***Testdrove a 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLC220 CDI Sport***

[cawimmer430]

I just came back from testdriving a 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLC220 CDI. As you can see I had a loaded example that came with the Panorama roof and sport package and in Alabaster White. Quite lovely from the outside actually. I'm not happy with the pictures because it was a very hot day (32 degrees C) and my favorite grounds for photoshoots were flooded with intensive sunlight. I drove the car for about an hour and a half.



The interior is the same as a facelifted CL203 C-Class Sportcoupe. The materials are decent and the build quality is much improved over the original W203 C-Class but it still cannot touch the W204 for visual build quality and even from a material point of view in my opinion. Where the W204 C-Class cockpit has sections tightly pressed together, there are huge panel gaps visible in this interior. Not that this really means anything negative, but just that the W204 interior is far better. From a spacial point of view, I had no complaints. There is ample space for tall people (I am 6'4") and the inner side of the doors are well designed allowing comfortable arm movement. The old cockpit is still very ergonimical and the important controls are both easy to find and simple to understand.



So how does drive? There is virtually no difference between this CLC220 CDI and a CL203 C-Class Sportcoupe. I was very disappointed by this. Indeed, the CLC is simply an old CL203 C-Class Sportcoupe with a different exterior. The steering was an inbetween issue being neither very vague or very responsive, just somewhere in the middle. The suspension was very softsprung, quiet and comfortable and as you can guess offered little incentives for the man behind the wheel to push the car into sportier driving modes. But I did anyway. Like most modern Mercedes' the CLC can be driven sporty and will cope quite well, but push it to the limit and the handling qualities cannot cope. Given my "vast" experience with newer Mercedes' cars I felt right at home behind the wheel and didn't feel uneasy pushing the car to certain limits. Despite its lack of sportiness, the car was still somewhat enjoyable to drive because of the quick acceleration in midrange speeds and the airy roominess feel of the interior, which was greatly improved when I opened the Panorama roof. On the positive side the brakes were very responsive and offered great and quiet stopping power.



The engine is your regular 2.2-l 4-cylinder CDI turbodiesel found in countless Mercedes' across Europe. Here it produces 150-horsepower (not the usual 170-horsepower as found in the sedan C220 CDI) but it still has 350 Nm of torque to back it up making the acceleration fluid but not fast. The engine response was severely lacking from a standstill and at low speeds in this combination with the 5-speed automatic transmission. Only during higher speeds did a kickdown produce what you would expect from 150-horsepower and 350 Nm: quick acceleration. The engine was also noiser than normal at idle indicating perhaps a lack of sound-deadening material upfront inside the engine compartment. When the car is being driven though the engine is as quiet as you'd expect being noisy once again when you apply some pressure to the gas pedal.



This car was equipped with the optional 5-speed automatic transmission. Shifts were generally silent and hardly felt and shifting manually, whether on the transmission itself or on the steering wheel paddle shifts produced instantenous shifts, especially when shifting down. Upshifts were for some reason slightly retarded in time. It seems that the combination of '220 CDI engine and the 5-speed automatic produces poor engine response times. On the CLC220 CDI it was particularly bad because at a standstill you could be slamming the pedal to the metal and it almost took two seconds (yes, two!) before the engine actually responded. I've never encountered this problem when driving a '220 CDI product with a 6-speed manual.



What I really found annoying was glancing at the side mirrors. Huh? Wimmer, what the hell are you smoking these days? Well, they look ok from the outside but when you're behind the wheel and glancing at them, their long elongated root just messes with your head for some weird reason. I actually felt like cringing everytime I had to look at the mirrors to check the traffic behind me. Maybe it's just me, but I was seriously disturbed by them!



Also gimmicky and annoying were the speedometer and RPM gauge. Notice the chessboard type of musters in them? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? If someone at Mercedes thought this looked "cool", they're badly mistaken. It looks plain stupid and gimmicky because it reminds most people of a racing flag and thus sport, and this car really was not very sporty at all, even with the sport package.



Overall the CLC220 CDI was not a bad car for what it is. On the contrary, it still feels modern and does offer a small degree of driving fun, but it clearly lacks the noticeable improvements over the CL203 that would justify its expensive price tag and existence. It also doesn't feel "new", coming across as a gussied up CL203 Sportcoupe. The sporty soul of the CLC is very limited. What this car does very good is what most Mercedes' do very well: cruising in comfort and quietness. In terms comfort I have to give the CLC very good marks. The seats were well shaped and actually quite supportive too and the suspension was quiet and soft. Long distance driving shouldn't be a problem and with the CLC220 CDI you have a lot of range because of the economical diesel engine. So, my overall rating is a 6.5/10.

[Galaxy]

The exterior styling is quite nice but the interior screams 90s.