IEEE Spectrum April, 2015 - 51

Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Luxury-car brains at mass-market prices

toP: Mercedes-Benz; BottoM: volksWagen

within any automaker there is a slow but steady
trickle down of technology from high-end to
middle and entry class. But for Mercedes's
newly redesigned C-class, that trickle was more
like a torrent. appropriately, the Mercedes
demonstrated its social-climbing skills on
the Côte d'azur, in France. the test convoy
included the all-wheel-drive C400 4Matic,
which surges from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour
(62 miles per hour) in 4.7 seconds, spurred by a
wicked Biturbo V-6. the engine's 245 kilowatts
translate to 329 horses-81 more than the
departing 3.5-liter V-6, despite that model's
extra half-liter of displacement.
But the more important part of what's
trickled down-from the us $95,000 to
$200,000 s-Class to this $41K cousin-
involves not speed but smarts. the intelligent
drive suite, priced at the same $2,800 as in sand e-Class models, lets the car manage its
own speed and brakes and even steer itself
along gentle highway curves. radar and a
windshield-mounted stereoscopic camera provide a 360-degree enclave of sensory safety. the Mercedes can react to other
vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists, even
the traffic crossing at an intersection.

price: us $18,815 power train:
112-kW (150-hp) 2.0-l fourcylinder diesel overall fuel
economy: 6.5 l/100 km (36 mpg)

price: us $41,325 power train:
245-kW (329-hp) 3.0-l Biturbo
V-6 overall fuel economy:
8.4 l/100 km (28 mpg)

at a test facility in salon-de-provence, i
was invited to try to smack a pedestrian-
actually a mannequin dressed nattily in
Mercedes attire-and a slow-rolling trailer
that mimicked a car ahead. no dice: the
Mercedes performed a partial braking, then
a full-on stop to avoid a collision, even when
i kept my foot on the gas.
active Blind spot assist doesn't simply warn drivers about looming vehicles
but will apply individual brakes to pop you
safely back into a lane should you veer
toward danger. attention assist monitors

the MQB's standardized common core allows every imaginable power train-gasoline,
diesel, electric, hybrid-to plug
and play smoothly in the same
front location. the electric
version, for example, doesn't
detract a whit from passenger
or cargo space. there's even a
compressed-natural-gas golf.
start with the turbocharged
tdi model, whose clean-diesel
technology is familiar in europe
but still rather novel in the
states. the tdi clocks in at
5.2 liters per 100 kilometers
(45 miles per gallon) on the highway in its federal fuel-economy
estimate. But i saw a remarkable 3.9 L/100 km (60 mpg) over
a 110-km (68-mile) highway
run, eclipsing the toyota prius

multiple parameters, including twitchy
movements of the steering wheel, to recognize drowsy drivers and urge them to
pull over for a break. inside the surprisingly lush cabin, a new touch-pad console
controller allows drivers or passengers to
navigate contact lists, destinations, and
the like by drawing letters or numbers or
by using the swipes and gestures familiar
from smartphones.
the C63 aMg version will debut just in
time for spring in the northern hemisphere.
this BMW M3 killer is armed with the same
ripping 4.0-l Biturbo V-8 as the new aMg
gt sports car, with up to 375 kW (503 hp).
and there's more: a plug-in hybrid C-Class
goes on sale in the united states this fall,
followed by a C-Class diesel in 2016. n

hybrid and setting my own personal record in a u.s.-market car.
with its 2.0-liter, 112-kilowatt
(150-horsepower) diesel, the
golf sipped fuel at well under
5.6 L/100 km during our test
drive while cruising at 110 kilometers per hour.
gasoline golf models include
the brilliant 157-kw (210hp) gti. with a 2.0-L directinjected four that's a near
twin of the audi a4's engine,
the gti hustles to 97 km/h in
5.8 seconds and steers like a
junior porsche-but for just
us $26,000 to start. gti and
tdi models get a six-speed,
dual-clutch direct-shift gearbox, a seven-speed version of
which does duty in the roughly
$250,000 Lamborghini huracán.
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For zero-emission fans, the
e-golf is the handling standout
among affordable plug-ins like
the nissan Leaf and Chevrolet
Volt. ten percent more aerodynamic than the standard golf,
the $35,445 electric Vw gets
its go from an 85-kw synchronous electric motor that maxes
out at 12,000 rpm, driving the
front wheels through a singlespeed gearbox. the e-golf does
take about 10 seconds to reach
100 km/h, because it's weighed
down by a 318-kilogram,
24.2-kilowatt-hour lithiumion battery. But Vw claims the
e-golf scoots from a standstill
to 30 km/h in just 4.2 seconds-
faster than the gti, thanks to
a heady 270 newton meters
(199 foot-pounds) of torque. n
nORTh aMERICan

aPR 2015

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum April, 2015