The new Mercedes-Benz C-Class was well described by many journalists lately including myself. But there is nothing that gives you a better impression than driving a car for a week or more under more ?normal? situations. That is why I took a base 2.6-liter 168 horsepower V6 powered C240 last fall (a standard shift car with cloth interior that I loved) and recently, I picked up a more luxurious C320 with a more powerful 215 horsepower 3.2-liter V6 engine. I am sparing you all the details concerning the car itself, we covered them pretty well on www.guideauto.com. But I still want to point out how well built this car is and how well equipped it can come. Naturally, it is obvious that the newly redesigned picks up the same styling cues as the bigger S Class car. It is a nice looking automobile, not too big, not too small, just perfect?except for the hefty price. Nonetheless, it remains affordable to many people with a bigger budget. My silver tester had a close to $50,000 price tag.
Mechanically speaking, this cute little Benz has a V6 up front that sends its power through a five- speed automatic transmission right to the?rear differential. Now, we did talk about the great roadhandling capabilities of this C-Class earlier on dry pavement. The independent suspension did its job better than most other cars and I, as many other journalists, praised its qualities on the road. But there are a lot of people who will pass this car simply because it?s still a rear-wheel driven vehicle, mostly potential customers from the Northeastern part of the continent. I am talking about the better part of New England and the Province of Quebec where?it snows! And this year, the 2001 winter season has seen its share of snow, believe me. I live North of Montreal so I can talk about it.