In Stuttgart, Mercedes-Benz officially unveiled the all new 2008 C-Class that will be going on sale later this summer. As usual, the car is larger in all dimensions than the previous model. The new C-Class will be available state-side in two trim levels, Luxury and Sport, with both models sharing what is called Agility Control Steering, Agility Control Suspension and Agility Control Gearshift.
The first two translate as variable effort steering and variable rate damping. There isn’t much detail on the shifting other than it being faster. The adaptive braking is based on the system in the new S-Class, and includes hill assist and panic brake assist. The hill assist detects when you are starting on a slope and maintains some brake pressure in the calipers when you move your foot to the accelerator until you actually apply the gas, to keep you from rolling back down the hill. The panic brake assist has been around for awhile and detects when you do a quick brake apply and helps to apply full pressure.
The interior includes a pop-up center display screen at the top of the dash as well as a display in the middle of the instrument cluster. The multitude of features can be activated from multi-function controls on the steering wheel, as well as a controller on the console, similar to the dreaded I-Drive. The navigation and entertainment system includes a 30GB hard drive which holds Europe wide maps The COMAND APS system also includes a music server with 4 GB of memory, a DVD player and a voice control system that can understand city names without spelling them out.
The styling is reminiscent of a 5/8 scale version of the new S-Class, but with slightly more subdued fender flares. It does retain the crisp character lines of it’s big brother and pronounced wedge at the nose. Overall the look translates well to the smaller car. The newer V-6 engines will be carried over from the current model along with three revamped gas engines and one new diesel. So far there is no word on which engines are coming the US market, but most likely it will only be the V-6s.
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