SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


Mini test: 2012 Mercedes-Benz B200 BlueEfficiency CDI 7G-DCT

Innovative, spacious and economical

Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday June 23, 2012

The engine: This OM 651 DE18 four-cylinder diesel is a short-stroke variant of M-B’s C220 common rail direct-injection engine. It displaces 1,8 litres and is the first time that a compression-ignition engine has been mounted transversely in a Mercedes-Benz car. As B180 CDI it generates 80 kW of power, while the B200 version makes 100 kW. Maximum torque is 250 Nm from 1400 rpm for the 80 kW variant and 300 Nm from 1600 rpm for the 100 kW unit.

The transmission: Mercedes-Benz calls it 7G-DCT, code for seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Easy when someone tells you, isn't it? If you have been off-planet for a while, that’s a type of semi-automatic or ‘automated manual’ gearbox. It uses two separate clutches for odd and even gear sets. It can basically be described as two separate manual transmissions contained in one housing and working as a single unit. They are usually used in fully automatic mode and most allow drivers to manually shift gears, albeit still carried out by the transmission's electro-hydraulic systems.

The body: Although it looks rather like its predecessor, the new body has moved away from the previous sandwich formation to a more conventional design to facilitate use of future engines and alternative drive trains. The most striking aspect is its reduced height of 1557 millimetres. The new model crouches almost five centimetres lower than its predecessor and seat height in relation to the road has also been reduced, by 86 mm.

The sitting position is more upright and headroom has been improved. Maximum headroom of 1047 mm at the front (without sliding roof), places the B-Class among the more spacious cars in its segment. The same more upright sitting position, combined with a lowering of the vehicle's floor at the rear, leads to a useful 976 mm of legroom. The SA Standard Tall Passenger allocated 10/10 for head, knee and foot space, so it outdoes its C-class siblings in that respect. As you will know by now, we don’t do long, lyrical descriptions. That’s what photographs are for. Let’s just say the interior is new, typically Mercedes and if you want to see more, pop along to your dealer or download a brochure.

The experience: The 488-litre boot is deep, square and fitted with four lashing rings. The first aid kit nestles in its own compartment on the right and the Harmon-Kardon amplifier occupies an under-floor cavity where you would usually find a spare wheel. To save space, M-B opted to fit run-flat tyres, but assures buyers that the size chosen will always be available in Pofadder on the Saturday morning you arrive looking for one. Those of little faith may choose to buy a spacesaver spare to pack for long trips.

Those of us who haven’t been in cars with column shifts for a while are a little lost at first, reaching out for a floor-mounted gear lever that isn’t there. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? You adjust. Being a twin clutch transmission, it works well, shifting easily and smoothly without a hint of flare. A button on the central console gives you a choice of eco, sport and manual modes, the latter controlled by means of paddles behind the steering wheel. Eco mode incorporates the fuel-saving stop-and-start function and in the interest of environmental friendliness, always defaults back to Eco on restart, even if you had been using another mode before switching off.

B-class Mercedes’ developed a bit of a Granny car image in the past, but this one especially, doesn’t deserve that. The company calls it a sports-tourer and the title fits. It performs well without being a rocket; it cruises quietly, turning over at about 2100 rpm for 120 in top and its ride is sportily firm – not granny-like at all.

The numbers
Price: R368 000
Engine: 1796 cc, four-cylinder turbodiesel
Power: 100 kW between 3600 and 4400 rpm
Torque: 300 Nm between 1600 and 3000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 9,5 seconds
Maximum speed: 210 km/h
Fuel index: About 5,8 l/100 km
Tank: 50 litres
Warranty and maintenance: Six years/120 000 km MobiloDrive plan

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.

What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police. Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so I do actually exist.

I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!

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