Test drive Mercedes Benz C-class W204 since 2007 sedan

Bulls and bears

Words from the vocabulary of exchanges here for a reason. For Saab, to turn the current falling trend of sales the issue of life and death. But in the absence of new products in the lineup, it is not easy to achieve growth, so the Swedes began to develop the bull potential in the 9-3 model. But Mercedes C-Klasse is attractive from a bear position. The asset does not require ultraces, and dividends promise considerable prestige. So, on the left of the Merce, capable of crushing by authority. On the right 9-3 Aero Sport Sedan, ready to raise any opponent on the horns.
Wake the beast. Either the money is depreciated so quickly, or the cars are so rapidly good, and now without a million in the pocket to C-Klasse, do not come. The most affordable modification of the C180 Kompressor is offered for 1,098,000 rubles. In 2000, when in Russia they began to sell the previous ceshka, a new car could be purchased somewhere for 45 thousand German brands (650 thousand rubles). But let's think that these cars still became so better. And contrary to inflation.
A close acquaintance with modern C280 gives a reason to think just that way. In Stuttgart, they set a goal to make a machine in which three qualities are connected by safety, comfort, and sports. With the latter, there was an inconsistent in the fore-predecessor, which is why she began to gradually lose the market battle of the BMW Treshka.

They revised the design and made it significantly more aggressive. They processed the suspension and added the Agility Control system, which regulates the rigidity of the shock absorbers depending on the situation: in the standard movement mode, they relax and give more comfort, but it is worth moving on to active driving, as the degree of damping increases to the maximum. It has been modernized and the steering has become more sensitive. How much is another question. A 6% difference declared in a press release is unlikely to notice an average driver, but this is not the main thing that is important: they tried.
C280 performed by Avantgarde turned out to be very catchy. What one star costs a huge, inscribed directly in the chrome trick of a nasal grill (the radiator looks traditionally among the ceshecs of other performances). But the interior of the car, except for the devices borrowed from the E-class and a color on-board display, is not remembered. The same salon can be seen in any Japanese car class, only it will probably be made of higher quality plastics. Even the work of the glass windows alerted. I pressed the glass button sank slowly and noisily. And this is Made in Germany?
Maybe C280 wins in equipment? We look. There is a two-zone climate system. The seats have electroregulations of the pillow and back height, as well as mechanical tuning for lumbar support. In the lateral mirrors, the turning pointers are built -in. All glasses have a greenish heat -absorbing tint. The rear passengers have their own microclimate and armrest. Finally, the backlight in the cabin stands everywhere below, for the legs and for the thresholds, on the ceiling for the rear passengers, the side of the door handles, the front for adjustable ducts. Not bad. But for really standing features for the PRE-SAFE preventive security system, for Bixenon adaptive light Intelligent Light System, for the Command APS multimedia system with a 30-gigabyte screw and GPS will have to pay a lot and, moreover, a lot.

Alexander Pikulenko,
leading automobile programs at the Echo of Moscow radio station
P T: San Sanych, they say, you are a longtime connoisseur of Saab?
LP: Well, you can say so. Saaba got behind the wheel in 1979.
RT: ... and are you the owner of 9-3?
And P: No longer. But my current Cadillac BLS, you yourself understand, is not much different from it.
P T: Why are the Saabs we meet less and less?
And P: A very rare update of the model range. The second reason is that people are faced with a decrease in quality, with unjustified prices. Shock absorbers with marriage, motor control unit ... p T: How do you like up to you updated 9-3? Can he compete with the premium class? And P: Yes, in it I saw a lot of pleasant details, but I can’t put a new 9-3 at the Audi or Mercedes level. Repeaters of turns, pens on the doors - from the vetera. The same Mazdas has a higher quality. I'm afraid 9-3 will no longer pull out the company. The car will somehow be sold, but only fans of the brand will buy it.
Grand socialism. Saab's face was transformed radically. The front end is made in the spirit of the Aero X concept, has an expressive radio lattice and bixenon headlights with a fashionable and very bright LED cilia. For the form of the hood, Saabov designers should generally give some prestigious prize. The only U-shaped line they have achieved such a strong brutal effect that is given to others only very perverted forms. The back of the car is no less expressive, although there was just little changed, for example, it became transparent stop-signals. A smooth aerodynamic profile at the rear rack has been preserved. In general, Aero is literally woven from designer finds. They do not even need to protect them with a copyright is unlikely to be able to repeat this elegance and purity of forms.
The seriousness of the intentions of 9-3 is visible to everyone. If earlier the Swede did not stand out in the traffic flow, now it is worthwhile to barely put the face from the alley to the roadway, the road freezes, they say, and we will see what kind of goose you are. But the budget 9-3 in the initial Linear configuration with a 1.8 engine is almost also spectacular. Only 699 thousand rubles socialism!
The interior of the car will most likely become the subject of disputes. Saabers will feel in their native elements. Everything is worked out in the best traditions: the central console, drowned devices, emerald backlight with a night flight, the ignition lock on the central tunnel. There were some remnants of the past, for example, clumsy composite grates of air ducts or a disguised handbrake, which strives to pinch the thumb. But there are advanced things into the central console introduced a luxurious system with navigation and a color seven -inch display.

There are fundamental changes in the design. The already strong body of the sport sedan was additionally strengthened by the most responsible power elements are now made of high-strength steel. The turbocharged engine V6 received a recirculation system of exhaust gases. The rear suspension has been changed. The new elastokinematics, called Rexs, is capable of not only passive steering in virabs, but also reinstalls the angle of convergence of the wheels during sharp braking, which gives the machine the best stability in no excess in an emergency situation. With such modernization, you can no longer say about Saab 9-3 that this is Opel Vectra in a different skin. Yes, they are built on a common platform. But at the Swedish car, she has changed well to date.

Georgy Khachaturov,
leading Test drive program at BusinessFM radio station
R T: You traveled a lot to the cab. Can she become popular like a BMW three -tire? GH: Well, I must say that a sharp, dynamic threek was better suited to its buyer than imposing Mercedes. Now C -Klasse has become more sporty - he has good chances. You can go to C350 very, very fast, but not a single muscle jerks on your face. And given the comfort of the Mercedes, I would choose exactly C-Klasse. Pi: Would you consider the Saab 9-3 as an alternative?
G X: Saab comparing with C-Klasse is not entirely correct. The level of comfort is incomparable. P T: Can you name the weaknesses and strengths of C-Klasse?
G X: The steering wheel is ugly, as if from cars of the 70s. Plumpled ventilation of the stop-signals is useless. Maybe in Europe the dust is special, not loving, but Moscow dirt is stronger than any ventilation. The huge mirrors were remembered. A serious plus is the presence of a Pre -Safe system, which was previously available only for senior models.
In the red zone. The Merce does not affect the acceleration temperament, but its 7G-Tronic box works exclusively. A very small delay, when from a calm mode of movement, you need to sharply go to the speed set, that's all that you can complain about. Switching is carried out softly and imperceptibly, acceleration is rubber. The tachometer arrow crawls in the field of average revolutions and rarely reaches the red zone, where the three -liter six begins to grow busty. Therefore, the car is perceived as relatively quiet. You should not talk about the smoothness of the course. She was and remains on top. But the handling really has become more piquant. To the severity of the BMW of the third series is still far away, but the purity of sensations on the steering wheel is exemplary. The machine defiantly ignores the track, almost silently swallows potholes, does not begin to scour when you move from the asphalt to the side of the road or snow with the right wheels. She is managed as if she knows better than the driver where to go, which causes full confidence.
Saab 9-3 Aero Sport Sedan cannot boast of such a superizo by the driver from the road. The car is sensitive to the rut. The suspension works harder, although the smoothness of the course remains acceptable for the D-class car. Acoustic comfort is perhaps better than in Mercedes the engine noise is increased only on the outside, while the car warms up, and in the cabin its voice is completely unobtrusive. The work of the chassis also does not listen. Only with the passage of bedridden police officers, a strange dull sound arises, as if something heavy flies up in the trunk, although it is actually empty (perhaps something is not well fixed in its underground). Only the steering did not inspire. There is feedback and reactive resistance, and not bad, but the steering wheel itself seems to be stupid very large controllability.
But the dynamics of Aero is significantly better, despite the more noticeable delays in the operation of the machine. You put the selector in position S, the pedal to the floor, and get a combat dose of overload. And in critical modes Saab is more reliable. This machine allows you to understand where its limit is. She adequately responds to the driver’s actions when she gets out of control. In an incomprehensible way, the machine understands when it is necessary to leave the motor at high speeds and this noticeably simplifies the piloting of the driver has a saving reserve of traction. But to understand where the C280 is the limit is difficult only in blinking of the yellow bulb of the stabilization system. But then they should add here and red ...

The three -beam star on the steering wheel is, perhaps, the only detail that resembles the driver C280 about the brand of his car. Although no, not one more devices like E-Klasse and, in particular, a speedometer in which a round LCD display is integrated. An angular visor above the instruments, the boxing central console, emphasized straight lines with the rounded predecessor is over. Will the buyer like it? Everyone who knows well and loves Mercedes, this metamorphosis is unlikely to appeal. But people who first look closely at the cars of this brand can impress. I think that the interiorists deliberately tried to make a new cake not like themselves. From one angle, it resembles a BMW salon, and from the other some fashionable Japanese car. The contrast, an excess of direct planes, different materials and chromium slightly strains. But only at first. After all, any hi-Tekov interior also does not seem friendly. And when you live, you look at him otherwise, everything is convenient and rational. There are no miscalculations in ergonomics at all the car instantly becomes for you. And to get used to the only multifunctional steering wheel switch leaves a maximum of day. Hello this hereditary.

Salon 9-3 Sport Sedan looks much more original. It is deprived of a glamorous gloss, most parts have a gray matte texture, but the quality of the materials causes greater trust. Leather seats are very good with a hint of sports, with a comfortable tight -fitting profile, sheathed well -made matte skin with a large stitching. But the back of the rear seat is slightly concave, it can cause inconvenience to passengers if there are three of them. Grasps on the doors are thin, do not give the impression of strong and, in addition, they have an acute edge from the back. That's all, perhaps, claims. The rest are petty. A part of the dashboard facing the driver is a plastic monolith that does not at all have texture. The detail itself is beautiful, even sculptural, but if a dust is immediately visible on it. Both steamed switches are lightweight and shallowly shake. The decor of the ceiling itself is modern (light textured textiles), but the roof from the inside looks completely bald look not even to catch on. Were the ceiling dark or even black, it would look much more spectacular.
Mercedes-Benz C280
Gasoline engine, v6
Working volume (cubic cub) 2996
Power (L.S. at rpm) 231 at 6000
Moment (nm at rpm) 300 at 2500-5000
The rear drive
Gearbox 5-speed, mechanical
Length/width/height (mm) 4581/1770/1447
Equipped mass (kg) 1555
Maximum speed (km/h) 250
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 7.2
Fuel consumption, funny. (l/100 km) 9.7
The price in Moscow is 1 393 200 rubles. (1 580 400 rub.)

Saab 9-3 Aero Sport Sedan
Gasoline engine V6
Working volume (cubic cub) 2792
Power (L.S. at rpm) 255 at 5500
Moment (Nm at rpm) 224 at 4000
Front drive
Automatic gearbox 5-speed
Length/width/height (mm) 4647/1802/1450
Mass weight (kg) 1570
Maximum speed (km/h) 245
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 7.5
Fuel consumption, funny. (l/100 km) 10.8
The price in Moscow is 1,184,000 rubles. (1 450 200 rubles)

We thank for help in organizing the shooting of the company General Motors CIS (495) 785-1100 and the official Mersedes-Benz dealer Avilon (495) 730-4444.
Text: Ruslan Tarasov
Photo: Andrey Danilov
 

Source: "Autopilot"