It certainly looked pretty good in apt 'evolution' guise, which included a full-length smoked-glass sunroof, 17in four-spoke alloys, lowered suspension and sports exhaust. And being rear-wheel drive, deactivating traction control meant oversteer was also on the agenda, especially on damp roads (in fact a couple of colleagues found it would slip a few degrees even before TC kicked in). The chassis was pretty good too. It's no M3, but it's a fair compromise between ride and handling. In the dry, however, it could get frustrating. Good though the turbodiesel is, it lacks the urge to really power out of corners.
Long motorway blasts were where the Sport Coupe really came into its own. Miles just drifted by, the car feeling totally planted, the driver cocooned and comfy. Here, the common-rail turbodiesel's impressive mid-range torque was ideal.
As for the fuel consumption, well how does 50mpg grab you? We even saw 52mpg on one journey. It's also a practical car, with a large boot and bags of space in the rear, which meant family weekends away with two kids (and all the kit that comes with them) were no problem. So if it wasn't exactly oozing evoness, there were definite compensations.
One thing I could never get used to was the foot-operated parking brake with its under-dash release handle. Clearly designed with an auto 'box in mind, hill-starts on the slow grind into the capital each morning in the manual Merc became a bind.
That was nothing, though, compared with the hassle of getting the car serviced. It took three attempts to get through by phone to book the car into Mercedes Watford. When I eventually did get through, I was told I would have to wait around three weeks. No courtesy car was available, and because it was the busy pre-Christmas period, no collection and delivery service could be offered. When the car was ready, I had to grab a lift to get there for the 6pm closing time. I phoned to say I may be a couple of minutes late, and the reply went along the lines of, 'If you're not here by six we may be gone because we want to go home you know'!
To be fair to Mercedes-Benz UK, they were aware of problems at this particular dealership and have since taken action, including employing more technicians and removing a number of underperforming staff.
It was a shame that this experience marred what was a very easy nine months of motoring - even if they were just a little short on evoness.
