Opt for nearly any of today's entry-luxury vehicles and you're in for a four-cylinder engine. Sure, most players in this space offer a more powerful six-cylinder option, but BMW's 3-series, Audi's A4, and Mercedes-Benz's C-class all come standard with a turbocharged inline-four. Most of these "base" powerplants deliver surprisingly hot performance, although that wasn't quite the case with the Benz—at least it wasn't until this year.For 2019, Mercedes has replaced its laggard-for-the-class engine in the entry-level C300 sedan, convertible, and coupe with an all-new 2.0-liter turbo four. Horsepower is up 14 ponies, to 255, while peak torque remains at a stout 273 lb-ft. This change, along with a swap from a seven-speed automatic transmission to Benz's latest nine-speed unit, which happened for the 2018 model year, are the primary contributors to the latest C300's improved performance.In this vehicle class, such base-model four-cylinder engines exist at least partly to provide buyers (and automakers seeking to please regulators) a more fuel-efficient option, and the new engine has massively upped the C300 coupe's fuel-economy game. In our 75-mph highway fuel-economy test, the rear-wheel-drive C300 delivered an astonishing 37 mpg—6 mpg better than the EPA's highway estimate. If you want maximum efficiency in your compact Mercedes, skip the available 4Matic all-wheel-drive system. The only 2017 C300 coupe we tested came with that feature, and between it and the older engine, that model scored a so-so 29 mpg on our highway test loop. A rear-drive 2017 C300 convertible returned 32 mpg in the same test, and an all-wheel-drive 2019 C300 sedan with the new engine that we tested separately notched a decent 33-mpg score. |
