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JANINE-LEE GORDON

BUILDING on the success of the popular C-Class sedan, Mercedes-Benz South Africa is confident its C-Class Estate will definitely bask in the same fame.

This beauty offers unrivalled spaciousness and has 150 litres more space than any other premium vehicle in the market competing in its segment.

The Estate also delivers more power and torque and uses less fuel than the models it replaces.

The four-cylinder C180 and C200 Kompressor petrol models are fitted with a dynamic supercharger and improved pistons to boost the engine with an extra 10kW and 15kW respectively.

Fuel consumption has also been cut by as much as 10.3% – 7.8 litres/100km.

The six-cylinder range is available in a choice of two petrol units that deliver 170kW and 200kW and the C320 CDI has an output of 165kW.

The C180 and C200 Kompressor engines were fitted with a six-speed manual transmission and C280, C320 CDI and C350 with 7G-Tronic seven-speed automatic transmission.

The C63 AMG will only arrive later this year and the C220 CDI will be available in July.

The luggage compartment can easily fit four golf bags and allows for easy loading.

It boasts 1 500 litres of space when you fold the seats down.

It can even fit a standard-sized washing machine without having to take it apart.

The safety features are of the highest standard.

The Estate has seven airbags, flashing brake lights and a brake assist and electronic stability programme.

The Benz’s PreSafe system prepares the vehicle and its passengers for an accident.

It closes all the windows and sunroof to keep passengers from being thrown out of the car or keep other objects from entering.

It tightens the seat belts and moves the front passenger seat to a more upright position.

The C-Class Estate also has a PostSafe system which turns the engine off, cuts off the fuel supply, switches the interior lights and hazards on and unlocks the car doors so the passengers can exit the car quickly.

Two new infotainment units were developed for the C-Class – the Audio 20 and Comand Aps.

They feature a keypad for entering telephone numbers and radio frequencies and a Bluetooth interface.

The Comand Aps also consists of a DVD player and can store up to 1 000 tracks or files.

The Linguatronic voice control system is included on the C-Class Estate models equipped with the Comand Aps system.

The driver can operate the car telephone and control the navigation and audio system using his voice.

The C-Class Estate is available from next week retailing at R306 000 for the entry level model and R738 000 for the top-of-the-range C63 AMG Estate.

The MobiloDrive 120 maintenance contract is available as standard on all models.

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