Mercedes-Benz B-Class : B SENSIBLE

Can you really justify paying up to £20,000 or more for a mini-MPV? If so, then here's the one you should buy. June Neary checks out Mercedes' B-classâ€¦.

The Mercedes of mini-MPVs was never going to be a cheap car, but it was always going to be a good one. And so it has proved. There's been a lot of moaning that, at prices up to £20,000 or more, this car is considerably more expensive than cars against which it apparently competes, like Renault's Scenic and Vauxhall's Zafira. But first, you'd expect it to be and second, Mercedes say that this isn't a mini-MPV anyway. Sure, they hope it will steal sales from top end small People Carriers, but the company also wants you to think of it as a kind of `Sports Tourer', aimed at `lifestyle' (that word again) customers for whom practicality is not the be all and the end all. Whether you swallow that or not, I would have thought there would always be a market for a practical, spacious family car with a premium badge. I could see myself going for something like this, if funds permitted.

If you think of mini-MPVs (if that's what this is) as `small', then you might be in for a shock when you stretch out in the back of a B-Class. Mercedes say that the legroom is comparable with the amount of room in the back of an S-Class limousine and I don't have any trouble believing that. You'd have to be a pretty strange shape to feel cramped in this car and along the back seat, there's easily room for three abreast. Even so, this isn't a huge car. At only 4,270mm long, it's shorter than a Ford Focus. And of course, a great deal more practical. My passengers liked the way that the centre rear seat back pops forward, offering an armrest with a neat pair of cupholders when travelling four-up. As you'd expect, the rear seats all fold flat into the floor and the boot floor can even be raised to offer a flat loading surface. Thoughtful touches include a front passenger seat that folds forward to permit long loads and slots next to the rear doors to allow seat belts to be stowed safely out of the way when loading and unloading. I was surprised to find that the driving position is actually quite sporty. The wheel sits almost vertical and your legs stretch forward into a deep footwell. Our Road Test Editor thinks it almost feels like sitting in a jacked-up Lotus Elise. But perhaps he'd had too many drinks at lunchtime when he wrote thatâ€¦ You certainly don't get Lotus' patchy build quality - nor should you at these prices. This is not something you could have said about Mercedes models in the not so distant past. Early A-Class and M-Class models spring to mind here. The `B', in contrast, feels a quality steer and is testimony to the fact that Mercedes are finally solving some of the build quality issues that have plagued the company in the recent past. To be fair, that's because people's expectations of cars bearing the three-pointed star are so much greater. Or at least, mine are.

The driving position, as I've suggested, is surprisingly driver-orientated. It's also very nicely finished. Engine-wise, the petrol line up opens with the 95bhp B150, then there's a 115bhp B170. Most buyers will instead opt for the diesel-engined models and Mercedes have a pair of options, the entry-level being marked out by the 109bhp B180 CDI and the premier diesel powerplant is that fitted to the 140bhp B200CDI. A manual transmission is the default but all models will be available with an optional Autotronic CVT gearbox. The B-Class handles neatly enough, with less body roll than you may expect for such a high-sided vehicle. The electro-mechanical power steering feels a little odd at first, but trust it and it'll direct the car's nose accurately. The ESP stability control system can feel a little over zealous for real press-on driving but otherwise it's fairly vice free. With a little more weight to carry around than the equivalent A-Class, the B-Class enjoys better front end traction, especially evident when packing one of the more powerful engines. Hill Start Assist is a relatively new function that prevents roll back on steep slopes. There's even an optional Active Parking Assist system which can parallel park the B-Class for you.

This is the crux of it of course. Curiously, I thought the better value B-Class models were the more expensive ones. I felt rather let down by the weedily-powered B150, but the B200 CDI at around £22,500 I thought a very appealing package and decent value for what it was. Many will be like some of my colleagues, looking at these prices and comparing them to something like a Renault Scenic or a Focus C-MAX before deciding that the gulf is just too large. To my mind that's missing the point. If you must compare to something conventional, compare to something like a Volkswagen Passat Estate, Saab 9-3 Sportwagon or Volvo V50 - all more natural and more realistic rivals.

I must be what Mercedes call `an aspirational person' since I bought into the B-Class premise without much difficulty. Class costs but in return, you get a masterpiece of packaging, an aspirational badge, low depreciation and a quality steer. If that's not enough to justify the price premium in your book, then fair enough. Me? I'd rather shake the piggy bank a bit further for a B.