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?
The B-Class chassis seems well-equipped to keep you out of an accident in the first place, though the B does have a slight 'top-heavy' feel - especially in crosswinds on a motorway. The standard ESP stability control includes a steer control function, giving the driver the correct amount of steering assistance in emergency manoeuvres and correcting the tendency to veer when braking hard on surfaces with different grip levels, while there's also ABS with brake assist, ASR (acceleration skid control) and stability control.
Adaptive front and side airbags are standard, along with front and rear curtain bags. Those up front also get adaptive belt force tensioners and active head restraints to protect against whiplash injuries. Mercedes claims significant safety advantages for the sandwich floor concept, which it claims allows the engine to slide under, rather than into, the cabin in a frontal impact and which also raises occupants above the likely contact point in a side impact.
