Mercedes-Benz B-Class 2011 Review - International

Mercedes-Benz B-Class: First drive

What we liked?
>> Much improved interior trim quality?
>> Extreme chassis competence?
>> Frugal new diesel engines

Not so much
>> All-new petrol engines uninspiring?
>> Exterior design invokes the historical worst of Korean design
>> No thrills driving experience

There is much to be excited about with Benz’s new B-Class, with even CEO Dieter Zetsche claiming no Mercedes-Benz in history has ever debuted so much new technology in one package.

There’s an all-new chassis that will sit beneath five new cars, including the A-Class, a small sedan, a coupe, an SUV and even a stand-alone, all-wheel drive, turbocharged, four-cylinder AMG. And, maybe, even a convertible.

There’s a clever four-link rear suspension that lets the car keep its flat floor, improves the handling over its predecessor and even has a pre-prepared hole through its cross member for the all-wheel drive AMG’s rear driveshaft. And there’s a new steering system that lowers fuel economy and makes it easier to point the front end where you want to go, even if you’re not skilled enough to do it off your own bat.

It doesn’t stop there. There are two all-new petrol engines and two all-new diesel engines, all four-cylinder units and all turbocharged. The diesels lower the fuel consumption by an astonishing 21 per cent (down to 4.4L/100km) while punching out up to 300Nm of torque. The petrol motors pull their economy down to 5.9L/100km to give a 12 per cent improvement.

They engines are designed to be used sideways, for front-drive applications like the B-Class, or lengthways, for other jobs within the family, such as a maximum-eco version of the C-Class.

They hook up to a pair of all-new gearboxes including a six-speed manual unit that Mercedes-Benz Australia will surely ignore. The seven-speed, dual-clutch unit they’ll surely leap at -- not least because they have no choice: it replaces the traditional automatic unit (which partly explains a bit of the fuel consumption improvement, too).

There’s also one piece of technology that frightened the bean counters -- a specially adapted collision assistance setup which uses radar to determine if you’re about to hit someone’s rear end, then gives you a warning to throw out the anchor. It’s a poor man’s version of the system Mercedes uses in top-end models where it actually brakes for you. But it’s a good start, especially for the money.

The collision warning system is part of what Zetsche calls the “democratisation” of safety, and the B-Class now includes a mighty list of stuff. Features like adaptive high beam system, blind spot assistance, lane-keeping assistance, speed limit assistance (which will probably not come to Australia given our unique sign design), active parking assistance, a reversing camera and radar cruise will all be available.

Yes, in the B-Class Mercedes-Benz has much to be excited about. And, on the face of it, so should its customers. Until they drive it, for the B-Class is exceedingly competent, extremely spacious, beautifully trimmed inside and overwhelmingly uninteresting to drive.

As its predecessor was, the B-Class is a car that is designed for people with an interest in the Mercedes-Benz badge but little interest in actually driving cars. That’s okay because Benz has plans to bring sportiness to bear on other B-Class-based models in the near future and what shows through in the B-Class is that it actually does have the sheer competence to follow through on that promise.

While the average customer for the superseded B-Class’s tall, boxy shape was 57 years old, Benz expects the exterior design of the new one, with its odd angular slash up the side and its 5cm lower roof, to attract a much younger buyer group. Maybe 56 isn’t out of the question, but we’re tipping it won’t go far south of there.

That’s because for all the technology it ushers into this class of car, and for all the utter competence it has, it’s just no fun to drive. Neither, we should add, is it bad to drive. Just not fun…

The biggest highlight as a driver comes when you open the door and sit inside it. Normally a starting point for great cars to then lift you up in a crescendo as you delve into their driving characters, the B-Class makes it a highlight because of the creative, interesting and wonderfully crafted way Benz has stitched it all together across the dashboard. For instance the central information screen sits on top of three central air vents that are so beautifully styled, they could be sold individually as pieces of art.

To try to reduce the stodginess, the seat’s hip point has been lowered by 86mm (helped tremendously by consigning the twin-layer, sandwich floor to history) and that gives it an enormous 1047mm of headroom up front. Cast a glance around the rest of the cabin and it’s more of the same: tremendous attention to detail and practical space.

In fact, the B-Class is so big inside you wonder whether it’s got more rear legroom than the C-Class -- a suspicion more-or-less confirmed when Benz tries to argue that it never measured the two back-to-back… The rear seats move forward and backward to bump the luggage space out from 486 litres to 666… And the boot space is fairly handy in the first place and lacks only a few convenient tie-down gadgets to put it in a Audi’s Avant's league.

No, that’s all good stuff, complete with a choice of two screen sizes and internet connectivity.

The less-than-thrilling feeling only starts to sink in when you twist the key. Both the B180 and B200 petrol motors run essentially the same 1.6-litre turbo four-cylinder, and it borrows Benz’s latest range of tech from its V6 and V8 siblings. That means direct fuel-injection, twin-scroll turbos and a new combustion process.

Fair enough, 90kW of power isn’t going to shuffle the B180’s 1395kg around with any zest, even if there is 200Nm of torque backing it up from 1250rpm, but a 10.9 second sprint to 100km/h isn’t really worthy of having the word 'sprint' involved.

It’s smooth enough, though, but it’s not the smoothest new German four out there (Audi’s just shown 1.8-litre TFSI engine has the new Benz engine’s measure) and while it’s not harsh anywhere in the rev range, it never quite convinces you it’s anything special, either. A flat, early-arriving torque peak or not, it still needs plenty of revs onboard to get it moving properly, by which time you’re already at the 5000rpm power peak, so you might as well change up a gear and do it again.

Fortunately, the new seven-speed double-clutch is a cracking transmission option. It slides through the changes with fabulous smoothness, though not as quickly as some others. It doesn’t seem to lose any drive in the change ups, though, and it’s never caught in the wrong gear -- even in the Eco mode. It’s a bit sharper in Sport, though that's really more about the shift mapping, rather than the shift itself. There are shift paddles for those who want to do their own work.

You’ll quickly want to move it up to the B200, because it’s faster and stronger and just plain better. It’s got a massive chunk more power at 115kW and it revs a bit higher (the peak arrives at 5300rpm) and there’s more torque, too. Interestingly, the torque peak on both the petrol engines arrives earlier in the rev range than it does in the diesels, but that’s only on paper. It sure doesn’t feel like it on the road.

The B200 gets to 100km/h in 8.6 seconds but that doesn’t mean it’s any more interesting to drive. It’s got the same type of flattish delivery with no real sweetness or strength or character to its engine note. It just goes, tries its hardest not to disturb anybody and then takes polite sips at the bowser.

It’s more of the same when you point the B-Class at corners. The electric steering, though undoubtedly effective at saving fuel by not draining the engine’s power unless absolutely needed, is bland, a bit slower than you expect and provides no tangible connection with the front wheels.

The chassis is terrifically grippy and stable and the stability control chimes in seemingly whenever there’s any quick squeeze on the springs, but none of it is terribly interesting to be involved in.

The funny thing is that it’s all there. Find a long, long, second or third gear corner and the B-Class actually hangs on tremendously well, adjusts itself to throttle inputs beautifully and has a stance so reassuring that you know it’s just never, ever going to do anything unexpected. Yet it just never feels like it wants you to know any of that -- like its actual reserves of grip and poise are its dirty little secrets and it doesn’t want you to find out.

Things get a bit better when you move over to the diesels. Again, the B180 CDI and the B200 CDI run the same engine, with a couple of tweaks here and there. In the B180, that means 80kW and 250Nm, while the B200 runs to a nice, round 100kW and 300Nm. The 200's peak torque arrives at 1600rpm – 200 revs more than in the B180.

They’re both a fraction noisier than their petrol cousins but rather than being uncomfortable, it actually lends them a refreshing dose of character sadly lacking in the spark-ignition cars.

They’re considerably heavier, though, both weighing 1475kg. The B200 is the only one to slip beneath 10 seconds for the run to 100km/h. The extra mass is all over the front wheels and it does affect the handling though not enough to make it go all crazy and slide around the place. That just wouldn’t be very B-Class, so it makes do with rolling a touch more and tapping you on the shoulder to slow down a touch earlier.

Like the petrol B-Classes, the diesels ride terrifically well, which combines with low interior noise levels, little road noise and comfortable seats to make it a not-unpleasant place to spend miles in urban situations. Both of the diesels, though, feel a significant bit more spritely at low to middling revs and they both charge off from rolling starts with more enthusiasm -- though the same gearbox means they don’t lose out because of excessive torque (the transmission has been designed with 350Nm in mind).

Another place the diesels win is at the servo, because they both score the same 4.4L/100km combined consumption number. This combines with a 50 litre tank to give it a fairly handy range, too.

So there it is. B-Class: not for everyone; and not even for every Benz buyer. But for those who buy it for the right reasons, it’ll be fabulous.

For everyone else, there’s a C-Class, or a wait for the other Benz small cars to come...

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