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Page 14, Whitby Fiee Press, Wednesdlay, January 19. 1M9 THE pur SECTION c RE VIE W MercedesuBenz new CuClass rovement' over iecessor by JiI Mclntosh An auto Iegendl Many years ago, I spent a week in Los Angeles, and I played the touriet tW the bult. Naualy, that involved a visit tW Rodeo Drive, one of the world's moat oxpensive shopping districts. I didnt\ýuy anything (an ico creamn cond was almost $5), but l11l nover forgot turning the corner te that millionaires' row. The first thing I saw, parkod at the curb, was a Rols Royce bearing Ontario license plates that rea.d'IOU 100.' Few production cars can match the legende and the prico tags of these huge cars from England. Loe than 20 leave the factory each day, having spent three Wo five months on the assembly lino. Some of the Rolle finer points include: * Dashes made of walnut fromn north Italy, so well chosen that the grain on the left side must be a mirror image of the right side, or the car will not pase quaity control. * Grilles that tak.e 6.5 houre Wo make, plus five hours of hand-polishing. Once the grille is finished, the maker chisels hie initiaIs inside it; if the grille is damaged anywhere in the world and the maker is still alive, ho Wi f= ontct made of a gold-siver alloy. This dates back Wo the company's earliest days, when Henry Rqyce found a stickIng horn on an exp eruinental clissais. Ho irnmediately ordered the contacts tobe mrade of gold to prevent it happening agamn. e Seat covers that take 4.5 hours Wo produce, made from the bides of cattie kept away from barbed wire to avoid blemishes on their slcn. * Locks based on designa used in ancient Egypt Wo guard the tombe of the Pharaohs. Anyone trying Wo forge a Rolls-Royce koy has a chance of one in 24,000. P Quality control that sees overy lOth engine run for 20 hours, disaeemblod and checked for precision of each part Wo one-thousandth of a milimetre. The cars have been popular with the wealthy and the royals ever since their introduction in 1904. Even thon, the publicists were already at work; the first one had been road-tested on April 1, but the factory-gave the date as March 31 Wo the newspapern tW avoid any April Fool commente. Custom-built cars became a fad ainongst Indian Majariajas in the 19209, until more than 800 of them wero délivered with sucli factory-installed goodios as solid silver bodies, concealod safos, iceboxes and lephant guns. In the United States, William Randolph Hearst had a mirrored interier and a rolltop desk in hie, while Zsa Za Gabor had a makeup cabinet, gold-plated mascot and her signature on the radiator badge. Other Rolls-Royces have been eqg pe with armourod bodies, abttb and a life-sized metal hore inplace of abody, whicli the factory mont vxgrously denied producing. (It didn't - it was refitted, along with sevoral other cars, as an advertisemont for Moxie Soft Drink -- but SEE PAGE 15 By Glen Konorowski I have driven a lot of luxury cars over the years and I have to admit the Mercedes was not one of my favourites. I will be the first to admit they are the beet-bufit luxury cars on the planet, but the just wouldn't have been rny piciflI had the money. But ail that changed with the introduction of the new C-Class Mercedes-Benz. Why do I like this car? There are a lot of reasons but mnainly !ne -- sporty handling. For the firet tirne MB has charged aead to design a car that looke good, handies great and is fun to drive -- alV the thinge that I find exciting about a car. MB makes sporty cars like the big SL modela', unfortunately they'ro not what makes up the bulk of their sales. By comning up with a totally new base model, MB lias gn into the ring to challenge BMW On the lower end of the luxnry car market, the 3-series BMWs were dominating the market seg- ment. Well it didn't tako long for MB to corne baek witli the G- Class to replace the 190 modela. During my testing, I was able Wo drive both modèes in the G- Glass lino. They are the C220 and C280. The basic difference in the two cars is the engine. The 220 cornes with a 2.2-litre four-cylinder and the 280 cornes equipe with 2.8-litre inline six- cylind er. One friend I have with a 992 300 MB was Bo unpressed with the power from the 220 he traded hie car for a new 220. Totally new frorn the ground up, the C-Glass is a vast irn- provoment over the 190 models that it replaces. The styling of the car is along the linos of the stylieli S-Glass modela introdu- ced a couple of years ago. The car only cornes as a four-door sedan. MB has don. a nice job of styling the new dash area. A simple pod houses the instru- mente, whule the large (typical MB) pod. housse the easy-Wo-use heating and coolinq controls. My only beef with the mnterior is the emagli glove box. The afr-bag on the passenger side really cuts down on size. Unlike North Amrcans, Europeans don't con- eider glove boxes as important. A ou rnight expect, seatip in botXi front and rear is excl lent. The 280 modela corne with both front seats power adjus- table, while the 220 has only the driver'esaide electric as standard equipmnent. Heated seats Wo my surpie are optional on both Power for the 220 comes from a 2.2-litre double-overhoad cain which groduces 148 horsepower and 165 pounds/foot of torque. The 280 gets a 2.8-litre mImie double overliead cam minîe six- cylinder engine. This little brute produces 194 horsepower and 199 pounde/foot of Worque. Both engi*nes porformn flaw- lessly, with the edge on perfor- mancegoig tW the 280 of course. I would b lard-preseed if I had Wo pick between the two engines. The 220'o four-cylinder performe well and gets good fuel consump- tion. The 280 gierreat perfor- mance butsorsa a little at the The> C-Classes fully indepen- dent suspension je- the icing on the cake for this model. Both nmodels feel nimble and easy to drive not the traditional heavy feel 1 associate with other M B models. In snow the C-Glass je almost as agile as a four-wheel-drive. The weight in the car is no weIl- balanced ,that the cSrlias superb traction for a front-engine, rear- drive car. Four-wlieel-disc brakes are standard, as are anti-lock brakes. Again, ail I can say je they worked perfectly, juest what you expect from a car likCe th. For juet $34,350, you can drive one 0f the world'a beet cars. I know this sounde 11k. a lot of money ut in this clase of car it's on th Uriain side cf th-mas. 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