Mercedes B-Class will be MPV compact contender

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Thursday, November 03, 2011

Mercedes is set to shake up the compact MPV market in the coming months with the introduction here of the new B-Class contender which is going to redefine how many people look at this segment.

With a raft of standard kit — coming on top of a completely redesigned car — including Mercedes’ latest radar-based collision prevention system and a lot of stuff which was previously only available on larger cars, the manufacturer is confident that it is going to greatly expand the appeal of the B-Class.

And with a price tag which is going to come in at just over €28K when the car goes on sale here early next year, there is every reason to suspect that confidence is well placed.

According to Rudiger Rutz, the head of the team which designed the new range, the new B-Class is a completely new machine from the ground up. Describing the car as a ‘compact sports tourer’ rather than an MPV, he maintains there are more new model features on it than any of its previous models.

He says the second generation of the B-Class is younger looking than its rather staid predecessor and looks more dynamic.

Technical advances have seen a new four-link rear suspension being installed, a lower centre of gravity to achieve a ‘cultivated sportiness’ more interior space and comfort levels, a high degree of utility and providing rear passengers with more room than is available in many sedans. On top of all that it is 20% more aerodynamically efficient than its predecessor.

Mercedes claim the B-Class to be ‘exceptionally versatile’ and they also maintain that the work it has done to lessen NVH (that’s noise, vibration and harshness, to you and me) to a standard which many larger Mercedes models achieve, make it a ‘true’ Merc, albeit in the compact class.

And, Herr Rutz also pointed out that the new car is the model in a completely new generation of compacts that Mercedes will produce in the coming few years. Saying that there will be four new such models over the next while, he said, and much of the groundwork for these had been laid by the B-Class. This meant that for the manufacturer the future was now “already built-in”.

There will be four engines available in the B-Class — two petrols and two diesels, although it is the latter which is expected to attract most attention from Irish drivers.

The two petrol units — C180 and C200 — will be 1.6 litres in size and will be respectively rated with outputs of 80 kW (122 bhp) and 115 kW (156 bhp). The two turbodiesels — C180 CDI and C200 CDI — will be 1.8 litres and will output 80 kW (109) and 100 kW (136 bhp) respectively.

The former will achieve a top speed of 190 kph and the latter 210 kph, while both will return some 4.4 l/100 km.

Both diesels will fit into Tax Band A here in Ireland, although we will have to wait until budget time to see if the €104 annual tax remains the same. Somehow I doubt it.

All models will be offered with either a six speed manual gearbox, or Mercedes latest 7G-DCT dual clutch auto transmission.

Other features will include a system with internet access, Mercedes new ‘Linguatronic’ voice control system, two navigation systems tailored to different budgets.

Mercedes is hoping to sell as many as 200 B-Class units in a full year and you would have to say that based on the prices we have been quoted, the level of standard kit and the engine choice available, there is no reason — even in these straitened times — why they will not achieve that objective.