Benz name game light on litres

SO you think you've finally got a handle on Mercedes-Benz's model naming policy? That's the one that designates the 2.0-litre entry level C-class sedan and sports coupe be referred to as C180s.

Well, prepare to be confused once more because Benz has announced a new family of four-cylinder engines that will replace the current 2.0-litre normally aspirated and supercharged engines fitted to the C180 and C200K sedan, sports coupes and estate.

They go on sale in Europe in June and should reach here before the end of 2002.

The trick is they are all 1.8-litre supercharged (or Kompressor as Benz refers to them) engines produced in different states of tune.

The base 105kW/220Nm 1796cc unit replaces the 95kW/190Nm normally aspirated engine. All models employing this engine will be designated C180K. Fair enough.

But any models using the higher tuned 120kW/240Nm version of the 1.8, which replaces the 120kW/230Nm supercharged 2.0, will be referred to as 200K. Que?And just to finish it off, the third engine designated C230K is a 1.8 as well, this one producing 141kW/192Nm. It outperforms the 2.3 Kompressor we currently see in the outgoing CLK and the SLK metal-top convertible, but it is exclusive to the sports coupe and is being considered for Australian sale from early 2003.

So why does Benz do this?"Probably because over time the nameplates themselves have established a brand reputation," said Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman Toni Andreevski.

"If you take a longer term view, the nameplates roughly will equate to the engine capacity over the lifecycle of the cars, but from time to time because of various development plans it does go a little bit askew."Put all that to one side and the story Benz is selling for its new fours is a combination of increased technology, lower emission and reduced fuel consumption.

There's inter-cooling, variably adjustable camshafts, four-valve heads and a technology Benz calls "Twinpulse", which combines supercharging and a form of balance shaft called a Lanchester balancer to improve smoothness.

The biggest performance improvements are found in the C180K, which improves fuel consumption by one litre per 100km compared to the old 2.0, gets to 100km/h one second quicker and has a 13km/h higher top speed.

The C200K improves fuel consumption by a claimed 11 per cent. The C230K claims a fuel consumption increase of just 0.7 per cent over its predecessor.

The V6 petrol and turbo-diesel variants of the C-class continue on unchanged, which means we continue to get the C240 (actually a 2.6) and the C320 (yes it's a 3.2), as well as the C220 diesel (about 2.15 litres really).

There will be virtually no external identifier for the updated C-class, just the new option of bi-xenon headlights.