Middle Of The Road
by David Finlay (21 July 03)

Any accusation that Mercedes-Benz is trying to confuse customers with its numbering system can be swiftly rebuffed. The B-Class is exactly what it says it is - a midway point between the still radical A-Class and the rather more conventional C-Class.

A midway point in terms of size and price, at least. In concept, it's much closer to the A-Class, and indeed looks quite like an extended version of it, though with a curious hint of the Chrysler PT Cruiser about the front end design. (I know that Mercedes and Chrysler are part of the same company, but surely this is mere coincidence.)

The B-Class also shares its little brother's twin-floor arrangement, whereby the engine and gearbox slide underneath the passenger compartment in the event of a really stonking front-end shunt. That may not sound like much fun, but it's better than having them reduce your shins to matchwood.

The twin floor means you sit higher in the car than you might expect from the exterior shape, but although this means there is slightly less interior space than might otherwise be the case the B-Class is still very roomy. There's plenty of room in the front, and bulkier rear passengers are aided by the indents in the back of the front seats, where they can put their knees.

Luggage space is impressive, too. There's 504 litres of it with all the seats up, and much more with them down. The test car was fitted with the £205 Easy-Vario option, which lets you remove the rear seat backs and dispose of the front passenger seat altogether. This gives a potential 2205 litres of cargo room, along with the ability to carry a 2.54 metre object (of exactly what nature I can only imagine) without having the tailgate or any of the windows open.

Another option, and - at £1390 - by far the costliest on the car we had, was continuously variable transmission in place of the standard six-speed manual. This knocks half a second off the 0-62mph time, but we're talking about the 109bhp CDI turbo diesel here and nobody is going to buy that for searing straightline performance.

In any case, the small deterioration to 11.8 seconds is mostly accounted for by the CVT's way of moving the car gently from a standstill. You just can't rush this even if you wanted to. Once the B 180 is up and running, though, it doesn't seem to suffer in terms of acceleration.

More . . .

Mercedes-Benz B 180 CDI SE Video Test
Mercedes-Benz Gallery
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