it growl ad different RPMs. Other than that, the engine seems smooth in the passenger compartment but they must have good vibration dampening engine mounts and appropriate counterbalancing weights/shafts. BMW has an in-line six which is inherently in near-perfect balance. I lease my Audi so I don't care if some future owner finds that the engine has shaken itself to death. I'll say one thing about the Audi engine though: After 55,000 km it still does not burn a drop of oil between 15,000 service intervals.