Another Look

2006 Mercedes-Benz C350: Starting the year off right

Should auld acquaintance* be forgot and never brought to mind? In the auto business, the answer is definitely yes. This, Bruce Springsteen songs and a few classic cars notwithstanding, is an industry about tomorrow. Neither Wall Street nor Main Street cares what fabulous cars you built yesterday. Just ask Studebaker. All that matters is what you’re building today and how much you can sell them for tomorrow.

Still, like Springsteen, every journalist hack considers him or herself an artist of some sort, with art as experience transformed to wisdom, informed by the past as it informs the future. We guard that past jealously, because those accumulated experiences are all that differentiate us, and our opinions, from your loaded Uncle Larry who considers himself an expert on everything after a few cheap beers.

Truth is, no matter how bad you are at something to begin with, if you do it enough, sooner or later you stumble upon some truths. Experience really is the greatest teacher. I’m sure it does help to have some talent and to start with some knowledge of your field, but I wouldn’t know.

As for my experience, there are cars that I remember all my life, though some have changed, some forever, not for better, some have gone, but some remain (man, this should be a song).

I remember probably a decade ago when Mercedes-Benz was redefining itself in the American market. It was going from that stuffy giant best personified by the blocky S-class at the time to a fun brand that said excitement and performance and not just staid safety, and ran ads making fun of itself. Looking back, that was one of the most successful brand transformations in a long time. Mercedes has managed to retain much of its aura of exclusivity while becoming a mass-market brand, the Louis Vuitton of cars.

But back in those days, who knew? Then I drove the AMG version of the 190’s successor, the C-class, through the Litchfield hills. It was magic, a very sporty, very different kind of Benz, and the start of a long love affair. True confession here: The car I own is an E-class, so there may be a pro-Mercedes bias.

Still sin auld lang syne, we twa – Mercedes and I – hae run about the braes, and pou'd the gowans fine, but we've wander'd monie a weary fit, sin auld lang syne, and I wondered if the latest iteration of the C-class could stand up to the memory of the old.

It wasn’t necessarily a fair fight. Last time, it was the AMG version of the C, which is now the C55 AMG. This version was a lot less expensive, the C350 sport.

To explain, much has changed over the last model year for the entry level Benz. Gone are the value leader coupe and the young suburban favorite wagon. Now the C-class will only be available as a sedan. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that gone too should be the perception that these Mercedes models cannot compete with BMW in sportiness. New engines and more horsepower are rewriting the terms of this debate. In addition to the flagship 5.5-liter V8 of the AMG version, performance galore is available in the 3.5-liter V6 powering the 2006 Mercedes-Benz C350 sports sedan. The Double Overhead Cam, 24-valve V6 pushes out 268 horses and 258 lb.-ft. of torque, making for a 0-60 time of 6.4 seconds.

The cost of the new C350 is actually less than that of the C320 it replaces. Mine came in well-optioned at a bit over $43K. Power is up by about 25% while fuel efficiency is about 12% better, at an EPA estimated 20 city/28 highway on premium fuel.

There’s at least one set of numbers missing from that story, however. The torque curve is a measure of the smoothness of the power distribution, and here the numbers don’t lie. Maximum torque is just about flat from about 2,500 to 5,000 rpm. Approximately 87% of the torque is already available at 1,500 rpm. What that means is that the power is smoothly distributed over the practical driving range. The real benefit is that whenever you want to, whether it’s avoiding a kid running out into the street after a ball or avoiding a tractor trailer that decided to occupy your space on the highway, just step on the gas and the power you need is there.

One thing we probably learned looking at the world over the past year is that power is nice, but you must be able to control it. My test C350 was the rear-wheel-drive version with the 6-speed manual (all-wheel-drive is also available, as is a 5-speed and a 7-speed automatic).

I almost screamed out loud when I first put that transmission through its paces. I wanted to jump on Oprah’s couch so the world would know how much in love with this shifter I was. It’s a short-throw stick that’s smoother than Bill Clinton in a roomful of interns. I kept shifting gears just because I could, running the car through its paces just to feel how smoothly the engine’s power was flowing to the 17-inch wheels. It’s almost like the anesthesia I had at my last operation. There, you felt that tingle and knew you were going to another place. Here, you touch that shifter and your whole body starts tingling, because you know where you’re going feels so good it would be illegal were Pat Robertson president.

Those big tires and the Mercedes sports suspension kept the C350 glued to the road. Hard as I tried to shake its composure, I couldn’t. The ride was definitely sporty, but not so stiff as to be uncomfortable. You felt connected to the road in that Zen-like bliss that can only be interrupted by a stop sign.

That’s when the brakes kick in, reminding you this is a Mercedes, and as much fun as it is, it’s never going to forget about safety. This is Mercedes, and it comes with all the standard safety features one would expect from a leader in the field. But the best way to deal with an accident is to avoid one, and the performance of both the engine and the brakes on the C350 Sport certainly help. Steering is excellent, and that’s all I’ll say about it here. I could spend much more time waxing rhapsodically about it, but that would mean you’d get down to the dealership that much later.

Outside, the C350 looks much like the model it replaces – sexy in a Brooks Brother-ish, executive suite kind of way, masculine but not louty. Inside, improved styling means the C-class now offers a more distinguished look, with instruments and the minimalist looking black-on-white gauges easy to use and understand. Seating for four is comfortable, though the back seats may not be where you’ll want to stash Shaq on that cross-country trip.

Overall, the C350 is a sports sedan that makes Mercedes a contender again for anyone in the market for a great-handling, upscale vehicle. The 2006 Mercedes-Benz C350 Sport sedan provides the kind of experience that may well drive you to smiling, if not grinning foolishly, at absolute strangers, and wishing even the most annoying person in your office a Happy New Year.

Me, I’m smiling at the memory, and since I’m not driving, there's a hand my trusty fiere, and gie's a hand o thine, and we'll tak a right guid-willie waught, for auld lang syne.

Happy New Year.

*-Auld Lang Syne translation (from www. hogmanay.net)

• auld lang syne - times gone by
• braes – hills
• fiere - friend
• fit – foot
• gowans – daisies
• guid-willie waught - goodwill drink
• monie – many
• pou'd – pulled
• twa - two

posted by Andy Mais @ 12:35 PM