Class evolution
WHEN THE Mercedes-Benz 190E was launched back in 1982, many pundits described the car as a ‘Golf-fighter’, pitching it as Stuttgart’s first foray into the affordable small car mainstream. In truth, the 190E was never really that small, or that inexpensive. And over the past four decades successive generations of the so-called baby Benz, rebadged the C-Class with the launch of the W202 in 1993, have become bigger and pricier.
At first glance, the 2021 C-Class emphatically proves the point. Codenamed W206, this new C-Class is longer and wider, with a longer wheelbase than the iconic W124 E-Class launched in 1984. And don’t expect much change from $70,000 for the entry-level C200 sedan when the car arrives in Australia. That’s around four grand more than a W124 300E cost when it went on sale here in 1985.
But those numbers don’t quite tell the full story. Back in the day you had to work 174 weeks to earn enough to get behind the wheel of a 300E. On today’s average weekly wage, you’ll probably have the readies for a new C200 in about a quarter the time. And for a car that in terms of its features and technology looks to be more like a baby S-Class than an expensive alternative to
