I wanted to love this Mercedes. Really. Though the company has taken many missteps over the past ten years, such as reaching too far downmarket, letting quality lapse in an obvious manner, or inflicting horrific reliability issues on owners, there’s still something aspirational and ineffably prestigious about the three-pointed star. Something that even Lexus and BMW don’t serve up.

But this particular C-class just doesn’t do it for me. Leaving aside my qualms with its exterior styling (subjective, I’ll grant you), too many other things stand out as being not quite up to snuff.

Let’s start with the interior: while not as bad as the cynically cheap cockpit of the first-generation ML, it offers none of the perceived quality of its competitors. Plastic moldings are hard and hollow feeling, and assembled in such a way as to draw focus to the gaps between adjoining parts. Perhaps this allows costs savings at assembly time, but it undermines the hewn-from-solid feel that should be part of the Mercedes experience, and is now a hallmark of all Audis—even Hyundai’s new Genesis.

The stinginess of the optioning doesn’t help; while my test vehicle was loaded with options like top-stitched leather and real wood, experience in more basic versions, clad in vinyl and aluminum-look inlays, mean buyers must pay dearly for things that should be standard at the price. The seats are also unsupportive—at least to my physique—compared to those from BMW; nor are they as cosseting as those from Infiniti, Jaguar, Lexus, or Volvo.

It’s not all bad inside the C300; useful interior space does trump the 3-series Beemer or IS-series Asian. The instruments look terrific, control layout and logic are first rate (I just love the super-basic but accurate Benz cruise-control stalk), and the optional Harmon Kardon sound system is superb.

Mercedes has made big strides with the driving dynamics of this latest C-class; it’s now almost a match for class-leader BMW. In Sport-spec it dives for apexes with commendable alacrity, holds on tenaciously while exhibiting a tossable, interactive neutrality its predecessor never displayed. The helm is also much more precise and talkative. Braking feel and precision are also first-rate.

But there’s a price to be paid in ride quality; this C300 shudders a fair amount over sharp vertical pavement blemishes and never truly settles down at highway speeds, something Mercedes were once renowned for. While this could be solved by going with the standard suspension setup, you’d loose the larger footwear that really helps fill out the more aggressive, Sports-specific styling additions. Besides, competitors from both Germany and other countries show that you can have both decent ride quality and handling prowess.

The powertrain is a mixed bag. The 4Matic all-wheel drive system is available only with the firm’s smaller 3–liter V6 in the C-class, which has 228hp and 221lb-ft of torque. It provides neither lively acceleration nor good fuel economy (I averaged 21mpg in normal driving). This mill is also uninspiring aurally. What starts out as a nice granular exhaust note quickly turns harsh at the higher speeds and wider throttle openings needed to hustle it along. The only thing that saves it is Mercedes excellent seven-speed auto gearbox, whose spread of ratios help disguise the lack of urge. And while it still doesn’t rev-match on downshifts, its silky-smooth gear changes are so unobtrusive and refined that there’s little need for the manual mode anyway.

Am I being overly harsh? This latest C-class has been quite the sales success for the brand, and plenty will be excited that they can park a Benz in their garage for such a relatively inexpensive amount—if they forgo most of the desirable options. But I honestly thing there are better options out there, and cant see a way in which the C300 4Matic moves Mercedes forward in either engineering prowess or quality. Subjectively I’d much rather have the honed looks of a Cadillac CTS4, the amazing dynamic repertoire of the BMW 335 xDrive, or value of an Infiniti G37x if I wanted an entry-level luxury four-door with all-wheel drive.

PRICE AS TESTED: $48,230

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