There are so many Mercedes badges out there these days - slapped on bland vans and weeny city cars, under-achieving SUVs and oddly proportioned people carriers - that it's occasionally possible to forget what all the fuss was about in the first place. Why is Merc still a revered brand?

The answer is here - in the C-Class.

In the driving of the C lies a kind of auto karma - a realisation that you're in the hands of those who know how to construct coherent, sorted, consummate motor cars.

Not many single items in the C-Class merit such a eulogy, but the car is greater than the sum of its parts. The ride and handling is meaty clean, sharp, malleable, while the steering and throttle response have an edge to them that puts you on the road, go-kart-like. This is hard stuff to pull off in a smooth saloon.

That the 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine is less vigorous than in its CLS guise and that the seven-speed auto gets a little flustered just beyond the torque sweet spot are compromises to the perfection, but they don't harm the effect one bit. This car is complete.

In stock Sport fettle it's a £33k bargain, and I have to say not hugely embellished by a sobering seven grand's worth of leather and satnav frippery. Leave it out. Go native. The purity of the thing is standard.

The C-Class is no headline grabber. It's just that if you need a motor car you can live with, enjoy, trust and not get bored with, this is it.

This is it.
Mercedes C320CDI Sport - Top Gear