Mercedes Benz B180 CDI: An absolute delight to drive all day

Mumbai: Mercs make for great luxury cars with just the right amount of tasteful snobbishness. But the one that never really floated our boat was the B Class.
When we tested it last year, we found that it was trying to be too many things and ended up being none of them. It felt, not surprisingly, like a large wonderfully-made hatchback that just happened to be a Merc.

But a year later, Mercedes have rolled out the Edition 1 which should be the solution to my problem with the B Class — not enough luxury. Mercedes-Benz has always called it a luxury tourer, which is quite a claim for a car that is essentially a family hatchback. So let’s start with the luxury bit.

All your physical interactions with the car from the key to the buttons on the centre console feel very Mercedes-ish, i.e., of great quality. The seats, as we found, along with being electrically adjustable, were also very good for long drives. But here comes the kicker — reversing camera, panoramic sunroof, rear-seat arm-rest and a complete rear-seat entertainment package with two screens.

Individually, these and the Edition 1 badge make things a bit better. But put them all together and you have a unit that feels a few notches more expensive than it actually is. And if you can ignore the slightly tacky Edition 1 decals along the sides, you’ll find that it has really glossy black rear-view mirrors that give some much-needed visual sportiness.

Now, let’s get to the tourer part. The B Class never pretended to have sporting intensions. That was for the A Class. The B Class was supposed to be quiet, comfortable and smooth. It does quite well on at least two out of three of those things.

Merc has given it revised suspension which has been tweaked and raised slightly to better cope with Indian roads. The B Class was always quiet and the suspension tweak has made no perceptible difference to that. And it’s comfortable in a firm and controlled sort of way. What it’s not is, particularly smooth. Bumps make their way into this nearly Rs 30 lakh luxury car a lot more than they should.

But it’s an absolute doddle to drive anywhere, especially in the city. The engine hums along quietly as the gearbox goes about its business without so much as a cough.
The engine is the usual 2.14litre four-cylinder diesel that does duty in everything from the A Class to the ML Class. In 180 CDI tune it produces about 110 bhp and 250 Nm of torque. Don’t let the figures fool you, though. The B180 CDI is fairly brisk in the real world. Get the 7-speed autobox into top gear and it will do 150 kmph all day while returning over 20 kmpl.

The bottom line on the B Class is a pat on the back for Mercedes. While all manufacturers make claims in their marketing bumph, nine out of ten of them are utterly rubbish. This isn’t. The B Class B180 CDI Edition has finally become able to cash the cheques that its ‘Luxury Tourer’ tag are writing.