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The C230 Kompressor Sport Coupe is the smallest and least expensive Mercedes you can buy. It’s also the nicest two-door hatchback on the market. It used to be that a fully loaded VW Golf was as upscale as you could go with a practical and sporty two-door hatchback. But this car is clearly the new king of that hill.

The C230 Coupe is a new model for Mercedes. It’s well designed, beautifully made, fun to drive and nicely equipped at a cars.com target price of $24,950. The C230 is something of a departure for Mercedes, which has a reputation for making solid, conservative expensive sedans. No doubt the company hopes that its new, spunky hatchback will attract younger buyers who thought they couldn’t afford a Mercedes, or buyers who want the nicest damn small car they can own. Mercedes also hopes these happy, young C230 owners will hop their way up the Mercedes line, from the C Class to the E Class, finally graduating to an S600 before bequeathing their worldly belongings to their future Mercedes-owning offspring. Well, that’s the hope, anyway.

The C230 comes in only one body style and with just one engine choice: a 192 horsepower, 2.3-liter, 4-cylinder engine with a belt-driven supercharger (that’s the Kompressor part). You do get a choice of transmissions: a 6-speed manual or a 5-speed automatic.