I just got back from a Mercedes “C Spot Drive” event where invited participants get to check out the entire range of C Class offerings from the C230 Sports Coupe to the C320 4-Matic Wagon. It's the sort of event that automakers either do for a launch of an impressive new car or as a way to improve flagging sales (the latter seems true of the C Class).

The event itself was very well done. The people were wonderful and the atmoshpere was supurb. We were invited to test drive the entire C Class range through a roadcourse coned off in a large parking lot as well as check out some of the gadgets that come with the cars. Now onto the cars…

I was most interested in the C230 Kompressor Sports Coupe as it's the closest to a MINI in price. I could concievable see some cross shopping being done at that level. The C230 is an attractive car with an upmarket feel starting under $26K.

The first thing I noticed upon entering the cabin of the C230 were it's materials. It seems to suffer from a similar fate as the current MINI. Parts of the interior were very well done and felt great to the touch while others seemed like mere afterthoughts that made the car feel cheap. The ambiance was nice with the large dual sunroof (similar to what the MINI offers). But as soon as the door closed I could tell more corners were cut than just small pieces of interior trim. Throughout the day I continually had the feeling that Mercedes number crunchers were constantly looking at ways to improve the bottom line during the development of the C Class.

Drive dynamics were to say the least “lazy”. The best way to put it is that the C230 (and the larger engined C320 for that matter) are comfortable stylish cars and nothing more. Pushing the car around the corners quickly activated the stability control (or what MB calls ESP). If you think the DSC (or ASC for that matter) on the MINI is not a overly smooth or transparent system wait until you try ESP. It seemed to be activated much easier and stayed on for longer than I'm used to with the MINI or other BMW products.

However It was cornering where the C230 Sports Coupe really dissapointed. The steering had an initial feeling of numbness which really didn't give way to decent feedback until well into the turn. I never was really sure where the car was in terms of dynamics in the tighter turns. Of course the standard Continental tires didn't help the situation. That being said the highlight of the session had to be getting a C240 4-Matic (all wheel drive) to do a four wheel drift through a wet tight turn.

All in all it was a great event that left me feeling even more excited to get in my MINI at the end of the day.