Okay. The big question. Why would you spend more money on the B180 CDI than you would on an A180 CDI? The A Class looks immeasurably better, has loads more equipment, is cheaper by a few lakhs, and vitally, tells the world that you haven’t given in to middle age yet.
Also, we all like a car to be as good as it can be. And if the B Class petrol is loaded to the gills with gadgetry, then why isn’t the diesel? To answer this question and a few more, we need to understand where Mercedes has positioned the B Diesel.
First, Merc is calling it a Luxury Tourer. And when you get in, you really can’t understand why. There’s no satnav, no sunroof, no reverse parking camera. It’s got 205/55/R16 tyres which are a size too small. Where, dear Mercedes, is the luxury?
So, what is this thing? Is it a cynical marketing exercise? Or does it have redeeming features so strong that buyers can overlook the lack of equipment and spend a not inconsiderable `22.6 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai before Octroi) when they could have had an A Class and a summer holiday for the family in Europe for the same amount?
Here are some things you should take into account before you go charging into the dealership for an A Class instead. The B is taller, wider and a lot more spacious. The cabin is typical Mercedes and has a great big slab of wood across the centre console. It feels like it’s built to outlive its owners. All the materials feel like they’re of the best quality. And, crucially, although it’s based on the A Class platform, it’s longer as well. So there’s more room in the back seats (enough for three adults) and the boot is huge for a car of this size. In short, the packaging is much better than the A Class because the designers didn’t have styling as a constraint.
You’d also be surprised at how similar this car is to the A Class when driving around town. Although, there was a feeling that Merc had softened the suspension to go with the B’s more relaxed nature. That said, even with the 2.14L diesel (which you’ll also find in the A, C & E Classes in different states of tune) putting out 107bhp and 250 torques, it never feels particularly powerful, but never hopelessly powerless either. It’s as adequate as you can imagine.
Where the Baby B really shines is on the highway. Those A Class underpinnings are almost as brilliant in the B as it in the smaller Merc. It really is great at covering ground. What I did was, go into Manual using the Sport-Economy-Manual button, shift up to the 7th gear and just kept going. In 7th, it goes from 60kph all the way to about 195 without a fuss. And you always have enough torque low down so you don’t really need to downshift. Do this, and you’ll get about 17kpl in the real world. And the brilliant brakes mean that you come from 160kph to an absolute zero almost instantly.
So, what’s the B Class really? Think of it as the love child of the R Class and the A Class, with the R contributing the practicality and the A, the dynamics. It seems to have a depth of engineering specifically for the job it has to do. Me? I’d still have the A Class. But only because I don’t need the extra
practicality.