Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £18,424 to £22,070
Spacious, practical, high driving position, good visibility, quick witted stop/start, economy, huge boot.
Expensive, average to drive, you have to keep your foot on brake to activate the stop/start, dull.
Fuel-saving revisions are welcome, but B-Class continues to trail its competitors on price, drive and ability.
The B-Class offers a competent, if not sparkling drive that is in the shadow of almost all its rivals.
Around town the steering is overly light, while at speed it's imprecise. Body roll is well controlled, but with a less sophisticated rear torsion beam grip levels are less than the talented Volkswagen Golf or Audi A3, which boast better multi-link rear suspension.
The B170's 1.7-litre engine 116bhp is also off the pace, taking 11.3 seconds to hit 0-62mph, All its competitors are faster, especially the Golf TSI with its more modern turbocharged 1.4-litre, that is almost two seconds quicker over the 0-60mph sprint and more fuel efficient.
The B170 would also benefit from a six-speed gearbox to keep the engine on boil, although this perhaps would dent its already mediocre fuel economy (see Running Costs) and emissions, which brings us to the firm's all-new stop/start technology.
Put bluntly the stop/start system is flawed and the worst we've experienced.
It's got nothing to with the action of the system, which is quick to kick in, but how the 'stop' sequence is triggered. Come to a stop in the city and it requires shifting into neutral -nothing unusual there - but to activate the engine stop you have to maintain pressure on the brake pedal at all times, which is irritating in heavy traffic. Lift off the pedal or engage the clutch and it fires again.
Why couldn't Mercedes adopt the feet-free approach like all other manufacturers with the technology?
