Category: Compact Executive 
Price Range: £19,672 to £52,567
Roomy, composed, comfortable, with a choice of good engines.
Short on flair.
A bigger, better car that's at its finest when it's most like the E-Class.
To avoid any embarrassing repeats of the quality glitches that descended upon some other Mercs in the late 90s, the development team have driven 200 prototypes a total of 15m miles.
Certainly, the general feel of the car is high-quality and sturdy - with one glaring exception: the boot, which lacks the chunky, clunky thunkiness you associate with Mercedes at its best. The lightweight lid flies open with disconcerting rapidity but, more seriously, the handle for lifting the floor feels incredibly flimsy, as if it's designed to break when you're looking for the spare wheel in the rain on the hard shoulder of the M1.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Mercedes C-Class
wrote on 14 11 2006