Mercedes-Benz
B-Class
Premium compact MPV, or something sportier? The B-Class’s identity crisis thankfully doesn’t affect its many qualities, says Craig Thomas.
SECTOR Compact SUV PRICE £38,250 FUEL 43.5-60.2mpg* CO2 104-138g/km**
Mercedes-Benz is nothing but brave, launching a new generation B-Class at a time when sales of compact MPVs are falling, overshadowed as they are by SUVs. Peugeot, for example, has
transformed the 5008 from an MPV into and SUV: it's therefore surprising that the B-Class – the last generation of which only accounted for just over 45,000 sales in the UK, between 2012 and 2108 – is not now the GLB.
Admittedly, Mercedes isn’t calling it an MPV, instead dubbing it a Sports Tourer. Not that sporty is the first word that you’d associated with it, on first acquaintance: it’s longer and wider than the previous car, but it still looks as if it’s built for practicality than any kind of sportiness. The cabin offers enough space for five adult occupants; headroom and legroom in the rear pretty generous, while the boot capacity that ranges from 445 to 1,530 litres. The seats are also perfectly comfortable, with plenty of adjustment for the driver and front passenger.
Technology is another major theme of the new B-Class, which includes the potential for a pair of 10.25-inch touchscreens (either on range-topping trim levels or as an option), the augmented reality navigation first seen in the A-Class last year, the Mercedes Me suite of connected services and the ‘Hey Mercedes’ voice control system.
Also on a tech tip is the wide variety of available driver assistance technologies, many of which debuted in Mercedes-Benz’s flagship S-Class. So cameras and sensors with a 500m range, along with map and navigation data, help support features such Active Distance Assist, Active Lane Change Assist, Attention Assist, Evasive Steering Assist and Active Speed Limit Assist.
Under the hood, the B-Class offer five engine options – two petrol and three diesel. The B 200 petrol engine (there’s also a B 180) is the same 161bhp 1.3-litre unit that’s taking the majority of fleet sales for the new A-Class, here returning 43.5mpg and emitting just 138g/km.
*WLTP ** NEDC correlated