The colour choice list for the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class has an omission: you cannot specify it in Dorian grey. It is a marketing opportunity missed by the usually öbercanny planners in Stuttgart who have been very busy giving the C-Class — a steady favourite of better-heeled fiftysomethings — a dash of youthfulness.

They are providing buyers with a choice of nose jobs . . . for the car: the traditional Merc radiator grille topped by a three-pointed star mascot, or a wide-mouthed grille with a huge star in the middle that echoes the styling signature of the company’s sports cars. The two versions project distinct personalities, so if you are feeling sparky and spring-like, the Sport version is for you.

What all this is really about is a spot of Beamer bashing and anti-Audi-ism. The BMW 3 Series has long been linked with thrusting, youngish executives moving onward and ever upward, and Merc wants to develop a similar image for the C-Class. In fact, the average age of a 3 Series owner is mid-forties, about eight years less than the C-Class set, so we are not exactly talking spring chickens. Even the excellent A4’s average ownership age is 43.

Although Mercedes is confident that its C-Class will achieve a touch of the Dorian Grey, its just-in-case insurance policy is the traditional grille on SE and Elegance models for those who prefer a more understated stardom.

Although myself more of a rubber chicken than a spring chicken, I much preferred the wide-mouthed chirpiness of the Sport with its sophisticated, lowered suspension, its performance and economy — particularly in V6 320 CDI diesel form — its roominess, and its comfort. Mercedes decided to launch the car in Spain, and launch was the operative word. We all know where the rain falls in Spain but it also falls on the mountains — in torrents sufficient to jet-wash rock faces and send small boulders tumbling into the road.

The C-Class Sport adroitly side-stepped them all, while keeping up a turn of speed that might have had those fiftysomethings suffering an attack of the vapours. It let go a couple of times but its standard agility control and chassis electronics brought everything back on line in a second, with neither drama nor crisis, but it was good to know that the C-Class also had Mercedes’ PreSafe preventive occupant protection system as standard.

It is seven years since the previous C-Class was launched and it is still competent and a fine used car buy. But the new car is a significant improvement. Wider and a little longer than its predecessor, it is better looking in both its proboscidean forms, is roomier and its range of engines is improved. The entry-level C180 Kompressor petrol at £22,950 makes 0-62mph in 9.5sec and has a combined fuel consumption of 36mpg, while the diesel C200 CDI (£24,090) betters that by 10mpg and makes the dash in 10.1sec. Emissions are 160g/km. Top of the engine range is the C350, which gets the car to 62mph in only 6.4sec. In the Sport version you can have it for £35,475.

My choice would be the 320CDI Sport, combining 0-62mph acceleration in 7.7sec, 155mph top speed, average fuel consumption of 39mpg with having fine ride and handling. Emissions are 186g/km. It’s yours for £33,290, including 7G-TRONIC seven-speed automatic transmission with paddle shift.

Other useful things available for the C-Class include Intelligent Light System, adapting to various road environments, including motorways and country lanes.

The new C-Class proved a very serious rival for the 3-Series and A4 and looks better then both. But what of quality?

“I am totally confident of the C-Class’s quality,” Dr Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the DaimlerChrysler board of management and head of the Mercedes Car Group, said. “It has completed 24 million kilometres of test driving. It is the most thoroughly tested Mercedes that has ever seen the showrooms.”

All that and youthfulness, too. I wonder if Dr Zetsche has a portrait of the C-Class Sport in his attic.

Specification

Car Mercedes-Benz C-Class C320 CDI
Engine V6 221 bhp, 510 Nm of torque from 1,600 to 2,800rpm
Transmission Seven-speed auto with paddle shift
Performance 0-62 mph in 7.7sec, top speed 155mph
Fuel consumption combined 39mpg
CO2 emissions 186 g/km Price £33,290
Tempting option Panoramic sunroof, £1,280
On sale June
Alternatives:
BMW 3 Series Quality, image, residual value; so-so looks
Audi A4 High quality, modest image