Hi Christian,

Very true, the W204 seems to look it's best in white , I was tempted, however, as we have said, the residual value for white cars in UK/Europe are low, and also keeping it clean is more than a handful.

Rgds Eugene

True. White is difficult to sell here.

On a side note, I've been seeing a lot of white Audi TT's and Porsche Boxster / Cayman's lately and a few white W204 C-Classes as well. It seems that this color is slowly creeping back into fashion. I hope!

Of course it is in fashion... it always will be.

If this car is to be offered with a 6 speed man it whould be a killer.

In Asia white is very popular color on luxury cars to my knowledge. In Japan, I think most European luxury cars are ordered in white!

For me, this Car & Driver review echos the previous Road & Track one......the W204 C350 "Sport" is lacking in the sport department.

Subjective views aside, the objective performance numbers are dissappointing. Being slower than the W203 C350 Sport Sedan is not surprising at all, given that the W204 C350 is heavier and has the same engine and transmission as the previous car.

However, I was looking forward to improvements in the handling department with all the hype about improved "agility".

Pre-facelifted W203 C320 Sport Sedan: skidpad grip = 0.81g
Facelifted W203 C350 Sport Sedan (with Direct Control upgrades): skidpad grip = 0.83g
W204 C350 Sport Sedan (with Agility Control): skidpad grip = 0.82g

And this time, the W204 car C&D used had Continental ContiSportContact 3 tires, which is an improved version of the Continental SportContact 2 used in the facelifted W203 C350 before.

Another interesting fact to note: The W204 C-class has a steering ratio of 14.5:1 with 2.8 turns lock to lock, which is exactly the same as the facelifted W203 C-class, which is much more direct than the original W203 car.

I know this is looking at numbers, but I honestly was expecting a bit more from the W204. From a handling point of view, it has not moved beyond the facelifted W203 at all when you look at the objective data from R&T and C&D.

Valkyrie, go and testdrive and make your own opinion on the new C-class

JustMe, of course I can go test drive the W204 C-class myself. From a test drive, I can see and drive the new car myself in the flesh. I can evaluate how the car looks in real life both inside and out, and I can drive the car and see how it feels on the road. But what I CANNOT do is drive the car at its limits to see what she is capable of and I don't have any instruments to see how well it performs objectively.

As you know, people's impressions are so subjective and prone to impressions made by the press or other people. It "feels" so much better than the old car, etc, etc. Frankly, unless you drive the cars back to back, you can't really make a valid comparison. Instrumented test numbers are not as prone to such biases and I do value them in their context. Like I've said before, I don't buy a car based on the numbers only, but it does give a good basis for comparing "performance".

You know what I mean......because you value magazines like Sport Auto so much, which only bases its scores on performance numbers.