Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £18,424 to £22,070
Roomy, reasonably practical and usefully family-sized; excellent crash protection; fuel-saving stop-start tech in some models; optional auto-parking system
Expensive; not especially refined; uninspiring to drive; awkward styling; cheap-feeling cabin
The Mercedes badge is about all the B-Class has to distinguish itself from its opposition; there are numerous more accomplished all-rounders now on the market.
A few owners have reported electronic and electrical problems, including issues with the Autotronic gearbox, but the B-Class seems to have generally been reliable, as has the 2004-on A-Class with which it shares much of its underpinnings and technology.
It doesn't feel like a quality product, however: the cabin, though updated for '08, now looks rather dated, conservative and low-rent for a Merc, and it isn't finished with the same attention to detail as the interiors of larger and sportier Mercedes models. Like the A-Class, the B is neither fashionable nor reassuringly expensive in its atmosphere and ambience.
