Mercedes

Oct 11 2011

Review 2012 Mercedes-Benz B-Class

Much in the vein of Audi’s Sportback models or BMW’s slow-to-expand Gran Turismo range, Mercedes-Benz thinks it’s time to get excited about various sizes of its “sports tourer” subgroup. Nearly all of the aforementioned are still trying to find proper footing in their bid to be first choice for the world’s practical-minded customers, but the B-Class has had more success than most. Since the launch of the first generation in 2005, around 700,000 of these little boxes have been sold – despite the U.S. being conspicuously left off the list while both Canada and Mexico got theirs. The car’s number one market by far has been the car’s fatherland, Germany. Number two? China, where sales of the car rose 46 percent in 2010.

Starting up the new 1.6-liter transverse-mounted M270 four-cylinder turbo with the latest direct injection (as seen on Benz’s V6 and V8 BlueDirect engines introduced last year), the sound is good and quiet. The previous B200 Turbo received a 2.0-liter four-cylinder good for 193 hp and 207 pound-feet of torque, so despite being 12 percent more efficient, this 1.6-liter turbo is actually down by 39 hp and 23 lb-ft. While the previous range-topper hit 60 mph in under in 7.5 seconds, this 1.6 takes about a tick longer. Fear not – a more advanced 2.0-liter turbo will be ready for when the B-Class goes on sale in the U.S. in early-mid 2014, in sync with the car’s planned midlife facelift.

While pushing this B200 on hilly two-lanes and overtaking brisk Autobahn traffic, the 1.6-liter sounds like a very hard working little four-cylinder, which, of course, she is. It’s a shame that noise-vibration-harshness concerns could not have been addressed even more so. Not that the noise is extraordinary, but we can’t help but feel that it could be tuned more pleasantly for a Mercedes-Benz compact.

Source: AutoBlog