MERCEDES-BENZ C200K
Estimated list price
(ex-showroom, Mumbai) Rs 24.9 lakh
Top speed 225 kph
0-100kph 10.97 sec
kpl 7.0 (city), 10.0(highway)
For Refinement, ride and handling, snob value
Against Cramped interiors

It isn’t every day that you can point a finger at a Mercedes-Benz and say they could have done better. It’s not often that a car with a three-pointed star on the bonnet is genuinely below par in an important area. But the C180, the entry-level Merc sold here in India, certainly was. Its area of weakness, the one we heavily criticised during our road test back in May 2001, was its total lack of response or urge at low engine speeds. Driveability suffered as a result, and so did the overall desirability of the car. This weakness was only further highlighted by the introduction of cheaper but better performing D-segment models like the Ford Mondeo and Toyota Camry.

DaimlerChrysler India Ltd (DCIL) was well aware of this problem, and the new C200K is the solution. Not to be confused with the earlier C200K that DCIL had been importing as a Completely Built Up unit, the new C200K replaces the C180, and is assembled from CKD kits at Mercedes’ plant at Pimpri, Pune.

Mercedes-Benz’s new four-cylinder range comprises three variants, all incorporating an impressive cocktail of the latest petrol-engine technology. The new C180K, C200K and C230K all have the same innards, varying only in the state of tune and the amounts of power produced. Unlike the earlier, imported C200K, this engine actually only displaces 1796cc — as against the earlier motor’s 1998cc. But this reduction in capacity should in no way be considered a downgrade, as it is only one of the features on which engine performance depends. This engine uses cutting-edge technology to squeeze 158bhp and 22.5kgm of torque. Built from high-strength aluminium alloy, the all-new head design utilises camshafts that adjust the timing of both the inlet and exhaust valves, thus delivering great performance at both low and high engine speeds. Unlike Honda’s pioneering VTEC system — which uses a locking pin to switch between either high- or low-rpm modes — the system on this engine utilises vane-type adjusters, which allows a far greater number of adjustments with very subtle variations.

The largest step-up in performance, of course, comes from the Kompressor (the Germans spell it with a K) or supercharger that basically is a pump that increases the volumetric efficiency — and therefore power — of an engine by force-feeding it more air and fuel. The American manufacturer Eaton had brought this system back from semi-retirement; Eaton reduced the supercharger’s characteristic whine and improved its efficiency.