From six years to a year: the time for the transition of super technology from top models to smaller ones has thus shortened. A record just burned by Mercedes, which in less than 12 months has moved them all the latest hi-tech solutions from the S-Class, the flagship worth over 100 thousand euros, to the C-Class, the small sedan. A car that always costs 50 thousand euros, but which can still be considered popular, given that it costs less than half the S and that over 2.5 million units have been produced.
The super technology of the C-Class
Of course, most of these super technologies are made with software: once developed it costs nothing, or almost nothing, to load them on another smaller car. But that’s not all: the C-Class also inherits from the S many technological solutions related to hybrid engines and modules. A choice underlined not by chance also by the design, which incorporates all the stylistic features of the flagship. That is, elongated headlights, a vertical and protruding mask, very thin rear lights that widen in the central part. Without to forget the long hood and the receding tail, which gives that vague coupé flavor that perfectly masks important dimensions, given that the C is still 4.75 meters long and has a nice 455-liter trunk.
And from the S-Class also details come here, such as the vents, the shape of the inclined dashboard and above all the colossal central display, here from 9.5 or 11.9 inches, from which to manage everything. Also the second generation MBUX multimedia system, it is precisely that of the S. So at the wheel of the C-Class you can control all the home automation systems, while access to the system takes place with a fingerprint scanner placed under the display: in this way each person in a second reports all your data and preferences (message memory, navigation system destinations and much more) in the car. Not only that: the new MBUX is now possible command directly, without saying “Hey, Mercedes!”: a new world.
As we said, it is not just software: here the futuristic rear-wheel steering makes its debut, which improves stability at high speeds and below 60 km / h makes the C-Class a lightning bolt when entering corners. And then, of course, in maneuvering, we enter hyperspace: the turning circle is reduced from 11.1 to 10.6 meters. It seems little, but it is a lot and the most difficult maneuvers become a game. Among the subtleties also the multilink rear suspensions and all with air springs to keep the trim constant. On show the headlights, also with the same technology as the S-Class: each emits one light generated by 3 LEDs, projected onto the road by 1.3 million micro-mirrors. In this way, a computer allows you to define the distribution of light with millimeter precision based on traffic and the type of road. To understand this, imagine driving with the high beams on, but the car in front of you instead travels in a dark cone of shadow (clearly visible because it is square), so as not to be blinded. That’s not all: these super headlights they illuminate pedestrians better on the edge of the lane and draw two bright stripes as wide as the car at the roadway restrictions. Making mistakes at the wheel becomes more and more difficult.
And the engines? Same thing: they are only light hybrids at 48 volts (with 20 Hp engine integrated into the 9-speed automatic transmission), and turbo, petrol or diesel. The diesel ones have variable powers from 163 HP of the C 200 to 265 of the C 300 and all promise brilliant performance: the first burns the 0-100 in 7.7 seconds and the second in 5.7. The petrol engines are a 170 or 204 hp 1.5 and a 258 hp 2.0. And that’s just the beginning, because then plug-in hybrids will come. In short, now the C-Class is truly a miniature S-Class.
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