Is it the world’s cheapest Mercedes CLS-style “four-door coupe” or the world’s most expensive Rabbit? Yes to both. Beneath this long, low, chop-top four-door coupe bodywork lurks the humble transverse-engine DNA of the workhorse Rabbit/Golf/Jetta/Passat. That key architectural difference explains why this fully loaded CC with a 280-horsepower 3.6-liter narrow-angle V-6 and 4Motion Haldex all-wheel-drive sells for $4000 less than a similarly loaded four-banger Audi A4 2.0T Quattro.
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Relative to that corporate cousin, the CC is 3.7 inches longer, almost an inch wider, 0.4 inch lower and only 62 pounds heavier. Acceleration performance is within a tenth of a second of the Audi’s to 60 mph and through the quarter mile. “Power is okay but there are definitely times when you need more torque going up hills,” says Kim Reynolds. In fact, the torque-to-weight ratio is almost dead even between the A4 2.0T and the CC 3.6. Of course the V-6 exacts a fuel economy penalty (EPA city/hwy figures are 17/25 mpg versus 21/27 mpg for the Audi, both with 6-speed automatics and all-wheel-drive), and ordering the 2.0-liter turbo in the VW buys the port-injected engine, which trails Audi’s direct-injected version by 11 hp and a more meaningful 51 pound-feet of torque. The 6-speed automatic includes steering-wheel shift paddles which add a certain sporting flair, but the automatic’s “S” mode was not terribly astute in holding lower gears when lifting for a corner or automatically giving matched-rev downshifts to prepare for a corner exit.
More surprisingly, the handling numbers are as good as or better than the Audi’s, with identical braking (123 feet), higher grip (0.87 to 0.83g), and a quicker figure-eight lap (27.1 seconds at 0.64g average, versus 27.6 at 0.62). “I was surprised to find that I prefer it to the A4. Better engine sound, steering is more communicative. Feels faster too (maybe because it’s louder in the right places, at the right time). The A4 is distant, the CC involving,” says Ed Loh; “Rather crisp handling around both winding road and the real-world driving loop, nice shifts via manual mode,” concurs Reynolds, countering that highway Botts dots can agitate the chassis. The GTI-inspired hardware might not be quite as adroit as the pricier A4’s when hustling over imperfect pavement, but the steering has an organic feel and better weighting than the A4’s.
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