Final Report

After moving about elegantly in the B-Class for around a month Ninad offered me the car and I gleefully accepted. I was a little worried on how it will fare in my hands, will my first Mercedes-Benz long term car experience shine or wither away? While I did remember a brief drive during one of our photo shoot sessions that left me impressed with it, at the other end I honestly didn’t know how it would fare as an everyday commuter.

I took the key on a Friday evening and spent two hours in the car, well I wasn’t awestruck nor did I go on a long drive anywhere, instead I took a 20km detour to drop a colleague at the airport. Well, practicality is the USP of the B-Class and we made good use of it by loading its 486 litre boot to the hilt. I was home as fresh as I had left office thanks to the ease of driving this car offers.

An introvert by nature I don’t like to flaunt and neither do I like too much attention. I knew what I was taking home for a week will attract eyeballs with the large three-pointed star on its grille and the scarlet red paintjob. Even hard to miss are the DRLs that give it a menacing look when the sun goes down. Well, as expected it did turn a few heads and it managed to get a salute from the valet in a restaurant I visit often.

The electric seats and the rake and reach adjustable steering wheel had the right driving position for me and the engine and gearbox combination made it so relaxing to punt around in the city grind. As good as it sounds, the music system is quick witted when it comes to pairing with your devices. The Bluetooth telephony is one of the best I have experienced off late and it works seamlessly.

The B-Class gets the same 2,143cc oil burner as its other siblings, but with a measly peak power output of 107bhp at a lousy 3,200rpm and maximum torque of 250Nm available on tap at 1,400rpm. While these numbers look a little anaemic for a 1.5-tonne MPV in real world driving conditions, the B-Class feels adequately powerful. It is not the car to leave rubber trails when you are in the mood to go fast, but it is a practical MPV that will transport its occupants in luxury, style and comfort and still return 20kmpl. In our case we had taken it to Pune and our folks got a figure of 25kmpl (indicated on the odometer). In real world conditions it might have returned about 21-22kmpl which is commendable as this is not the efficiency one would expect from a vehicle that costs Rs 30 lakh.

The ride comfort despite its low profile tyres -205/55/R16 is good and thanks to the raised setup of the Edition 1 it now clears big speed humps without a worry. It also has a good electric steering setup, the overall feel and feedback of the steering is decent, but could have been better.

So good

There are quite a few useful touches in the car, the switchable ECO button placed on the dashboard works very effectively. It does boost the efficiency and is essentially a start/stop function that shuts off the engine when the car is stationary in traffic. It gets a brake hold function which works without missing a beat everytime you use it. The gearknob placed on the column stalk is really good to use, the buttons and stalks are also easy to use.

The AC is effective and cools the cabin quickly; however we didn’t test it in the scorching heat where we believe it will take a while to cool due to the panoramic roof. The brakes are quite effective and do a great job of halting the car consistently and do not fade too quickly after repeated hard use either. The reverse camera gives a clear view of the surroundings and is accurate. It has good body control and despite weighing 1.5-tonnes it doesn’t feel that heavy.

Not so good

The slow witted transmission is not your ideal partner when you are in the mood to attack a few corners or overtake in a jiffy. It takes a pause before going down a gear, and at times I found myself clicking the paddle more than once while going down the gears . It seems to work best in the Drive mode doing its own thing. The Panoramic sunroof had a greenhouse effect inside the cabin and at times I had to keep the AC thermostat set to 18 degrees or lower during afternoon. While thankfully I didn’t have to deal with a puncture, I would be so confident to venture out of city limits had there been a full-sized spare wheel. The rear seats were a little upright, not to the point of being uncomfortable, but it should have been a bit more reclined.

The B-Class has come back from its first service and it feels noticeably smoother. As a part of this service the necessary fluids and filters were replaced, wheel alignment and balancing had been set right. The AC is now cooling better which might be due to the thorough washing of the condenser unit that could have been clogged.

My overall experience with the B-Class has been satisfactory, it excelled at the city commute job and although I spent a week with it I couldn’t have asked for a better companion on a weekend either. The B-Class put all my apprehensions to rest and I was a changed man after living with it for more than a week. It is not the most practical vehicle on sale in India, but it is the most practical luxury vehicle on sale in India under Rs 50 lakh.While I write this it has made its way back to the factory and it will be sorely missed at CarWale HQ.