2007 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Sport Wagon
Sylvia
Member Posts: 1,636
The next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class will spawn a five-door, compact sport wagon that the company will use to fend off the BMW X3 and Land Rover Freelander. A report in Automotive News says that Mercedes will use the same tack as it did with the M-Class SUV with the new sport wagon, which ostensibly would feature all-wheel drive like the competition. The new wagon would go on sale in early 2007 in Europe, with plans for the U.S. a year later, the industry weekly adds. European versions would be offered with four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines; and as TCC reported last week from Brazil, the new vehicle may be built in that nation or in Bremen, Germany.
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[sigh]
Sadly this is nothing like what I envision when I see the term "compact sport wagon". I see my current car. I see an Audi A3 Sportback. I see the current 325iT. I see a Mazda 3. Maybe even an A4 or S4 Avant.
This is neither compact nor sporty in my (perhaps too limited) book!
[In his best Charlton Heston] "Darn them! Darn them all to heck!"
The names MLK, MLX, MLE have been thrown around, but I don't even think this project has been officially approved yet.
There will be of course another C-Class "wagon" is there is now.
M
http://www.germancarfans.com/news.cfm/newsid/2050428.001
Not clear if it will be for U.S. sale though. They're calling it the MLX so far.
Wale_bate1 - a smaller M-Class it will be, no wagonee thing.
M
X-class. Sounds like Star Wars! ;-]
A BMX X3 fighter. Notice how with each passing year; each successive generation, these things get lower and lower, and more car-like, with an eye to road handling characteristics? They'll get to the stuff I want soon enough. I'll lease an Audi A3 3.2 DSG for a few years, and then it'll be a smogasbord of compact RWD real sport wagons from which to choose!
Stroudman is a C350 even coming to the U.S. or are they going to stick with the smaller V6, C240 -> C280?
M
More important would be that sport package including a staggered set-up, wider rubber, stiffer springs, sharper, more communicative steering, etc. as stroudman suggets. I would also like a sport interior package with perfed leather and more formed seats, or maybe even a leather/Alcantara gig a la Audi's S4 Recaros.
The only issue I would have, and it could easily be countered by superb driving experience, is the the C-class, along with the rest of what used to be the compact lux market, is getting fairly sizey! I like 'em close and snug and sporty, but still useful. If the default is to schlepping passengers in the rear-seat in real comfort, then for me it's getting too big. I know, I'm being difficult, but I know what I like!
That's why I thought a B-class (though not a FWD one) would be a hip gig.
But to answer the question: yeah, that might just work!
;-]
A rep from MB training and Dev. stopped by to talk to our techs yesterday...in a B-CLASS!!! Silver with ash cloth/MB tex. It was so cool, and so roomy inside. It's a 3/4's M-class with a console shifter. He wouldn't let us drive it, and had no idea if or when we'd get one, but he's been driving it for weeks around the region and said it's fantastic. If only...
I'm just not sure if such a vehicle would make it here. I'm betting that MB and BMW will see how the new Audi A3 does before making any further decisions on their smallest cars.
M
I agree frankly, though of course, not for the same reasons!
While I think conditions are ripening for a wave of hatch offerings, I don't think we're quite there yet. With even Dodge entering the FWD compact hatch game, I think the inventory will be high enough until the genYer's are truly on their fully-vested feet. Once they establish serious affluence, since they carry none of the emotional hatch-aversion baggage of us'all boomers or boom-tails, they will embrace what Europe has enjoyed for many, many moons.
If it was RWD, I believe the situation would be different. Perhaps not much, but at least a certain enthusiast segment could be counted on for interest. I'd be looking real hard!