The C220 CDI tries quite hard to put you off driving it hard before revealing excellent characteristics when you do. Fire up the engine from cold and you’ll be startled by its gravel-toned response. Blip the throttle and the front of the car wobbles. Then there’s the long-travel clutch to negotiate and a stick shift that, while improved over those that once made buying a manual Merc a perverse choice, is still not going to cause too many nightmares at BMW.

But push past all of this and you’ll find a car that offers not only genuinely brisk performance, but also great response across an unusually wide rev range for a small four-cylinder diesel. And once you’re at a steady cruise the engine, which was so vocal as you accelerated, becomes smooth and near enough inaudible on part throttle. Indeed, if most of your journeys are over long distances on motorways, it’s good enough to call seriously into question the wisdom of shelling out over five grand more for the six-cylinder C320 CDI with its inferior fuel economy, reduced range and compromised handling.

All out, we managed to coax the C220 CDI to 60mph in 8.5sec before running on to a top speed of 142mph. And the only question left unanswered by these figures that look so impressive is why those of the smaller-engined, less powerful and considerably less torquey BMW 320d are better still. The answer is sitting on the scales. Officially the C220 CDI is a whopping 155kg – more than 10 per cent – heavier than the equivalent 3-series, though our scales revealed the gap to be nearer 230kg. And that’s a penalty none of the clever engineering in the C-class can overcome.

At least it loses little in the braking department, where big discs, backed by all the usual safety systems, provide a firm pedal under your foot and, when you need it, stable, consistent and strong retardation. From Mercedes we’d have expected nothing less.