Category: Compact MPV 
Price Range: £18,424 to £22,070
Premium-brand badge, spacious and flexible interior, a usable and practical family car.
Price premium unjustified beyond presence of Mercedes badge, uninspiring dynamics, dull styling inside and out, poor mechanical refinement, characterless.
Not really worth the price premium over mainstream compact MPVs and large hatches; how much are buyers prepared to pay for that German badge?
If Mercedes-Benz introduces many more new models it will be in danger of running out of letters to give them. At least the alphabetic approach helps you figure out how they all relate to each other. As its name suggests, the B-Class is considerably larger than the A-Class, but smaller - in length, at least - than the C-Class, and it is priced between the two accordingly. It is built on a lengthened version of the A-Class's underpinnings, using a 'sandwich' floor to package some of the drivetrain under the cabin, freeing up more passenger and luggage space than a conventional saloon or hatchback. But it's a much bigger car than the A-Class; it's fractionally taller but 43cm longer overall and with a 21cm longer wheelbase. It's 25cm shorter than the C-Class saloon, but 18cm taller and 6cm longer in wheelbase, even before you add the packaging advantages of that sandwich floor: its boot is actually 60 litres bigger than that of the C-Class estate.
The B-Class will rival, Mercedes believes, cars like the Renault Scenic, Vauxhall Zafira, Ford Focus C-MAX, Honda FR-V and Volkswagen Touran or Golf Plus, as well as providing an alternative to compact 4x4s and family estates. It only has five seats, however, with no seven-seat option planned, but that is probably no matter: its biggest selling point is that for the moment, it's the only car of this type around wearing a posh German badge.
