2015 Mercedes Benz C-Class no longer the true Benz baby

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The newest car from Mercedes-Benz is among their smallest: The 2015 C-Class.

It's the latest in a long string of C-Classes -- a car that was once called the "Baby Benz." The 190 model from the mid-1980s brought a new kind of smaller, more affordable Mercedes-Benz.

These days, the C-Class isn't the true baby of the family. That honor goes to the CLA, which was introduced last year as a small, lower-priced Mercedes that starts at about $30,000.

The C-Class, with a base price of $40,000, now plays a different role as a small premium car. The resemblance to the large Mercedes-Benz S-Class is deliberate, and well-executed. The styling similarities extend to the interior too. It definitely looks and feels like a scaled-down S550.

It's also not all that small anymore. With the CLA in the lineup, this one can be thought of as more "small-ish" than actually small. But it's not too big either. And new lightweight materials mean the new car weighs about 200 pounds less than the previous one. Less weight plus newer engine technology means better efficiency.

The C-Class is no longer the true baby of the Mercedes Benz line, it's more of a small premium car, a segment that's really hot these days. To make sure it remains premium and remains even more so, Mercedes Benz has added lots of big car

Part of the car's redesign was updating all of the safety systems. Either optional or standard are things that can help you stay in your lane, avoid colliding with cross traffic, and help prevent a frontal collision by warning you and then even helping with braking.

These technologies were highlights of last year's debut of the big S-Class, a car priced at around $100,000. Now, the C-Class at half the price gets them too.

It's no longer a baby in the strict sense, but more like a junior big car. The younger buyers Mercedes-Benz tends to attract to this model should find it a good fit. Even though it's now slightly larger in actual size, and much larger in the way it looks and feels.