Road Test
Mercedes-Benz CLC220 CDI Sport
Test date 09 July 2008
Price as tested £23,385
For Refinement, interior space, driving position, cheaper to buy than main rivals
AgainstQuality of interior materials, thin front seat bases, high running costs
The predecessor to the CLC, the rather more elegantly styled Sports Coupé, was Mercedes’ riposte to the highly successful BMW 3-series Compact. It was based on the (W203) C-class and shared much of its saloon sibling’s underpinnings and design, both inside and out.
But you don’t need an especially keen eye to recognise the Mercedes-Benz CLC for what it is. Look beyond the new name and the new front end, and it’s clear that this is not an all-new model, but instead a refresh of the existing C-class Sports Coupe.
Why, you may ask, has Mercedes ignored the opportunity to use the excellent new C-class platform and persisted with old technology? Partly because the CLC, like the Sports Coupé, is built in Brazil, separately from the C-class saloon. But it’s also because it is rumoured that the next A-class platform will yield a coupé variant, so the CLC’s life cycle may be short enough that a switch to the new C-class base would be uneconomic.
Still, we approved of the Sports Coupé, and so, it seems, did you. Around 45,000 have been sold in the UK, accounting for 14 per cent of global production. To continue the appeal, Mercedes claims to have changed 1100 components, but with BMW’s 1-series coupé a much stronger rival than the Compact ever was, is this enough to keep buyers interested?
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