For those of you currently pondering whether or not the Mercedes-Benz CLC Sport Coupe is worth your hard-earned income, a pair of reviews analyzing the new model have been published recently that aim to shed some light on this very subject.   As is the case with all our Mercedes Review Roundup installments, you can find excerpts from both reviews along with links back to the complete articles immediately below.

Enjoy ladies and gentlemen.


Mercedes-Benz CLC Sports Coupe (via CarsGuide)
Reviewer's rating:  Unspecified

"It may look like the current award winning C Class, but the CLC sits on a seven-year-old chassis of the previous and smaller C-Class. Will buyers care? Probably not because the older C-Class wasn't such a bad thing apart from its dated and hard riding suspension.  So forget the underpinnings; this latest CLC has been cleverly honed into a very likable, very driveable and desirable made-in-Brazil mousetrap.

I drove the CLC when it was launched in Austria earlier this year and came away more than impressed at its road manners, less so about it disjointed styling.  The one proviso — I wanted to confirm its slightly hard ride would work on rougher home roads and it has lived up to that expectation.  This C-Class pretender doesn't have the same crisp handling and precise balance of the latest generation C-Class but it's still impressive anyway.

The styling is a less than happy marriage between a new C-Class front and old C-Class rear and the rear view is seriously diminished by the letter box rear window, making the car's electronic parking assist a necessity. The previous version had a second lower window in the tailgate, but that has been sacrificed in the restyling.

Where the CLC does impress is its ability to tackle with aplomb our poor excuse for rural roads, covered in potholes, undulations and broken verges. City driving is easy once you get used to the blind spot at the rear. A rear camera would help here but it is missing from the equipment list.

The badges say sports coupe but the 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine doesn't quite deliver sports performance and is handicapped by the car's weight. Instead the motor provides perky rather than firecracker outcome, and at times more torque than the 250Nm available would be desirable. Fuel consumption at 8.2l/100km is a plus however.

The base model gets conventional linear steering while the top versions get a steering assist system which reduces the amount of turns needed to tackle the corners. It takes a little getting used too; you tend to overseer at first, but the reduction in steering effort is welcome. It's a simple mechanical system, designed in Australia, which uses a change in gearing ratio on the steering rack, which reduces steering effort by up to 25 per cent.
The cabin, with generous and comfortable seating for four — a rarity in this market — is spacious enough, although tall passengers will find rear head room is tight. Boot space is good thanks to the fitment of a deflated space saver tyre.

Has Benz developed a sufficient mouse trap to lure first time buyers into the fold. The simple answer is yes, and I suspect most will be more than happy with what is on offer. An honest coupe, if you can live with two doors, which is quiet, offers reasonable performance and has terrific road manners and balance."

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Mercedes-Benz CLC Sports Coupe (via Drive)
Reviewer's rating:  Unspecified

"The new car certainly makes a good first impression. The new front end is bolder and sportier, with the Mercedes star prominent on the wider front grille. No-one is going to be in any doubt you bought a Mercedes.  At the rear, the look is cleaner, with a new rear tailgate design that does away with the old car’s rear wing (which hampered rear vision) and replaces it with a more subtle lip spoiler.  From the side, the car is more or less unchanged.

Inside, there are new seats and trim, but the dashboard and centre console are carried over from the previous model. It looks a little plain and dated, unless you tick the box for the optional satellite navigation screen, which costs $3202 on the two cheaper models and $4163 on the most expensive variant (courtesy of the luxury car tax, which applies only to the top-spec model).  The seats, which are a mix of cloth and artificial leather on the base model and artificial leather on the more expensive variants, are built for comfort rather than support, which is a little at odds with the look and feel of the car.  Rear legroom is very good for a coupe, and entry into the two rear seats is fuss-free, even for taller people. Headroom in the rear is a little tight, although overall it is more comfortable than most coupes.

The interior load area is also very practical for a coupe. The split-fold rear seats fold flat and give you a generous 1100 litres of cargo space if required. Underneath the rear floor is a space-saver temporary spare.

On the road, the coupe shows its age. The suspension gets unsettled over choppy surfaces and the body tends to flex, shifting the car’s weight (and your head) from side to side over undulations.  The ride is firm but reasonably comfortable. At low speeds on poor surfaces it can get too busy, though.  You can’t help but feel that Mercedes engineers, given seven years to work on a new suspension, could have come up with an improvement.

The steering isn’t as sharp and communicative as the BMW 1-Series Coupe, although it is predictable and feels well-weighted on the open road. The more expensive versions had Mercedes’ new direct steering system, which requires lighter effort around town, while retaining a solid feel at high speeds.  The car still feels secure and stable at high speed and through corners. While it’s no out-and-out sports car, it is reasonably entertaining to drive on a winding road.

The 1.8-litre supercharged engine is willing enough when revved but is no rocket from a standing start. The five-speed automatic transmission doesn’t do the engine many favours, either.  We didn’t get the opportunity to sample the six-speed manual transmission but suspect it may squeeze more out of the engine and make for a more entertaining drive.  Wind and road noise are reasonably well suppressed, but cabin refinement is not at the same level as the C-Class sedan released last year.

Overall, the CLC has a good deal to recommend it. It is well-priced, looks the part, has the right badge on the grille and has genuine four-seater room inside.  But scratch the surface and you may feel shortchanged. It still rides and handles as well as a lot of less prestigious European brands, though ultimately it doesn’t represent the cutting edge of German automotive engineering. Nor does the cabin scream luxury."

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And before we go, a special thanks to our friend Shiv for the tips.  As always, we sincerely appreciate them.