Mercedes-Benz B-Class

Our verdict

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

Comfort

A tad firm for serious miles 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 B150 has a 1.5-litre motor, pumps out 95bhp and manages 108mph, but you'll end up with the 2.0-litre diesel B200 CDI - proper mid-range torque and 140bhp with 42mpg+ 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 estate-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 £17,500 for the 1.5), especially compared to more humdrum stuff like the Golf Plus, but the insurance groups are low (under ten) and the residuals are rock solid. Go for a diesel for better mpg and you'll be laughing.