Test drive Mercedes Benz C-class w203 2000-2004 sedan

The third publication, improved and supplemented

Almost twenty years ago, a memorable event occurred - the Daimler -Benz Konerne made an unexpected and, as it seemed, unnatural move, releasing a small class car. Prior to this, the concern has been engaged in many years, and very successfully, extremely large cars. In 1979, for example, a fantastic debut of the then S-class revolutionary then took place. And three years later, like a thunder among the clear sky, Mercedes 190 appears ...

This model, which, for almost a decade, determined the stylistic strategy of Daimler-Benz, represented a breakthrough in automobile design and took a worthy place among the best samples created in the history of the car. The shape of the body has not yet been outdated, but the considerations of marketing and moral wear also forced to replace one hundred and nineties with a classmate, who received a letter index instead of numbers. Mercedes C-class did not gain such fame as its predecessor, but also became a noticeable phenomenon in the automobile world. However, the magazine spoke in sufficient detail about the history of the two Mercedes compacts (motor #4, 2000). Now we will talk about a new generation - at the beginning of this year, the third C -class sedan debuted. The third edition with the C200 Kompressor subtitle fell on the editorial test ...

Mercedes C-class looks almost like the most important Mercedes, only smaller sizes. A sloping roof with an arcuate rear rack, united headlights and rear triangular lanterns, cutters of the air intake in the bumper, lines of hood connectors and doors, repeaters of rotation indicators in external mirrors - what is not a S -class in miniature? If you delve, you can find other examples of what is called corporate identity.

The car looks solid, in a large way - it pulls at least in the middle class, in accordance with the newly outlined tendency to move the class in the direction of upwards. (The same can be said about the prices that are gradually approaching the cost of a decent Moscow apartment.)

Visual enlargement of the car was achieved mainly due to new forms of the body, a real increase in its length and width is small, and it is difficult to catch it by eye. The machine has become a little lower, the wheelbase is increased by 25 mm. (We want to look for other external changes to be sent to the April number of the motor.)

The indexation of the models remained the same. Gasoline have the designations C180, C200 Kompressor, C240 \u200b\u200band C320; turbodiesella - C200, C220 and C270 (all with CDI letters). The numbers indicate the volume of the engine. But there are changes - almost all engines are updated, and the C240 \u200b\u200bversion is now equipped with a 2.6 liter of a motor. It's time to change the nomenclature ...

As already indicated, we chose the Mercedes C200 Kompressor - occupying the average position in the gamut (there is a feeling that it is this modification that will be most popular among customers). The volume of the motor, as it is easy to guess, rounded 2 liters. The word kompressor indicates the presence of an air superintendent engine. It is mechanical and has a number of advantages over more common turbochargers, primarily an instant reaction and the absence of turboyam.

The presence of the compressor allows the engine to develop a power of 163 hp, the torque is kept at a level of 230 nm in the range of 2500-4800 rpm. Indicators - almost like the 2.6 l of the V -shaped atmospheric motor Mercedes C240. (Another comparison: the same 2 l of the engine without a supercharger, standing on C180, gives out 129 hp and 185 nm.)

Box - a five -speed machine with manual control. It should be noted that this is an option, in the standard configuration of the Mercedes C200 is equipped with a six -speed mechanical gearbox.

There were changes in the suspension. In the front, they decided to return to the roots. Now in front - as on Mercedes 190 - Macpherson (in the second reading, a scheme on transverse levers was used). There were no fundamental changes from behind, the third generation of these cars is already equipped with a textbook multi -leaf independent suspension.

Another radical change - instead of the usual Mercedes screw with a ball nut, finally appeared the river steering mechanism, more accurate and sharp.

The chassis is stuffed with electronics, as they say, to the eyeballs - from the traditional ABS with an assistant in the person of Brake Assist to the mandatory in standard configuration of all cars of the Mercedes -Benz system for maintaining the course stability.

The apparent massive door easily swings, and we fall into a cozy corner. Comfort and peace. Yes, Mercedes is Mercedes. You are as if carefully protect you from the outside world. In addition, in the case of a serious accident, all sides of the airbags sitting in the cabin are literally surrounded by all sides: in addition to the front ones, side and window are provided.

Inside is quite spacious, despite the massiveness of the internal door panels. Torpedo looks solid, some of its elements resemble similar s-class details, but simpler. Everything is performed with taste and efficiently. The driver's seat is traditionally tough, but comfortable. (Later it turned out that you can jump on it - the seat is springy.) I am arranged ...

You can move the seat back for the handrail from below - as on the old 190s. The final point was so far that I caught myself behind the wheel and returned forward - any basketball player will easily be located in the driver's place. Electricity helps to move up and down, the steering column is adjustable along the length and angle of inclination. Planting - on Yat.

The steering wheel is convenient in the grip, the music control buttons, an on -board computer and a mobile phone (it is installed at an additional fee) are carried out on it. The central console is stuffed with musical and climatic installations, as well as different trifles like the heating buttons. All within reach. The pedals, the selector lever with a traditional Mercedes cars with a zigzag -shaped slot of the trajectory is also in their places.

The sightseeing is not on the five - the massive front racks of the roof eat part of the visible space in front and on the sides. Only sitting behind the wheel, I noticed that there were two wipers. The right is familiarly dancing, expanding the cleaned area in the upper part of the glass, the left is ordinary.

To improve the viewing backward, the mountain range of three rear seat head restraints can be folded in parts with buttons on the torpedo, but you will have to return the parts to its original position manually. In the back seat, even spacious even long -legged. However, the previous compact was distinguished by this, the distance between the seats did not change. A little more space over the head became.

The car rolls easily as soon as you protect the leg from the brake pedal. The engine is almost not heard - that on idle, in motion. The cabin is almost complete silence. The motor reacts very quickly and clearly to moving the gas pedal, but the box does not always keep up with it when switching down. The creators of the machine claim that some thoughtfulness was given to the machine to specially - it is not worthless, they say, to pull the riders with almost a luxury class.

The acceleration dynamics are quite decent, but still the C200 is not a car, intensively disperse the car with an hour -ton -ton -toned mass of a two -liter motor, even with a mechanical doping, especially at low speeds.

In normal driving modes, the machine operates clearly, switching is smooth and almost invisible, you move like in one virtual gear. Acceleration in manual mode occurs noticeably more vigorously, sports notes begin to come from under the hood. With a mechanical box, the matter would probably go even more fun, but the Mercedes car, albeit a compact class, is somehow more to face ...

The brake dynamics was at a sky -high altitude. An informative pedal with a slight move and comfortable effort provides an extremely confident and intensive slowdown. The happy owners of the new products from Mercedes-Benz should develop a habit from time to time to easily press the brake pedal-the outbreaks of the stop-signals will warn the back of your brake abilities.

The suspension provides a high level of comfort, largely thanks to it, the car shows a very easy move. At the same time, she acquired a pleasant rigidity that is not very characteristic of Mercedes (especially senior), which, in combination with the steering wheel at high speed, provokes the driver on a fairly active ride.

In the turns of the Mercedes -Benz C200, it stands perfectly, carefully tracking the given path - both with the participation of the ESP system and without it. In the latter case, the side sliding slightly increases, but the car obeys the steering wheel perfectly and continues to go as the driver wants. The combination of a clear gas pedal with a sharp steering wheel and good lines of rubber allows you to go into turns at different angles and at different speeds, and the output result is invariably positive ... And now the first and last unpleasant time in the test was to return the car.

Let's summarize. Undoubtedly, the car has become better both externally and internally. More precisely, the steering, the suspension is more perfect, higher comfort (this is the only silence in the cabin). According to sports data, the compact Mercedes step closer to its eternal opponent - BMW three. But the opponent began to play about twenty years earlier, does it make sense to catch up with it? Perhaps that is why Mercedes - absolutely correctly - makes the main emphasis on increasing the luxury, and not the sportsity of your new model (just remember the work of the box or look at the small tachometer in the corner of the dashboard). However, the C-class compartment has already appeared, and after some time they promise a full-wheel drive modification and version from AMG ...

Text: Sergey Ivanov
 

Source: Motor magazine [No. 11/2000]