We currently have one of these as a courtesy car.
Having owned an original B class for 5 years and 50,000 faultless miles I was interested in how this measures up.
Looks well with AMG alloys and lowered suspension.
Interior is a vast improvement in terms of quality. Attractive double stitching in red to black seats which are as expected very supportive.
Safety improved with various systems to try and save you from crashing it!
Engine more than capable, manual box very smooth, just as good as the old one.
56mpg today on a 120 mile trip in mainly country A roads.
However when looking at the equipment, for a £27,000 vehicle it is poor.
For that money you do not get the following which were standard on my old model SE.
Front fogs
Parking sensors (camera instead)
Self park
Auto dipping rear view mirror
Folding mirrors
I was also surprised it didn’t have:
DAB radio
Xenon headlights
Heating to the standard fit leather/alcantara seats
I mentioned the safety fitments. I’ve turned them all off. The autobraking was far too sensitive and I don’t want constant warnings about being too close to the vehicle in front, if a car pulls out in front of me I can hardly help it!
I didn’t like the the ‘ipad’ style screen when the car was launched and having tried to live with it its a pain.
Its position means the climate controls are now very low down behind the gearstick and the buttons are tiny.
Turning the screen off when it is dark to reduce glare means fiddling with the mouse controller far too much for my liking.
The mouse controller is where the handbrake would be, ideally placed to be caught by your arm when changing gear. If you have turned off the screen it turns back on again, so more fiddling to turn it off.
There are three ways to change from eco, comfort, sport modes. A button on the centre console, through the screen and through menus on the speedo binnacle using steerimg wheel buttons. All of them mean taking your eyes off the road for too long. To change from eco to sport on my Subaru I press a button on the steerimg wheel!
Electric handbrake is to the right of the dash and for some reason you press to activate and pull to release. Needing both hands to engage gear and release the handbrake is madness, it is not auto release when you engage the gear and start pulling away like the Jaguar and Audis I have driven.
The 18 inch wheels and sports suspension handle potholes quite well, but road noise is noticeable. Typical diesel rattle when ticking over, but fine once running.
Interior is all black, including headlining and its depressing. now the sandwich floor has gone it no longer has an MPV style higher seating position. Its an A class with a higher roof.
In short a vast improvement in terms of interior finish, refinement, but poorly equipped for such an expensive car and far too complicated to operate systems whilst driving.
Edited by daveyjp on 17/02/2018 at 22:55
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Was reading a review on the new A class yesterday and It pains me to see how far Mercedes have fallen since the cast from granite 70’s and 80’s when quality was the number one priority. They’ve now started using the rather dated (launched 2003) Renault 1.5 DCi motor in the A180 diesel. Who would pay £20k upwards for a posh small hatch that’s using the engine from a fifteen year old Renault Megane? Fine in an £8-9k Dacia but a heavily overpriced premium hatchback... badge over brains.
Edited by SLO76 on 17/02/2018 at 23:18
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