My spanking new C220 certainly looks evo, coming as it does with the Evolution (of course) Panorama sports pack that includes 17-inch alloys, lowered suspension, sports exhaust and front-to-back panoramic glass sunroof, to name but a few of the goodies.
Inside is a comfortable place to be. The seats are great and I can play with the sound system and computer via buttons on the steering wheel. It's taking me a while to get used to the parking foot brake, though, especially on hill starts.
This is my first Mercedes but the solid build and interior layout remind me of the BMW Compact I ran a few years ago. The doors are reassuringly heavy and shut with the expected clunk whilst the climate control system is as good as it gets. Overall, first impressions are of quality and a feeling of being cocooned.
From the outside, the head-on front view is full-on Mercedes-Benz but round the back it's really quite radical for a Merc, with the little panel of glass under the rear spoiler. The panoramic smoked glass sunroof looks cool too, although if you keep it open above 60mph it gets a bit breezy, despite the chunky pop-up wind deflector. Ultimately I'm still unsure about the way the back end of the car blends with the front. Some angles are definitely better than others, and the front three-quarter view is the most satisfying, to my eyes at least.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm still running-in the C220 so it's premature to give real driving observations, but I'm confident that the sports pack suspension will sharpen up the handling as Mercedes promises. In the meantime the Merc loves motorway cruising and never feels like a small car, probably because it shares the same wheelbase as the C-class saloon.
Collating the figures for this report showed the main reason a modern diesel can't be ignored. A fuel consumption average of 38.5mpg so far is pretty impressive and today I managed 50.2mpg on the 60-mile journey up the M1 to Evo Towers.
I really hope that, once run in, the C220 proves quick enough to keep me happy, and that its handling also delivers on its promise over the coming months. And then I hope that UK diesel prices come into line with those in Europe. Okay, so only two of those things are likely. I'll let you know for sure in 500 miles' time.
