Mercedes C 180 CDI Introduced

As the “eco awareness” has spread throughout consumers and the global financial crisis has cut car buyers’ budgets, automotive manufacturers have started to offer lower-priced, more economical entry-level versions for some of the vehicles in their line-ups.

One example which perfectly illustrates this is the trend seen in the German medium diesel saloon class. This was started by Audi, which introduced a 120 HP version as an entry-level model for the diesel A4 range. BMW made a similar move, by bringing the 115 HP 316d model to the market. Now, Mercedes is following the same pathway, through the introduction of the new 120 HP C180 CDI model.

The Mercedes C-Klasse C180 CDI uses the same 2.1 liter engine from its bigger brothers, but this has been electronically downtuned to produce 120 HP. Equipped with this unit, the car will return a fuel consumption figure of 5 liters per 100 km (combined cycle) and will only emit 130 grams of CO2 for every kilometer.

The C 180 CDI takes 10.4 seconds to cover the 0 to 100 km/h sprint and has a top speed of 215 km/h. The new version of the Mercedes C-Klasse will be available in both saloon and station wagon versions. The exact pricing for the car has not been released. However, it is known that the car will retail for less than 30,000 euros (Spanish Market).

As a comparison, the C 200 CDI (the next version in the diesel C-Klasse range) offers 136 HP from the 2.1 liter engine, returns a 6.1 liters/100 km fuel consumption and emits 160 grams of CO2/km.