Mercedes-Benz B-Class

Whatever niche the Mercedes B-class is in, it does it well. It’s a kind of small-ish front wheel drive hatch with people mover undertones, except with a faint sporting bent. No we don’t understand it either, but it works.

• Comfort

  A tad firm for serious kilometres and if you go for a very long journey then there's some tyre roar, ambient boom and wind noise if you've got the radio off. Otherwise there's plenty of space and the engines all work superbly.

  

• Performance

  The B200 Turbo is a forced-induction 2.0-litre that'll put the wind up a Golf GTI, but probably more rational would be something from the other end of the scale. The standard B200 has a 2-litre motor, pumps out 100kW and manages 0-100km/h in 10.2 seconds, but you'll end up with the 2-litre diesel B180 CDI - proper mid-range torque and juts 5.8L/100km, if you're feather-footed enough.

  

• Cool

  Can be a guilty pleasure. Only in private will we admit that we like it.

  

• Quality

  For some reason some of the early B-classes feel strangely cheap in the plastics. Merc has pulled its collective socks up lately, so that's a bit of a surprise. Saying that, it's better than most, and still retains Mercedes' ability to make cars feel solid even when the materials are a little low-rent.

  

• Handling

  The little Mercedes is really very well resolved; great steering, excellent damping, quite bizarre agility for something that looks a little bit like a posh van. It's a really quite lovely surprise.

  

• Practicality

  ‘B' doesn't stand for ‘box', but the small B-class boasts E-class levels of interior space. The boot is E-class-sized (sort of) too, with 540litres of useable, square space. Option the Easy-Vario-Plus pack and you can bin the rear seats too, making for 1645litres of cave to throw old IKEA units in.

  

• Running costs

  This isn't a cheap car off the forecourt (the base B starts at $45,800 for the 2-litre), especially compared to more humdrum stuff like the Golf Plus, but the insurance premiums are low. Go for a diesel for better fuel economy and you'll be laughing.