Here it is ladies and gentlemen, the final installment in this week's trio of Mercedes Review Roundup episodes.  In this edition, the brand-new Mercedes-Benz C250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, the C320 CDI, the C200K Estate and the CLC220 CDI Sport are all tested, so if you're in the market for any, keep reading to find out what reviewers thought of each.  As always, you can find excerpts from each review as well as links back to the full articles immediately below.

Enjoy ladies and gentlemen.


Mercedes-Benz C250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY (via Autocar.co.uk)
Reviewer's rating:  Unspecified

"Don’t believe the badge on the boot: the C250 does not run a 2.5-litre engine. Rather the ‘250’ nomenclature indicates that the engine sitting up front is the most powerful version of Merc’s four-cylinder, twin-turbocharged 2143cc common rail diesel engine. The new powerplant delivers 201bhp at 4200rpm, along with a prodigious 369lb ft from just 1600rpm.

The key to the performance is low-end torque, something the C250 possesses in spades. There’s no need to work the engine hard – just keep it percolating along somewhere between 1500 and 3500rpm and you’ve got plenty of thrust.  Thanks to the two different sized turbochargers, the power delivery is linear and smooth all the way to the red line, making the C250 feel more like a big capacity six-cylinder engine, and giving some genuine reason to explore the outer limits of the rev counter.

Merc claims a 0-62mph time of 7.0 seconds, but with all that pull and an ability to rev to 5200rpm it feels much livelier off the line and through the gears than this figure suggests. It’s also powerful enough to warrant fitment of the familiar 155mph electronic speed limiter.

Refinement is impressive, generating nothing more than a distant murmur and very little characteristic diesel vibration at motorway speeds.  But it’s economy that really sets the C250 CDI apart. Mercedes claims a combined cycle average of 54.3mpg, thanks to low rolling resistance tyres, underbody cladding, low-drag door mirrors and a standard six-speed manual gearbox. Impressive enough, although we saw an indicated 70.6mpg showing on the trip computer after a motorway run.

Should I buy one?  Why not?  With fuel consumption figures like this, it’s hard not to be impressed. Factor in the C250 CDI’s solid performance, unruffled ride and excellent refinement you’ve got a very enticing package."

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Mercedes-Benz C250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY (via car)
Reviewer's rating: 

"Mercedes' new '250' CDI engine is actually an all-new 2.2-litre inline four, with twin sequential turbochargers and the latest in common-rail piezo injection. The cylinders are 4mm closer together, making the engine more compact, while mounting the crankshaft on one side allows for pedestrian impact friendly, angled installations.

A small, high-pressure turbo acts alone initially to boost low-speed response, gradually handing over to a larger, low-pressure turbo as the revs build, ensuring smooth, lag-free acceleration. The piezo injection operates at a huge 2000 bar – just like Audi's Q7 V12 TDI – and is twice as precise as before to squirt exactly the right amount of fuel at exactly the right time. Want not, waste not...

The general Blue Efficiency modifications aren't so surprising: longer gearing, low-rolling resistance tyres, underbody cladding, aero-mirrors, power steering that disengages when not in use, a new dash display with a fuel consumption bar-graph and a sixth-hungry gearshift indicator.

Yet being based on the high-line Europen Avantgarde trim level means this car isn't exactly short of standard equipment. Despite this heft, the green C250 CDI officially returns 54.3mpg combined. And concentrating an unusually large amount of the engine's capacity in the stroke (99mm, compared to 83mm for the bore) helps these innovations generate a ridiculously muscular 369lb ft of torque. Which arrives at just 1500rpm. Isn't technology wonderful?

Since the C250 CDI will happily pull from at least 500rpm lower than its torque peak in third, you pretty much never need to change gear around town. The 0-62mph sprint takes 7.0 seconds. But it's the mid-range response that really makes your brain melt.

Tackle a gentle roundabout in, say, fourth gear, pin the throttle without downshifting and wave bye-bye to your stomach as the engine ramps all the way up to 5000rpm without flagging. Its pick-up, as the Blues Brothers would say, is seriously impressive. Get aggressive mid-bend and you'll soon see the traction control light flashing; on-gas adjustability is not an issue. And who thought we'd ever say that about an eco special?"

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Mercedes-Benz C320 CDI (via car)
Reviewer's rating:  Unspecified

"So my Mercedes C-class has gone – and I will miss it like few other long-term cars. The C320 CDI really got under my skin. Its presence, its power and its ability to elevate any journey to a special event sucker-punched me a week after its arrival and my captivation grew with every passing mile.

Let’s get the minor niggles out the way first. The C-class saloon is not an ideal family car – at least for parent with toddlers. The cabin isn't exactly spacious, especially in the back, and although the boot is decently large, it lacks the versatility of a hatch or estate. The paddle shifters feel a bit flimsy. The lightly sprung bootlid could give you a nasty crack on the head if it was caught by a breeze.

Other irritations? Despite a hefty number of optional extras, the centre console still had plenty of blanked-off buttons. But that’s about it. Elsewhere, the latest Mercedes C-class was brilliant.

In Sport trim, the new C-Class strikes a pretty good balance between aggression, athleticism and sleek understatement. Some of its detailing is a bit fussy – like that untidy collection of shutlines just aft of the front wheels – but its overall proportions are, in my opinion, spot on.

And beneath that sheetmetal sits a chassis that’s far friskier and alert than you’d expect. Light but precise steering, firm suspension with a tight reign on unwanted body control and muscular feelsome brakes made the C-class a hoot when pointed down a decent lick of tarmac.

Throw in one of the finest current turbodiesel powerplants and you have an unfeasibly brisk and refined package that can rack up 600 very fast miles between tanks. It’s the torque that makes the C320 CDI such a devastatingly quick point-to-pointer – there’s a mighty 376lb ft of turbo-enhanced torque that arrives at a low 1600rpm. In a nutshell: instant and effortless acceleration in pretty much any of the seven gears."

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Mercedes-Benz C200K Estate (via WheelsMag.com.au)
Reviewer's rating:  Unspecified

The C-Class Estate didn’t make it onto the starting grid of our 2007 Wheels Car of the Year program , as it wasn’t released in Australia until May of this year, some 10 months after the sedan. However, had it done so, the stylish wagon would have only added weight to the compelling argument for awarding the compact Benz our coveted Wheels COTY trophy.

I say this having now spent several weeks at the wheel of our impressive Palladium Silver C200 Kompressor Estate. We had, in fact, originally requested a C-Class sedan, with a view to spending some quality time with the reigning Wheels COTY. However, we were convinced by former Wheels contributor-turned Benz PR operative, David McCarthy, that the Estate’s arrival was too good an opportunity to pass up. The plan is now to run the wagon for a few months, then swap it for a sedan.

Sexy it may be, but loading the luggage bay for a Melbourne-Sydney run the very weekend I took delivery revealed that we’d sacrificed some useable space in the transition from Mitsubishi Outlander SUV to this more compact passenger-car format. The weighty cassette that sits immediately behind the rear seat, and houses both the cargo blind and a cargo net, robs some loading height when stacking up against the rear seats.

Having said this, the luggage load height is certainly lower than that of the Outlander, which will be appreciated given the recent arrival of baby Isabella, who now shares the rear seat with five-year-old Scarlett. The new addition means prams and other paraphernalia are once again a fixture in our luggage bay, and that the auto tailgate is earning its keep.

The C200 Kompressor’s supercharged 1.8-litre four-cylinder has proven a revelation. Its 135kW and 250Nm is delivered in a smooth, linear fashion and with a characterful, sporty edge. It’ll get better, too.  The C-Class interior is a nice place to spend some time, particularly with the addition of leather trim and sports seats. We spent the better part of a day at the wheel en route to Melbourne and stepped out without a creak or groan of our own."

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Mercedes-Benz CLC220 CDI Sport (via Autocar.co.uk)
Reviewer's rating:  Unspecified

"As with the recent facelift of the SL, the thrust of the visual tweaks are directed at bringing the CLC into line with Mercedes’ current angular design language. It’s most successful at the front, where the CLC adopts the grille, headlamp and bonnet arrangement from the C-class Sport saloon.

Not only does this freshen the design and add more than a touch of assertiveness, but the new nose also fits well with the existing shape. However, the further back you travel, the less well the integration works. The old car’s split rear window has been replaced by a conventional window arrangement and lower lights. The effect may be more in keeping with current Mercedes models, but where the original was intricate and elegant, the redesign is bland at best.  Other than the improvements to the engines, both in efficiency and output, and the addition of Mercedes’ variable-ratio Direct Steer system, the CLC is technically identical to the Sports Coupé.

On paper the CLC220 CDI’s credentials do not look promising. BMW’s 120d M Sport and Audi’s new common-rail diesel TT produce 175bhp and 168bhp respectively, and both hit 60mph from rest in the mid-sevens. The CLC, with only 148bhp, needs 9.6sec (claimed 9.7sec to 62mph).

And yet on the road this deficiency is less obvious, mostly because Mercedes’ 2148cc four-pot near enough matches its rivals for torque with 251lb ft. In most driving the CLC feels adequately quick and remains relaxed at a 90mph cruise, a state when this particular CLC feels at its best, the cabin impressively refined and the engine happiest working through its mid-range.
Why Mercedes hasn’t gifted the CLC with the 168bhp/296lb ft version found in the C220 CDI is a mystery. With it, the CLC could move beyond merely adequate and start thinking about presenting a credible retort to the one rival we’ve yet to mention; trade down from M Sport to SE and the CLC’s price is just £1535 shy of the brilliant 123d coupé.

The Sports Coupé’s chassis has always been favourably received, and it remains a decent, if somewhat uninspiring, drive. What it lacks is the element of finesse and fluidity present in the new C-class or 1-series, the level of feedback through the seat and wheel and the sense that the car is pivoting around its driver.  Similarly, over broken roads the CLC rides reasonably well, but intrusions are occasionally transmitted to the cabin, often more audibly than physically.

The technical advancement for the CLC is in the fitment of Direct Steer, first seen on the revised SLK and then the SL. The variable-ratio system reduces the steering lock to just 2.25 turns by decreasing the steering ratio the greater the lock applied.
By reducing the steering input required for sharper turns, the system makes the CLC feel more agile, but perhaps only because steering angle can be added/removed more quickly."

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And before we go, we must thank yet again our good friend Shiv, for it is he that sent us each of the above reviews. As always, my good sir, we sincerely appreciate it.