The new 2008 Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan comes with a selection of different front-end applications; they could only help to link the gap between its tradition and its aspirations. The classiness of the treatment has the egg-crate pattern with the three-star emblem standing proudly at the top of the hood - the traditional Mercedes sedan look.

Similar front to S-Class

In an effort to continue the C-class supremacy as the best-selling Mercedes-Benz, designers and engineers first “built” a virtual prototype of the new cars employs about 2130 gigabytes of data! Computer simulations were then used to test virtually every aspect of the car.

There were a lot of paperwork to save all impressive digitization. For example, the “spec book” (the pool of knowledge from years of experience) in the area of comfort alone numbered 360 pages, and it was only one of 250 component specification books, filling about 6000 pages, in the R & D . Engineers not only “returned” The virtual virtual vehicle on roads and motorways, which saved an enormous amount of time as compared with standard practice, but also a series of test that would not have looked out of place at NASA. In fact, NASA will probably some of the things we saw in the Technical Center.

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The resulting 2008 C-Class, unveiled at a gala Dr. Z-hosted event in the new Mercedes museum, is longer, wider, and more spacious. Looking far less stodgy than the outgoing model, its styling evokes the wedgy overall shape and prominent wheel arches of its larger siblings. Even better, the new C-Class weighs no more than the outgoing vehicle, despite additional content and greater use of more high-strength steel in the body structure, which is said to be some 13 percent stiffer than the previous sedan.

Three turbodiesel and five gasoline engines are in the works but, at least initially, we’ll get only a pair of largely carryover V6s - the 231-horse 3.0-litre for the C300 (oddly, badged a C280 in Europe), and the 272-hp 3.5-litre in the C350.

A V8-powered AMG version - a station wagon body, 4Matic four-wheel drive and probably additional powertrain choices - will be added over the next year. The cute little sport coupe hatchback - the official car of young females in Agincourt - was dropped a while back and will not return.

Six-speed manual and seven-speed automatic are the available transmissions. The usual safety gear is all present and accounted for: airbags all over the place; active head restraints; four-wheel disc ABS brakes; electronic stability program; seatbelt pre-tensioners and force limiters.

Base prices for the three current C-Class models range from $38,400 to $51,000.

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