Overall rating:

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class has long fought the BMW 3 Series line-up with only two strings to its bow; now it's got three. The new C-Class Coupé adds elegant, understated style to an enjoyable chassis, though Audi and BMW rivals offer more choice at lower prices.

Key Facts

Mercedes-Benz C 250 CDI Coupé

Pricing: £35,120
Engine: 2.1-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel
Transmission: seven-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Body style: two-door coupé
Rivals: BMW 3 Series Coupé, Audi A5, Infiniti G37 Coupé
CO₂ emissions: 139g/km
Combined economy: 57.6mpg
Top speed: 149mph
0-62mph: 7.1 seconds
Power: 204bhp
Torque: 369lb.ft

In the Metal:

Elegant rather than striking, restrained rather than exciting, the C-Class Coupé isn't an immediately seductive shape. The front is too similar to its saloon relative for our liking, while the flanks are neat if rather unexceptional. The only real flair is the upward kink of the rear window, which oddly makes it look more BMW-like than Mercedes. The rear's the neatest view, with the smart taillights.

Inside it's all familiar 'Benz, from the rather clunky (optional) satnav system to the solid feel of the switchgear. The material quality has improved in the C-Class range lately and the Coupé benefits from that too, which, given the price tag is no bad thing.

Driving it:

Mercedes-Benz is rapidly getting to the point where it's the driver's choice ahead of its BMW rival and the C-Class Coupé demonstrates this convincingly. The chassis is very impressive, the suspension finding a nice compromise between taut handling and a fine ride quality. There's precision to the steering too, its accuracy matched with good weighting - if not a huge amount of feel.

The brakes are strong, the gearbox quick and smooth shifting between its seven ratios and refinement on the move good. If there's a weak link in the package it's the 2.1-litre C 250 CDI engine. It has impressed us elsewhere in the Mercedes-Benz line-up, but for all its easy cruising pace it's rather lacking in low-rev response to really exploit the fine composure on offer from the chassis.

That makes this C-Class Coupé a frustrating drive. A brief run in the 3.5-litre V6 petrol model underlines that the C-Class Coupé's talent runs much deeper than a motorway hack. A BMW 3 Series is arguably the more intimate, involving drive, but there's not really much between the German protagonists and the C-Class Coupé feels like the much newer, more sophisticated car that it is.

What you get for your Money:

There's only one specification for the UK and it's called AMG Sport. That means AMG styling, which lifts the looks from merely ordinary to something more approaching desirable. Mercedes-Benz isn't denying its ambitions to steal a few sales away from S-Line equipped Audi A5s and M Sport 3 Series Coupés, and the C-Class Coupé comes decently specified as standard. You'll have to pay extra for a proper satnav system, but intelligent lights, LED driving lights, 18-inch alloy wheels and DAB radio all feature on the standard equipment list. Even so, it's not cheap, with the range starting at £30,220 - BMW's entry-point is around £3,000 less.

Worth Noting

There's only around a £1,000 difference between the C 220 CDI and the C 250 CDI models and no difference in economy and emissions - unless you opt for the manual. Those manuals bring Eco stop-start systems, though combined with Mercedes' foot-operated parking brake they'll be a pain.

Summary

It's taken a long time for Mercedes-Benz to create a BMW 3 Series Coupé rival; the success of it, and Audi's recent A5 Coupé, no doubt spurring Mercedes-Benz into this marketplace. The result is credible too: the fine ride and handling appealing, though for a change we'd suggest a petrol version over the diesels.