Yes, I know it's much too early in the morning to be philosophical, but I can't help thinking this: sometimes, when you've gone all over the place to try and find yourself, you discover that the real you was what you always were. Books talk about it, so did Lucky AIi, and I'm sure someone at Mercedes-Benz is penning some sort of ode to that feeling right now.

Somewhere around the middle-Nineties, Mercedes- Benz, ever the bastion of quality and engineering, went spectacularly nuts. Perhaps it was the tact that Lexus and BMW were kicking its arise all over the place, but M-B decided to abandon its methodical model-launch strategy and go on a manic whelping spree that saw it run through the alphabet several times, take over Chrysler and make cars that toppled each time they saw herbivores. It wanted to be sexy, it wanted to be young and great to drive and have a three-pointed star in every segment that the marketing geniuses could conjure up. Oh, and it discovered microchips, and made everything complicated and at times unreliable. An electronic brake-force distribution system that fails is not good for a company's image.

That, though, has changed. At some point - u hopefully when they were designing the incredibly g redundant R-Class - they realised, "Hey, this is crap. We're losing money, and no one likes us any more. Then, they sent Chrysler to the Old Dogs' Home, the fired (or I'd like to think) whoever thought of cars like this, took a long, hard look at their quality-control division and went back to being Mercedes-Benz.

To give them credit, their heartland model, the big S-Class, the car that was Mercedes-Benz to the world, had suffered less - the 1999 and 2005 editions were both excellent. This time, though, the test is sterner. This is the C-Class, Merc's big seller - if this car isn't absolutely perfect, there's going to be a bottle of cheap wine and an empty alley for someone.

Fortunately, it is. It’s a blinding car.

You rea1ise that when you're at 160 on the Mumbai, Goa highway at night, when you pop out to overtake an 800, and find a Sumo, lights off, screaming round the corner. You have to slam on the brakes, Swerve wildly back into your lane - Onto broken tarmac, Just to add the coup de grace - and you're never, ever, worried through that whole sequence.

The C200K feels confident, in Control, secure. It's reassuring which, for me, is how Mercs need to be.

It has the rock-solid, monolithic feel Mercs used to have a decade ago, a sense that everything, from the exterior to the cabin to the oily bits beneath, will survive stuff that would finish off even cockroaches.

I love how they've gone back to square, dignified styling: it’s like they've just ignored the old C-Class and its melted, googly-eyed styling, and gone for the upright stance that was so typically Merc. Starr at the grille. It’s almost vertical! I haven't seen this in ages! It also helps that the car is black, which all Mercs should be, by law. It just looks so right. And it goes well with he subtle detailing of the car: the accent line that runs long the side and hides itself until sundown, the subtle but powerful wheel arches.

The cabin, too, feels just like a Mercedes should. Forgive me if I keep on about this "Back to the past" thing, but I feel four years old again, being allowed inside my first Merc and being awed at how different it felt from my dad's Ambassador. The severe, neat shapes, the simple lines, even the slightly horrible tan colour of the dashboard top - all pure nostalgia. The I ergonomics are perfect too; the small telephone/radio I buttons on the centre console apart, everything is easy to find without taking your eyes off the road. Oh, and the materials. The wood, the plastics, the leather, all feel worth the thirty-odd lakh asking price. And wonder of wonders, there's plenty of space in the back. Three may be intimate, but for two rich brats or a couple of execs being ferried about, it's awesome.

The C200K doesn't feel as loaded as its arch-rival, the BMW 3-Series, but then it's cheaper (or is likely to be - official prices will be announced after the Auto Expo), and it was never meant, I think, to dazzle you with gadgetry. This car focuses on the basics.

So far, so perfect. It's a mini-limo, elegant, serious and genteel- but there's still the driving to be done.

And what the C-Class isn’t a real driver's car. The steering is light, which is great in the city and on the highway, but doesn't weight up enough during bends! to connect you to the road. The brakes too are very light; like big brother S, the C can be driven by the power of fingers and toes alone, which makes for an enormously relaxing but slightly detached experience.

Apart from the basic, thrash-it-till-its-tyres-bleed drive up a hill, there is a simple test to determine a car’s adrenaline level. Does it dictate the speed it wants to go, or does it feel eager at whatever pace you care to ser? The Merc is the first sort: it likes a zone between BO and about 140, it likes large-diameter curves, it likes smooth tarmac. It's not like it can't handle other stuff-far from it - but this is its home zone. It glides here, gives you the sense that it could do this all day without raising so much as a hint of sweat.

This feel, again, is quite different from the old C's, which tried hard to match the 3. Merc has split the C into the Elegance and Sport ranges: the Sport gets the bold, fat grille, lowered suspension and lots of swell stuff, while the Elegance, the one here, is the formal looking version, gentler-riding and softer to drive, for those who don't really care for back-road blasting.

This power train seems tuned to the Elegance ethos as well: it's refined and smooth, but never particularly eager for a bit of slap and tickle. It's up on power from the old car - 178bhp instead of 158, which is quite a leap, and up to 240Nm from 221; Merc claims it's 0.5 seconds faster from 0-100kph than before. Perhaps it is. What I'm talking about, though, is the feel, and it doesn't feel quick enough. Or perhaps 'quick' is the wrong word: it just doesn't feel muscular enough. The auto 'box takes a second or two to gather up its skins, and then the car moves ahead in a measured, if effective way, never snapping your head back. In its defence, this feels like a conscious decision, a balanced feel rather than outright grunt. I rather like diesels, actually, and I particularly liked the C220 cm would it help? Or perhaps something V8-eye and about 6.3-litres? Could make a smidgen of difference.

Even around corners, it's competent, but not eager. You never yearn to attack a corner in it. It has an adaptive damping system, which senses your driving style and stiffens accordingly, making the car very capable cross-country - but never does it have the slot car feel of a BMW or even some of the better Fords.

So, no, it isn't a top-flight driver's car, not until there's a more urgent engine in there.

But is it a good car? Oh yes. Emphatically so. And most important, it's a good Mercedes, and a real one.