Another in a series of my reviews that appeared in the online version of African Americans On Wheels, a now defunct automotive magazine that was included as in insert in the Sunday newspapers of major cities.
Although we started with the Corolla, this was actually my very first CARmentary, which ran on March 1, 1998. While I may appear to heap a little too much love on this non-AMG C-Series Mercedes, please keep in mind that up until this point, the only upscale German car I’d ever driven was an old, beat up BMW 320i.
Those of us who contribute to Curbside Classic are fortunate that Paul lets us run pretty much whatever we write. If you’ve ever spent any time in the Show (or side-Show in my case), managing editors are not quite so liberal. In my first draft, I attempted to eschew the “This is the car, these are its features, this is how it drives, etc.” car review format. It was a disaster. The managing editor gave me the opportunity to re-write it, and what finally appeared only bore a slight resemblance to the review that I submitted.
It’s clear that I was trying to emulate the snarky irreverence of Car & Driver, but I probably hadn’t yet earned the journalistic chops to pull that off. Furthermore, the readers who read AAOW were unlikely the same readers who read C/D, so a more subdued approach was called for. Just for fun, I’m running both versions below for your entertainment. That’s the beauty of the 350-word review.
This is the version I submitted:
It is a dream fulfilled. You finally earn enough money to afford the entry-level Mercedes – your way of saying, “I am a success; I am SOMEBODY!” The smell of rich leather trim hits you the minute you open the door, and as you slide into that black, stark, Teutonic interior, you are reminded that European cars are an entirely different breed. You close the door, and it doesn’t close. This baby’s solid, and those doors require EFFORT.
Turn the key, drop the 5-speed automatic into drive and floor it. The rear tires spin, but only for a second. Traction control has kicked in. Your speed starts building. Fast. Before you know it, you’re passing 80, and it feels like a Sunday drive in the park.
It is meant to be driven. When a malcontent appears in your rear-view mirror with his brights on, it’s okay. The mirror dims automatically; you just drive. When it starts to drizzle intermittently, it’s okay. The wipers know when your windshield needs to be swept; you just drive. As night falls and the temperature outside drops, the temperature inside will stay at 72°F; you just drive.
And drive is what you do. Fast. The C280 is built for drivers, not passengers. The ride is firm – the penalty for outstanding handling. The rear quarters are cramped as a result of rear-wheel drive, the chosen configuration of great sports cars. Rear-seat passengers have to raise their own head rests, as they must otherwise remain folded so the driver’s view is unhindered. This is your car, no one else’s.
The more you drive it, the more your confidence builds. You find yourself pulling away from stop signs a little harder, taking on- and off-ramps a little faster. Driving gloves and leather jackets become an integral part of your wardrobe. Cars with wire wheel covers, column shifters, and beige velour interiors make you sick to your stomach. Driving becomes a viable alternative to flying. You’re safe in the Mercedes. It will take care of you.
You remember that Montana has no speed limit. You remember that you have some vacation time.
This is the version that was published:
This is a car made especially for drivers who love to drive. But that’s typical of Mercedes, always putting the driver first. The look is restrained. But that’s Mercedes, too – a classic elegance that never goes out of style.
The C280, Mercedes’ entry-level sedan, isn’t boxy like a Volvo or slick like an Audi, but is undeniably a Mercedes. This is the German automaker’s contender in the near-luxury segment, competing with the BMW 328i, Lexus ES 300 and Cadillac Catera. The C280 was totally redesigned a couple of years ago, but the biggest news for 1998 is a new V6 engine replacing last year’s inline six. Although it puts out the same 195 horsepower, it hits its torque peak earlier for slightly better acceleration.
The real beauty is the handling and performance. Turn the key, shift into drive, and floor it. The rear tires spin, but only for a second because the traction control has kicked in. Your speed builds rapidly and before you know it you’re passing 80; it feels like a leisurely drive in the park.
The C280 makes it easy for you to concentrate on driving. When a thoughtless driver appears in your rear-view mirror with bright lights on, the mirror dims automatically to reduce the glare. When a light drizzle begins, you just turn on the wipers, and a sensor will automatically determine how often the windshield needs to be swept. The pace will even pick up automatically as the drizzle turns to rain. As night falls and the outside temperature drops, the automatic climate control will keep the inside a comfortable 72°F.
The stark, Teutonic interior immediately reminds you that European cars are an entirely different breed. The car is solid: you need a little muscle to close the door. The seats become a bit uncomfortable on a long drive. The rear-seating is a bit cramped, but that’s to be expected in a small rear-wheel drive car.
Even though this is an entry-level car, it’s everything you would expect from a Mercedes.
For more information on this vehicle, call 1-800-FOR-MERCEDES
SPECIFICATIONS:
Type:4-Door Sedan
Engine:195 horsepower, 2.8 liter V6
Transmission:5-Speed Automatic
EPA Mileage:21 city/27 highway
Retail Price:$35,400
Well, which version did you like better? Even I have to admit that the published version does a much better job of actually providing and conveying important information, like the new V6 engine. It’s impressive how she took most everything I wrote and turned it into a more coherent review that would be easier for our readership to digest.
Your first submission reads much like an introduction page to a brochure or narration in a commercial, not a newspaper review. If I were to read the original, published as is, I would likely think it was sponsored content, and at the very least, not particularly objective. For the task at hand, the final product is superior. All that said, and keeping these two submissions in mind, using 350 words to review an automobile seems almost comically difficult realizing how little actually ends up being said.
I’m sure Mercedes would have been more than happy with either version.
I really don’t get a wannabe-Car-&-Driver stench from the first version. And it would be a stench; I find that kind of smug smarm very quickly gets old even from C/D themselves, and lame attempts at emulating it are even more tiresome.
I don’t think that’s what you did; I think you did a fine job of trying to put out something more interesting and attention-holding than a Dragnet-type review (just the facts, man). With another couple of revisions and/or a more cooperative copyeditor, the crucial information—V6 engine, etc—could have been incorporated without losing so much of your intended tone. The all-caps (“SOMEBODY”, “EFFORT”) would want to go away, and I’m willing to bet the door actually did close, but that’s all copyediting. Here’s how I might’ve polished your initial submission—this version comes in at 298 words including the specs and contact info:
===
It is a dream fulfilled: You finally earn enough to afford a Mercedes, the entry-level C280. Competing with the BMW 328i, Lexus ES 300 and Cadillac Catera, it’s not boxy like a Volvo or slick like an Audi; it is undeniably a Mercedes. You’re a success; you’re somebody! The rich smell of leather trim hits you the minute you open the door, and as you slide into that black, stark, Teutonic interior, you are reminded that European cars are an entirely different breed. You pull the door; it’s heavy and solid and requires some effort.
The C-Class was redesigned a few years ago, and this year the old straight-six engine has given way to a new V6 with the same 195 horsepower and a lower torque peak for slightly better acceleration. Turn the key, drop the 5-speed automatic into Drive and floor it: the rear tires spin, but only briefly before traction control kicks in. Before you know it you’re passing 80, and it feels like a Sunday drive in the park.
This is a driver’s car. An auto-dimming rearview mirror cuts glare from bright lights; you just drive. Rain-sensing wipers sweep the glass when it’s needed; you just drive. Whatever the weather, the temperature inside the car stays at 72 or wherever you’ve set it; you just drive. The ride is firm and the rear seat is cramped; that’s what this rear-drive car’s outstanding handling costs. And rear passengers have to raise their own head restraints, otherwise they’re stowed so the driver’s view is unhindered.
You remember that you have some vacation time coming, and that Montana has no highway speed limit. You smile. You drive.
For more information, call 1-800-FOR-MERCEDES
SPECIFICATIONS:
Type:4-Door Sedan
Engine:195 horsepower, 2.8 liter V6
Transmission:5-Speed Automatic
EPA Mileage:21 city/27 highway
Retail Price:$35,400
I like it! It was still a very conservative magazine, so the editor most likely would have changed your version as well. I do eventually adapt enough that I was able to maintain a little humor and irreverance without her having to make major changes.
“The C280, Mercedes’ entry-level sedan” made me smile. We got the C180…
This generation of Mercs is not considered their finest hour – quality took a dip compared to the preceding 190E.
Actually, the 4-cylinder C230 was the least expensive model in the U.S. Of course, I didn’t write that line :-). There was a period in the late 80s when both BMW and Mercedes dropped 4-cylinder models from their lineups, but that drove away too many entry-level buyers and they both quickly reversed course.
When you said there was a period when both dropped their entry level 4-cylinder models for the US, I had to check that out. I had no idea. And sure enough, 1989 and 1990, no fours whatsoever (not including BMW’s M3, which obviously wasn’t entry level anything). That got me thinking; Lexus. They must have been thrilled to find out that the pricing gaps grew, and to their favor, regardless that the powertrain gap had narrowed as consequence. That 35k LS400 in 1990 with this context in mind really explains a lot and how much more the Germans were selling on either image (BMW) or reputation (MB) to justify price. How fast both fell when Lexus, practically overnight, gained both.
I switched from this C-class (MB W202) to the A-Class (MB W168). Much more practical and no quality issues whatsoever. We still keep it as a shopping car.
Why the MB models W202 and even worse MB W210 are so rust prone is still an enigma for me. And it never happended again. Neither before nor after.
“Neither before nor after.”
The mid 2000s Mercedes/Freightliner Sprinters are fantastic rot boxes, impressively so.
Exactly. These rusted out like no other.
I’ve never understood the criticism of the back seat space of this car. I’m a bit over 6’2″, and the W201 was one of the smaller cars that I could comfortably fit in the back seat of. There is actually more headroom in one of these than in most 5-series BMWs.
This was pretty much the last ‘real’ Mercedes-Benz, at least until they started putting 90-degree V6s into most models. It seems quaint to think of an engine that was only crummy in terms of being a costed-out production line expediency with inherently bad balance as opposed to the ChiCom horrors reunified Germany dumps on us now. A C280 with the M104 I6 might serve as a handy keep-sake of the German car era if not for most of them having been ground up in the BHPH world a decade ago.
What’s a ChiCom?
Chinese Communist, in this case it is short for Chinese Communist-compliant. The awful cars reunified Germany builds today are mostly fitted with ChiCom-regulation-dictated 1.5 liter and 2.0 liter engines.
Germany has built cars with 1.0, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, and 2.0 liter engines for decades, well before the Chinese market became a major one. China certainly isn’t the impetus for that.
Even if it was there is nothing stopping anyone from building different engines for different markets. In fact we don’t get the majority of versions they offer in Europe or elsewhere and the versions we get generally sell in very small volumes in Europe as compared to the others.
What specifically is is so wrong about a 2.0 liter engine? I’ve owned several starting with a 1979 Mazda, it put out 80hp and was fine. Lotus got 160hp out of a 2.0 back in the mid-70’s. VW/Audi currently gets well over 300hp out of turbocharged versions.
I’d consider ChiCom a perjorative term and don’t really think it belongs in any comments but perhaps that’s just me.
Agreed. This commenter falls back on these kind of pejoratives repeatedly.
Plus he’s got it wrong. The very stringent EU CO refs are driving the downsizing of engines as well as forcing hybrids and EVs. If it weren’t for that Mercedes could readily sell bigger engine versions in Europe and sell the downsized ones in China.
I liked the unpublished first version! It shows the passion you had for the car. Ihmo the 1998 C class is better than the current one. Tumi entry level luxury cars don’t make good sense. I was vice younger people to buy a high trim Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. You’d have more room more luxury more value for your money and invest the difference in a 401k so that you have a comfortable retirement.
I’d vote for the updated version. Ideally they’d be combined, but with a 350-word limit, the second version provides more useful information for readers.
And I do like the reminders of things that were novelties in 1998, like rear-seat headrests or a (wow!) 5-speed automatic. And those solid Teutonic doors were one of my favorite things about Mercedes of this era.
This car wasn’t peak Mercedes, but it looks like one.
Agreed. The styling is excellent and has aged very gracefully. They still catch my eye in traffic.
Ca. 1977 I was working as a typesetter. One of my employer’s accounts was a newsletter for the Century City shopping center in Los Angeles. The editor, a 20-something woman, was a pleasant enough person and a decent writer, but she was no gearhead. I heard that one of her first car reviews, written before I went to work at that type shop, had included the statement, “It takes bumps the way a car should.” At one point I typeset her review of a type 43 Audi 5000. I don’t remember the review being outstandingly good or bad.
I’m not particularly interested in this car, but I like your reviews – both of them. What I do recall was reading an article, almost a eulogy, in Britain’s “Car” magazine when the W202 was replaced by the W203, describing the former as the last “real Mercedes”. From what I’ve read more recently, the passage of time has not been so kind to the W202’s reputation. I rode in one as a carpool passenger for a few months and found it pleasant enough to ride in.
I learned more about the car in the second one, but the first was more fun to read. Damn you 350 word-limit!
Once I adapted, it actually became a fun challenge to say what I wanted to say in a manner that was acceptable to my editor in 350 words. I became quite adept in editing my own work while keeping the essence. I’ve been using those same skills to edit my COALs down to under 2,000 words from the original 2,500 to 3,000.
I like the first one. I rented a CLA-250 for a week last summer, and the line “you just drive” pretty much summed up my experience with it. The car drove and handled well at any speed, and did everything I asked of it perfectly and with no drama. It was the first Mercedes I have ever driven. I smiled every time I started it up, and I was sad to take it back.
I’ve owned a W202 and now have a W203 after the 202 was totaled out over 2 years ago. I loved my W202, it was a 2000 C280 with the Sport package and everything you said about the 98′ model is exactly how the 2000 felt. Quick, solid and personally the ride quality was better in my 2000 than my current 2007. One day ill own another one.