Mercedes-Benz C-Class

If you don’t want a BMW but want rear-wheel drive and a premium marque, the Mercedes C-class is it. In a different league in terms of looks, driving dynamics and quality to the old one, Looks sensational as an estate too.

• Comfort

  Well damped, well controlled, well sorted. The Merc C-class is one of the best medium-sized executive chariots you can buy. The larger 320 V6 diesels are proper continent crushers. Not all are so easy to live with however; the C63 will smash your spine to splinters.

  

• Performance

  The runty bottom of the range consists of a supercharged 1.6-litre petrol or a 2.1-litre diesel. Both perfectly satisfactory, but better with more power as the C250CGI and C220CDI. There's also a 3.5-litre petrol and a 3-litre diesel V6. The engine to go for if you have a functioning brain is the 231bhp, 3.0-litre diesel. It mixes grunt with civility and range. There's also the mentalist C63 AMG with a 6.3-litre V8.

  

• Cool

  The right specification can make the C-Class one of the only cars in the mid-size saloon sector that could even be close to being described as ‘cool'. Spec it wrong and it's just another Munich taxi.

  

• Quality

  Leaps and bounds. Two words that describe Merc's rise from ‘oncewas' into ‘now is'. Fantastic build, great design, solid engine and transmission set-ups; the C-Class is an all-round star. What you were used to feeling in an S-Class, you now get in the ‘lower' orders. Awesome stuff.

  

• Handling

  The engineers spent ages making the Mercedes C-class feel right, and it does. Body control is good across the range, the damping feels more UK-specific and there's decent (if not telepathic) feel from the wheel. It's not quite as energetic as a BMW but who wants to copy everything they do in Bavaria anyway?

  

• Practicality

  Don't forget the small-ish ‘lifestyle' C-Class estate if you really need to haul a small dog around (this could be the toy poodle chariot du jour) or have a couple of spoilt children - that's got some 1500 litres of bootage. Otherwise the saloon is wider and longer than the car it replaced and is subsequently nicely spacious. Back seat passengers also don't suffer unduly. The boot is 475 litres. About average.

  

• Running costs

  If you're worried about the pennies then you have to go for the smaller engines simply because they're so much more efficient. The Mercedes C180 drops 149g/km of C02 and gets 44.8mpg - which isn't bad, but it also won't set the world alight (or prevent it from doing so, if we're being totally literal). Company car tax tends toward the stiff though and insurance ranges from group 13 for the C180K to 20 for the C63. Residuals are earthquake-proof.