GOOGLE last week showed the self-driving cart that transports staff
on its campus. That company had now proven its self-steering system over
millions of kilometres, but it is not yet confident its systems can react in
time to unpredictable pedestrians, which is why the Google cart comes with a
soft foam nose. Not so Mercedes-Benz, which had in September last year
demonstrated its self-drive system by sending a plush S500, equipped with Merc’s
Intelligent Drive, over 96 kilometres on a public road.
The new C-Class features the same autonomous safety systems as
appears in the more expensive S-Class. At their most basic level, these systems
can park the Merc, correct wrong steering inputs from a sleepy driver and even
stop for sudden objects on the road.
Jaw-droppingly gorgeous
To prove this, Merc
invited motoring media to the Red Star Racetrack near Bapsfontein, where they
could put the standard and optional safety systems in the gorgeous new C-Class
to the test. I was caught totally unprepared — not for the safety features — but
for just how jaw-droppingly good this car looks in the flesh.
Forget photos or YouTube, there is not yet a camera made that can
convey the sheer presence of this car. Merc uses words like “sensual” and
“luxury” to describe the design, and for once I could see what the marketers
meant, from the longer nose to all that C-Class ass in the rear — which is
A-list all the way, if you get my drift. Not that all that booty will ever
drift, even with its volume of 480 litres loaded to the gunwales.
It handles too
This handling was the
second surprise. While no track eater in the vein of any Beemer, the new C-Class
can and does motor around one. Yes, the suspension is still set up to understeer
and any corner at speed generates more squealing from the 17-inch, run-flat
tyres than was heard in Deliverance.
But as I discovered clinging to the back seat while the engineering boss of the
C-Class, Oliver Winkler, showed me what his baby could do at speed, the Merc
will not step out of line.
Selective damping automatically adjusts the suspension for the road
conditions, while a four-link suspension upfront ensures light, accurate
steering and improved grip, even in hair pins taken at speed.
And with 100 kg shaved off the chassis, which is now almost a
centimetre longer between the axles, the 2014 model felt so planted it left even
an Audi quattro fan like myself feeling quite … enervated.
Some serious heritage
This was not something
I expected from driving a C-Class. I was prepared for “predictable” and even
“boring”. Turns out the only thing I predicted right was the economy from the
1,6 engine in the C180. I am also willing to bet the new C-Class will be boring
only in its reliability, as embodied by two old C-Class taxis I used from and to
the airport. Between them, these battered taxis boasted just under a 700 000 km
of city driving accumulated since the eighties.
Five things I don’t like
There are five things I
don’t like about the new C-Class: the four run-flat tyres and the absence of a
spare wheel. Run flats are fine in Europe, where mobile tyre shops can quickly
replace a wheel. But if a pothole bends a rim on a run-flat tyre in the Karoo,
instead of changing the wheel in about 10 minutes, experience shows the owners
will have to wait half a day for a flat bed to fetch them and then spend the
night in a seedy motel while the local tyre shop awaits the right tyre.
Maintenance contract
Merc will, however, pay
for any and all pothole delays though its Premium Drive maintenance contract,
which for R14 500 (and no further “customer contribution”) covers a Benz driver
for six years or 100 000 km. And having now seen how far ahead Merc is in the
race to deliver self-drive cars, I won’t be surprised if wheel rims that pop
back after a hit is next on its to-do list.
Engines
The new C-Class is
available with a choice of five engines, four petrol and one diesel. A C250
BlueTec turbodiesel is due in September followed by a C300 petrol in June next
year.
Prices, engines and power
Prices, engines and power
•
R415 900 C180 Blue Efficiency (1 595 cc; 115 kW/250 Nm)
• R436 600
C200 Blue Efficiency (1 991 cc; 135 kW/300 Nm)
• R502 600
C250 Blue Efficiency (1 991 cc; 155 kW/350 Nm)
•
R459 000 C220 BlueTec turbodiesel (2 143 cc; 125 kW/400 Nm).
