![\"\"](\"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/2012-Mercedes-C-Class-106sm.jpg\" "\\"C-Klasse")
<\/a><\/p>\nAs with the SLK online owner’s manual we’ve shown you before, Mercedes-Benz has now launched the interactive manuals for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (w204) compact executive car and the C-Class Estate station wagon (s204). <\/em>-BenzInsider.com <\/em><\/p>\n
Mercedes Benzwill equip their executive compact sedan, the Mercedes Benz C-Class 2012, with Nokia Terminal Mode technology.<\/em> -Ninga Media<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The ‘C’ comes in three flavors, only two of which are imported here to the States: the Sport and Luxury versions. \u00a0 So I note that Daimler is pushing the ‘C’ class Luxury now as its “Executive Compact Sedan”, and the first thought that crosses my mind is that little word “Executive” is good for an additional five or six grand on the sticker price.<\/p>\n
But this is good. When the W204 first came out people were displeased at the reduced level of wood trim and other small refinements compared to the ‘E’. \u00a0 Initially there were no memory seats and other little things that raise the level of elegance and in their defense people said that the ‘C’ was never meant to be that anyway. \u00a0 But others like myself were thinking Daimler also didn’t want to take customers away from the ‘E’ which is their bread and butter “Executive” sedan. \u00a0 The smaller ‘C’ sold for less and if people could get ‘E’ class elegance in a less expensive car (and…seriously… we’re talking a Mercedes-Benz here…none of them are cheap!) they’d go get a ‘C’ instead.<\/p>\n
But you would also want a ‘C’ if you’re like me, single, childless, and not needing a larger car. \u00a0 I’ve looked at the new ‘E’…it is just magnificent. \u00a0 I could afford one (barely). \u00a0 But it’s too much car for me. \u00a0 I just don’t need something that big. \u00a0 And the fuel economy hit is more then I can morally justify in a car that is 99 percent rolling down the road with just me in it. \u00a0 \u00a0 That gasoline is just being wasted and I am still, deep down inside, a waste not want not little Baptist boy. \u00a0 Okay…who drives a Mercedes-Benz. \u00a0 But still.<\/p>\n
Small car = cheap basic transportation car is not such a simple calculation anymore. \u00a0 Rising gasoline costs and fleet fuel efficiency mandates require that car companies sell smaller, more fuel efficient cars. \u00a0 And German companies to their credit, are way more interested in being “green” then either American or Japanese car companies. \u00a0 So Daimler needs to aim for at least ‘E’ class elegance in the Mercedes ‘C’. \u00a0 There is no reason why a compact sedan cannot also be a sumptuous one, other then the stereotype of the compact car as inevitably being the basic transportation bare bones economy model. \u00a0 In an age of rising fuel costs, that has to change. \u00a0 The small car can be sumptuous too.<\/p>\n
Now then…er…about that “Executive” thing…<\/p>\n