Still, each one has something different to offer. The Sports Coupe eventually became the CLC in 2008 – which was still based on the aging W203 platform - and was eventually discontinued in 2011.Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. One version of the Sports Coupe that we didn’t get in SA was the 170kw C30 CDi AMG, which to this day, remains the only diesel-powered AMG car. The C230 Sports Coupe is definitely a car that still stands out from the crowd, pairing just the right about of go, with show. This is thanks in part to the advanced multilink suspension setup that underpins the Sports Coupe. This brought with it a new 7-speed automatic.Īnd, though the Sports Coupe felt like a boulevard cruiser on the highway, get it onto a tricky, uneven, badly surfaced road riddled with hairpin bends and it really comes into its own. The 2.3-litre motor was quickly discontinued in favour of a much smaller 1.8-litre supercharged mill that produced similar outputs at 141kw and 260nm, and in 2005, Merc dropped in a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated V6 with 150kw and 245nm. It eventually reached a maximum speed of 236kph, which was pretty impressive for a small 4 cylinder motor at the time. If ever you had to encounter one on the open road, bear in mind that very few cars in its class would be able to match it in terms of outright acceleration. What was more impressive was how hard it accelerated once it past 100kph. Despite tipping the scales at a somewhat hefty 1.5 tons, the C230K was very brisk, bringing up 100kph in just 8.68 seconds.
#Mercedes benz c230 kompressor manual#
It was paired with either a clumsy 6-speed manual or a 5-speed automatic transmission. When originally launched in SA in 2001, Mercedes-Benz SA equipped it with a supercharged 2.3-litre 4-cylinder DOHC motor that produced 145kw and 280nm. One design element that folks loved was the massive panoramic roof, which stretched from just behind the windscreen all the way to the rear spoiler. It also got new headlights, a sportier apron and a three pointed star on the grill.Īll SA models came with the ‘Evolution’ sports package, which brought some brushed aluminium finishes, leather in strategic places, and some choice lettering throughout. Mercedes went to great lengths to stress how different the Sports Coupe was from the Sedan, in that it is not just a modified sedan, instead almost all of its sheetmetal had been redesigned.
It was priced from R234 000, and when you consider that the comparative BMW 325Ci costed R240 000, it put the Merc’s positioning into perspective. It was actually ‘affordable’, and was Merc’s first attempt at targeting a younger market with a sporty, attainable offering. This was an entirely different machine to the rather pricey and grown-up CLK. But when they did arrive, they brought along this sexy little thing. While BMW offered a coupe variant of their E36 and E46 models, dubbed “Ti”, Mercedes was fashionably late to the party. Sure they had their tiny W168 A-Class, but that was hardly premium, and neither was it sporty. When Mercedes-Benz launched their C230 Kompressor Sports Coupe in 2001, it was unlike anything else that ‘Three Pointed Star’ had ever launched.
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